I have photographed thousands of people and in my experience as a professional photographer there is one thing I hear over and over again … ‘I take a terrible photo’ and I think I know why people think this. They have never seen a photo of themselves that they like and you know why?
Usually the photos they are see are of them selves when they are not prepared or ready for the photo. You can just be minding your own business when one of your friends says’ Hey Joe, look!’ and as you unsuspectingly turn around you hear the shutter close. Then they show you the photo and your first reaction is ‘Oh my God, please delete that’
It is therefore vitally important to set your subjects up for success, make suer you follow the old principle of lips and eyes where as much as possible you get the subjects to group themselves so that the eyes of one person are level with (or os close as possible) to the person next to them. You also need to push them in as close as possible to each other, preferably so there are no gaps … people will think you are a bit strange but as a professional photographer it is up to you to direct people and show them the possible images of them selves. Follow the advice of Sue Bryce and observe the ‘chin forward and down’ principle and the ladies in the photo will be much happier with the result. If you practise these princilpes will find that your photography improves dramatically.
See more examples of these principles in practise on our Pinterest page here.