Composition for Portraiture: Creating Compelling Headshots, Group Shots, and Senior Pictures

Composition of Subjects

Up to this point, we’ve been discussing general rules of composition, primarily in terms of the overall image. While employing these underlying techniques is important when photographing portraits, the composition of your subjects is just as important. In its simplest form, the composition of a subject can be considered a pose. But here’s a great piece of advice—don’t pose your subjects! Craziness you say? Not at all! Photography has evolved, technology has evolved, and so should the techniques you use to capture a portrait. Consider this: Rather than posing a subject, try posturing him or her as shown in Figure 11.

Figure ...