The Details Of Portraiture

By Tracey Clark And The Shutter Sisters
Published December 11, 2010
Updated April 3, 2019
Published in How To
Photographers, in essence, are storytellers. Instead of words, we use images to tell our stories. In traditional portraiture, we most often focus on the face of our subject to narrate the shot. We look to capture just the right curve of the mouth, the twinkle in the eye or the tilt of the head and rely on facial expressions to reveal the heart and soul of the person in front of our lens. There’s so much more to telling the whole story than that.

It’s not merely the details alone that will speak effectively in a portrait; it’s how the details are captured. Consider ways to best feature the key elements of your shot and frame them accordingly. When working with children, you have to take into consideration size and perspective. Getting low and shooting from near ground level gives you the ability to reveal details of your small subject in a way that not only is interesting, but relevant. Tracey Clark reflects, “Beyond a simple summer afternoon of play, this image is about my daughter growing up. Capturing this milestone by focusing on color, texture and the gesture of my daughter as she masters riding a two-wheeler, I was able to narrate the story beautifully, just as it was and just as I want to remember it.” —Photo by Tracey Clark

In our new book, Expressive Photography: A Shutter Sisters’ Guide to Shooting from the Heart, we introduce another approach to portraiture: focusing on the details. Although often overlooked, the small gestures and subtle nuances of your subject often can tell you more about them than any headshot ever could. Co-author Andrea Scher adds, “A subject’s spirit can live in the tiniest details—that perfect brooch, the gesture of her hands, the tiniest rose peeking out of a pocket. As photographers, we get to notice it all. As seers and story-framers, we get to make these powerful choices: What story do we want to tell? Where do we want the viewer to look? What do we want them to notice?”

When you’re a child, everything seems larger than life. Keeping this in mind as you shoot will help you focus on what’s important to your young subject. By pointing your lens at something as simple as a slushy, you can compose delightfully unexpected portraits while at the same time translating a scene that’s universally relatable. The color, composition and the gesture of the young girl work together in creating a playful portrait. “Beyond the blue drink and dirty hands, it’s the remnant of her one fingernail with the chipped polish that makes the whole photograph for me,” muses co-author Maile Wilson. “It goes to show that stories can be interpreted in the smallest of details.” —Photo by Tracey Clark

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