Read this if you want to take great photographs of people

“Play your role as the photographer” (Carroll, 2015:65)

The specific title of this little book is almost ironic, but it seemed a good place to start as my work at Harvest Home has involved more portraiture and it is a genre I am less familiar with. Therefore for Level 3 I have included a number of books on portraiture on my Bibliography.

Carroll begins with a few basics such as the Rule of Thirds and Lead Room – space for the subject to look into. Lead room can be intensified by having the subject look away, sharing the view with the viewer and encouraging them to look into the picture.

A gaze off camera also takes the subject out of the moment, for example into the future, particularly for a child. A gaze into the camera confronts the viewer directly, in the moment, usually connoting confidence.

Group portraits don’t all have to look at the camera. It is better to capture the individuality of each subject by allowing them to drift off to their own point of focus. However I would ask if this is so for a team where you are trying to capture a cohesion?

An important one I have heard many times before: don’t ask the subject to smile. Carroll advocates waiting for them to relax to their “default” expression.

However the author urges the photographer to use instinct above the rules, particularly for composition. He recommends one eye on the subject and one eye on the background to check the different elements of the picture. Ideally the shapes or layers in the image will form links. Another technique is to juxtapose ideas such as rich/poor, and the photographer should be bold in doing this as subtlety does not communicate easily.

Having said all of which Carroll feels the most important decisions are the angle and lens choice.

Carroll gave examples of several ideas to break the subject’s tendency to pose:

• Take an unexpected picture
• Assign a task (hold breath, jump – Philippe Halsman, sketch – I could ask Steph at Harvest Home to write a sign)
• Create a self-conscious moment – Rineke Dijksta
• Hold hands with a stranger – Richard Renaldi

“If you tamper with what you find too much, you’re no longer photographing your subject, you’re photographing yourself.” (Carroll, 2015:36).

Idea for street photography – use blur, e.g. lights on public space by church in Brighton at night.

Carroll suggests that seizing a decisive moment foregoes the opportunity for a more meaningful exchange with the subject. Jeff Wall goes further by recreating the moments with actors, shooting them in large format, such as for Mimic (1982). Here the image of a racist incident is so perfect, it looks wrong somehow – but then it is wrong, and that’s the point.

Carroll finishes by stressing the importance of light – noticing it and using it appropriately.

• NATURAL LIGHT humanises portraits (and makes them look natural)
• ON CAMERA FLASH attacks the subject head-on, so is brutal. It can be softened by toning down or bouncing
• AMBIENT LIGHT can be used e.g. by mixing natural and artificial sources but never use flash (which will kill the scene). Questions – a small amount of fill flash might still work. Also I note that ambient artificial light can lend reality to a scene if the lighting appears motivated to the viewer.

Portraiture is a paradox – conveying the inside by showing the outside.

“Exposure is a matter of opinion” (Carroll, 2015:119)

There was a useful diagram of lighting setups at the end:

Fig. 1 Basic Lighting Setups

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Basic Lighting Setups from Read this if you want to take great photographs of people (P. 123)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Carroll, H. (2015) Read this if you want to take great photographs of people. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.