Portraits: how can you make people sitting still? sharing your method(s)

[LabRat]

One of the methods I use for adults (and tame children) is to "overpose" people, where they are directed to follow directions to turn head slightly past normal, lean slightly forward/back a little much etc, but their bodies will slightly relax and ease back into the "ideal" position desired...

Takes some practice to direct sitter, but they end up more comfortable and they think they have some "control" in the process... ;-)

Steve K

[Tin Can]

Clearing Up Some Myths About Victorian ‘Postmortem’ Photographs

with images

https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...em-photographs

[BrianShaw]

Clearing Up Some Myths About Victorian ‘Postmortem’ Photographs

with images

https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...em-photographs

Very nice article. Thanks!

[Bernice Loui]

Photographer centric images

~or~

Portrait sitter centric images?


Bernice

[Bernice Loui]

"Other so-called postmortems are often assumed to be of dead people because something seems “spooky.” Too-stiff posture, unnatural-looking eyes, or eerie shadows can easily start a photo’s postmortem career, and much of this supposed evidence is, again, just evidence of an older photography system."


Bernice

Clearing Up Some Myths About Victorian ‘Postmortem’ Photographs

with images

https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...em-photographs

[wclark5179]

This gentleman was my teacher and coach.

Look at this video when placing this description in google search:

portrait photography for everyone zucker

Hope this helps you.

The portrait of me you see here on this forum was made by Monte at Sarasota Florida.

[Dugan]

"Directorial Portraiture" is a completely different ballgame from natural portraiture.
Cases in point:
Gregory Heisler, Douglas Kirkland, David LaChapelle, Annie Liebowitz, Joyce Tennyson.

[Vaughn]

The way I did it with my triplets from about 4yrs old until they moved out:

Let them pick their place and pose (with suggestions) and make sure they are far enough away it doesn't matter if they move a little during a long exposure (some 30+ sec).
YMMD

[Michael Wellman]

[QUOTE=Bernice Loui;1625740]Forced stillness in the portrait sitter essentially destroys the portrait sitter's ability to reveal relevant emotional expression.

Forced stillness in the could be good for the photographer, likely not good for creating expressive portraits.

~Portrait images are much about capturing some aspect of the portrait sitters personality, their expression on-in the image made.

Bernice"

I see your point but like most things I don't believe this to entirely true, in fact I think it may only be true about half the time. I think a lot depends on the photographer and the relationship they have with their subject. There are a lot of good wet plate portraits that have been taken that are posed. The work of Shane Balkowitsch show's that you can have a subject sit still for 5+sec with good results. One of the most famous portraits in the world of Winston Churchill was a posed photograph.


Michael

[wclark5179]

Yousuf Karsh made the portrait of Churchill you describe.

The story I heard about it is when Churchill walked in to have his portrait made, he had a cigar in his mouth. After setting him up for the portrait, Karsh went over to where Churchill was sitting and, without asking, took the cigar out of his mouth. Hence the look that Karsh captured.

Info on Karsh, including the Churchill portrait:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yousuf_Karsh

https://karsh.org/