When taking head shot and upper body portraits of people one simple
posing tip that I’ve picked up over the years is to angle the shoulders
of your subject rather than to have them even or squared in your shot.
While the shoulders might not seem like an important aspect of a
portrait they can actually set the tone for an image as they’re the
widest part of your subject and they are visually what the main point
of focus for your image (the head) is sitting upon.
Generally speaking, angling the shoulders slightly gives you shot
balance and helps lead your viewer’s eye into the shot towards your
main focal point. It also stops your subject seeming out of proportion
as it lessons the width of the shoulders slightly.
Getting this effect might mean actually getting your subject to lean
in one direction or another or it could simply mean getting them to
turn their body a little so you’re not photographing them directly
front on. Another technique can be to frame your subject slightly off
center so that one shoulder is actually out of the frame.
Some believe that in positioning your subjects shoulders make the
one closest to camera the lower of the two – but I’ve found that you
can get an interesting effect by doing it the other way around too.
Of course – this isn’t a hard and fast rule and sometimes the
completely front on symmetrical shot can leave a shot can have a very
powerful (and often confronting) impact upon your readers also. So as
always – experiment with posing your subject in a variety of ways and
see what works best for you and your subject.
Here are a few shots that illustrate some of the different ways to angle shoulders to avoid the front on look.
