Pictures of people

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In most pictures of people, they are about an inch high on the print with lots of ground, sky and clutter all around them.

If you are going to take a photo of someone, take of their most important feature, their face.

The basic rule when setting up to photograph someone is to move half way to them, then move closer again. With most cameras having basically a wide angle lens on them, you should be able to just about reach out and touch their nose in order to get the best photo. Then you get a photo that looks like a mug shot without the ruler beside them to show how tall they are.

Think portrait when you are shooting a pix of a person. You gotta pose them. I've shot wedding photos for years and believe me, few people getting their photos taken are more up tight and stressed than at a wedding.

Here are a few tips on how to relax them.

First, have them turn to their left just slightly, about 10 degrees is all, then turn their head back toward you. Have them lean back enough to put all of their weight on their left leg and then tell them to unlock their right knee.

If they have a problem with that, lay a film can or something like that on the floor and have them put their foot up on it. You need only an inch or so.

Tell them to look into the lens, lower their chin just slightly then look at the left edge of the lens. Then say, "OK, Let me see that beautiful smile" (works a lot better with women :-) and you have about two seconds to get your shot.

If you want a shot with their hands in the photo, it works a lot better if you hand them something to hold, I like to use a cap off a 25mm film can. It makes their hands look natural. Above all, never let a guy stick his hands in his pockets.
Since it's a bicycle ride, you can include just enough of the bike in the frame to show what it is and a water bottle makes a great prop to keep the hands busy.

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Finally, if you are shooting in bright light and have the ability to over ride the auto flash, make it fire when you take the photo to fill in the shadows. One trick is to find the little opening through which the flash reads the light and put your finger over it. Bright sunlight is always more light than the flash puts out. Flash fill gets rid of the shadows under the chin, nose and eyebrows.

Finally, use some imagination. Have them doing something or at least with an interesting background. In setting up the shot, look at the background to be sure there isn't a telephone pole sticking out of the top of their head or a wire that looks like it's going into their ear.

Submitted by Jim Foreman.

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