7 Pro Tips for Better Portraits

4. Working with Groups
Ironically, the best way to capture individual personalities may be to photograph them with others. Subjects who are particularly self-conscious and nervous whenever a camera comes out often relax when someone else is in the frame. These ancillary subjects can take the pressure off, offering a distraction that produces engaging facial expressions in an otherwise uncomfortable subject.

You don't even have to leave the other person in the photo. When your goal is to photograph grandparents, for example, shoot them with a grandchild, framing the shot so the child can be cropped out later.

Barbara Peacock, a pro shooter (barbarapeacock.com) based in Westford, MA, who photographed the snacking sisters here, agrees that groups can be easier than individuals. “Siblings are great to shoot in pairs,” she says. “They have this symbiotic thing going that can work to a photographer’s advantage.”

Individuals in groups tend to quickly engage with each other, helping them to ignore the camera. With some pairings, capturing great facial expressions can be relatively easy.

5. Relaxing Your Subject
When Anne Makaske set about making this stunning black-and-white portrait of her grandmother, she knew her model would be uneasy. “To take her mind off the camera, I started by taking pictures of her home, of a house plant, testing the flash, and checking the camera,” she says. “When I started to take her picture, she had forgotten the camera and wasn’t aware that she was my actual subject.”

Based near Arnhem in the Netherlands, Makasker (annemakaske.com) stresses the importance of patience in relaxing her subjects. It’s only after they become accustomed to the camera, that they start to reveal their true character. It also allows you to capture natural gestures, rather than stiff poses.

“Making a portrait takes time,” she says. “Whenever you want to see a part of your subject’s soul reflected in your image, you need to invest time and learn what moves your model. Discover their characteristics, and try to bring these traits out.”{C}