10 Tips for Better People Photographs

These all come from the book Face to Face: Rick Sammon’s Complete Guide to Photographing People by world famous travel photographer Rick Sammon. He was promoting his new book recently at the Photo Plus Expo and released the tips in a video clip from his presentation entitled, “10 Key Ingredients for Cookin’ Digital Photographs“.  His points are clearly demonstrated with photos he took from his trip to Papua New Guinea, primarily of native tribal members wearing ornate & colorful outfits.  These practical tips will benefit every photographer:

1. Pick an interesting subject - This basically goes without saying, but is important none-the-less.  Spend some time trying to find something that catches your eye.  Before even thinking of touching that shutter button, ask yourself, “Would anyone want to look at this picture?”  If the answer is “no,” then find something else to shoot, or make it more interesting.  Add meaningful or interesting props, change the angle, or just do something different.  Remember, the goal is to “make” a picture (a photograph with some sort of artistic value) and not simply “take” a picture.
2. Good composition - Following simple compositional “rules” can make or break a picture.  It’s usually a good idea to place your subject slightly off-center to create a bit of tension in the scene, and to force the viewer’s eyes to look around the picture.
3. Crop creatively – Many great images are simply well-composed shots of interesting subjects with an unusual crop applied to them.  It’s always good to try to get a nice crop in camera, but you should also test out different crops first thing when editing your picture.  Tight head shots can be cropped from a group photo, and you can sometimes create completely new pictures from one shot.  Play around and surprise yourself.
4. Focus carefully – Make sure that the focal point of the image is the most focused part (unless you’re going for some type of artsy effect).  This is particularly important if you’re shooting at a wide aperture because the depth of field is so shallow.  Most people will agree that a person’s eyes should be the tack-sharp and lit well.  I agree with Rick that using the single point focus setting, rather than relying on your camera’s fancy focusing mechanisms, is the best method to ensure tack-sharp eyes in a photograph.
5. Check camera settings - How often have you started taking pictures with crazy settings you were using in the previous session that ruin the ones you just took?  Before shooting, make sure that all your important settings (ISO, white balance, image quality, picture control, etc) are appropriate for the situation.  If you have a Nikon SLR, you can use the built-in reset function to make your life easier.  Trust me, spending a few seconds to set up your camera each time you shoot is well worth it, especially if it saves a batch of pictures that are tough or impossible to replace.
6. See the light - The human eye can see a significantly larger range of light than your camera (11 f-stops vs. the camera’s 5 or 6).  Therefore, it’s critical to recognize your camera will render the photo differently than how you actually see it.  Once you know that the camera will render the scene differently, you can learn to adjust how you compose the picture and think about how best to capture it.
7. Control the light – Great lighting is one of the most important elements of a wonderful photograph.  You can control the light using a flash (a.k.a. “Speedlight”), a reflector, a diffuser, or you can use any or all of them in combination for an infinite variety of ways to modify the light.  Flashes can be used to add fill-light which reduces shadows in a face, or they can be used off-camera to light different parts of the face to highlight certain features to create a more dynamic shot.  Reflectors are simply that: pieces of material that are held or mounted at an angle to reflect a light source back at the subject.  They can be used like a flash (to add fill light or highlight features), and tend to be more portable and cheaper than flashes.  A diffuser is a piece of semi-transparent material that is placed between a light source and the subject to soften the light.
8. Use +/- controls - Most digital cameras nowadays have more adjustment controls than many photographers will use, as well as super LCD’s that allow for instant review of shots.  Make use of them!  Is the image too warm (orange/amber-tinted)?  Shift the white balance a couple notches cooler.  Is the image too dark?  Adjust the exposure compensation up a third or two thirds of a stop.  The possibilities are endless, and all photographers should become comfortable making quick, between-shot adjustments to make the best images possible.  Just remember tip #4 when your setting changes.
9. Play with light - There are a million and one ways to use light to enhance a picture.  Time and experience are often the best way to get it right.  You’re only limited by your imagination what can be done with light.
10. Have Fun - Isn’t this the reason we spend so much money on our handy-dandy, latest and greatest photo gear?  Isn’t that the reason we get up at 4:00 in the morning to get set up for that perfect sunrise shot?  Isn’t that the reason we spend hours in Photoshop tweaking our pics to perfection?  Photography is, and always should be, fun.  If you aren’t having fun, you should find another hobby and give your gear to me

There you have it, 10 tips every photographer should know about taking pictures of people.  What’s your favorite “people photography” tip?

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