CT Member Kacy here with some tips on great portrait photos.  You don’t need an expensive camera or Photoshop abilities to get some great photos – your cell phone will do the trick!

What’s in your background?

While you are composing your shot, what is visible in the background?  Here, my sister is sitting on some kind of grate, the background is not terribly attractive and the sun is shining right into the lens.

What’s that?

If your subject is holding something, carrying a bag, or even wearing distracting jewelry, it can draw the eye away from the subject and toward the object.  Objects can also sometimes look like phantom shadows or body parts and are often impossible to crop out.

Body Language

Whoa – the body language here doesn’t exactly say happy or inviting, does it?  Similarly, asking your subject to stand up stick-straight with their arms down by their sides does not convey relaxed and happy.  Have your subject act naturally – the photos won’t hurt them, I promise!

Check Your Angle

No one, and I mean NO ONE looks good from this angle.  Shooting up from underneath gives everyone a double-chin and can also project strange shadows downward.  Stand on something (safely!) or even raise your camera and have your subject look up into the lens for the photo.

Get CLOSER

Getting closer to your subject shows so much more detail than far away – my sister has truly gorgeous blue eyes, which are difficult to see from far away.  Putting your subject’s eyes at the upper third of the photo will add instant visual interest.

Personality is Important

This would have never made my mom’s Christmas card, but this photo is “Totally Lindsey” – silly and hilarious.  Letting your subject’s true personality shine through in your photo is worth more than a thousand words.