Portraits

When taking portraits I am always careful to try to catch the subject in a very natural look. Many people will stiffen when you take their portrait -- and they will not look themselves. They are not relaxed and it shows.

Last weekend I was taking photos of my mother in law and her sister. They sat with nice smiles and the photo was OK -- nothing great. As I turned the camera around so they could see the photo on the screen on the back of the camera -- they put their heads together to see the small screen and I immediately saw my photo!

Yesterday as my husband was getting ready to head out for an appointment -- I told him to step out on the deck so I could get a nice head shot of him -- for me and for his website. While I snapped I talked to him to keep him from getting that stiff look for a portrait. Here are some photos in that series of me chatting with him while shooting and below that the final shot after a bit of tweaking on white balance and tone and the photo in black and white.

I am a big believer in portraits in black and white -- colors can be so dating or distracting. When a portrait is black and white -- you see the subject and not the colors in the frame. An exception to this is the portrait of my husband in color -- just the greenery in the background and his white shirt -- there is nothing that distracts from his portrait.