Group Portrait
This can be a family portrait or a couples portrait. Again eliminate, distraction. Focus on the people. There position posture, eyes, angle, hands, arms. Your grade will be determined by use of natural light and posing technique.
Background
“We don’t want any posed pictures” is a common admonishment from young people these days. What they mean is that they want to appear natural and relaxed in their portrait of the family. A certain amount of posing is a necessary evil in order to accomplish what they want. Of course, it is up to the photographer to make this as painless as possible.
Try not line up the faces vertically or horizontally.
Try create triangle with your subjects.
Hands play an important part in the language of the portrait.
To look graceful and slender, hands should present their edges to the camera. Oppositely, to appear strong, the backs of hands should face the lens. Find something for the hands to do so the arms are bent at the elbow. Arm rests, furniture and other people are handy tools for creating a dynamic angle for the arms.
The images on the left side of the folio all face to the right and those on the right face left. The master painters of the Rennaissance used this technique to keep the viewers attention within the painting.
Try not to crop off at the wrists and ankles.
-Kenneth Hoffman
Traditional pose vs Creative pose
