Creative Portraits: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques

Chapter 2. Day in the Life

Assignment: People

Photographer Jay Maisel quips that he always carries his camera with him because "it's hard to take a photo without a camera" In a similar spirit, it's hard to make a portrait without a subject I can see this sung to the tune of the Barbra Streisand lyric "People who need people": if you are going to make photos of people, you need people, or at least a person.

So, it's pretty obvious that as a portrait photographer one must become comfortable photographing people But unlike flowers, trees, landscapes, and still life subjects, people have their own ideas People talk back, they move around, and can be smelly, dirty, and loud People you approach to photograph may think you are flirting with them, rather than approaching on a photographic basis In short, the interaction between a photographer and a portrait subject is fraught with the entire gamut of complexities that enters into any relationship between people.

In some cases, this interaction between photographer and portrait subject begins in a straightforward way If someone has hired you to make a portrait, or if you have hired a model, there's certainly no guarantee you can make a great or revealing portrait But at least the initial parameters of the relationship are clear (see pages 14–27 for more about the psychology of photographer-subject interaction).

It's a whole different story when ...