Folks, this has been a great thread, and the suggestions I have been getting are pretty good, much better than on FM forum.
Regarding the definition of a portrait. Isn't a portrait made to provide the subject with an picture of themselves? Don't most people want the best picture of themselves?
In that sense, should not the best portrait present the subject in the best way; with the most relaxed and confidant expression and pose. And make use of the best lighting and background to go along with the subject's appearance and clothing. Also to be different enough so it does not look like everyone's else portrait.
Some photographers want to dig deeper and to some how display the inner soul of the subject in the picture but that is not what most people want a portrait for. They just want a portrait to look good. In that sense the best portrait photographer is the one that makes people look their best with the right combination of lighting, pose, expression, background, etc. How you deiced to light the subject, turn their head, how high to have the camera, or how you interact with them and attain their interest are the kind of things that will ultimately make or break the picture. Get all those elements right and that will make an amazing portraits.
No. That's what I do and what it's called is a NICE portrait. Someone wants me to take a pretty picture of them or of their family or children. What we do after years of experience and training in lighting and posing is produce something that they can show their friends and be proud of.
That however is not a GREAT portrait. It's just a nice one.
Lets say we have an executive and he needs a portrait of him and his fellow executives individually photographed, and he wants his fancy new office building in the background. We could easily take a nice picture of him, good lighting, dramatic, good flattering pose, etc and do all his people the same way. Every picture would be nice but in essence all the pictures look pretty much the same. They are interchangeable. Well they are nice portraits but not really portraits because they didn't really reveal too much about anybody, they just looked nice.
There are a few things you have to remember. Who is paying the bill is very often the determining factor in what is produced. Lets take a portrait photographer or good photojournalist who is working for some publication. They may be, or should be, trying to take a portrait to show the soul ( I hate that definition but you get the idea) of the subject. The resulting picture may or definitely may not, flatter the subject but may indeed be a true and great portrait. The publication may love it and the subject may hate it.
On the other hand if a photographer is hired by the subject, you can be sure that the portrait needs to be flattering, or your reputation as a portrait photographer will suffer. Obviously the trick is to try to get both elements to align, but very often finances can get into the way. Most people cannot afford to have a photographer hang around them for a day or longer to have the photographer know and understand them enough to get great portraits of them, so we settle for nice.
With us it's usually our personal work is where we work on GREAT and sometimes our clients love them.
Michael
