- The Subject
- Relax the subject.
- Find out about them.
- Make them like you.
- Try to draw out different expressions: thoughtful, happy, sad, joyous, etc.
- Make sure your subject dominates the picture.
- Take the portrait somewhere where the subject feels relaxed and somewhere that reflects the personality of the subject.
- Or give them somewhere that will shake them up a bit and make them energized.
- Give the subject something to do (hold a ball, read a book, climb a tree).
- Be aware of where the subject is looking. Do you want her looking at the camera, or away in the distance, or at something or someone in the frame?
- Composition
- If it's a close up of the face, eyes are normally in the top third of the picture
- Make sure your location is well lit, preferably with natural light.
- Indoor locations close to windows (or skylights) can give you an outdoor feel with the warmth of indoors.
- When relying on natural light, be aware of the position of the sun.
- Be aware of shadows, and use a flash or natural light to compensate.
- Unless you don't want to.
- Don't get in too close to the subject. This may make his nose seem larger like a puppy or a gorilla.
- Use as low an ISO as possible so you'll have the best possible photo for enlargements.
- Put your camera at the same height as the subject.
- Unless you don't want to.
- Shoot with a wide angle lens, or zoomed in tightly for the distortion it can create.
- Background
- Pay attention to your background. Make sure there are no random elements to distract attention from your subject.
- Think about blurring the background (changing your apeture) to keep the focus on the subject.
- The background can be used to frame your subject.
- Change your angle to eliminate background distractions.
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