People Pictures

[Ed Rooney]

I began in photography working in the New York theater world, and so I did lots and lots of actors' portraits. I always made a point of having the subject look into the camera: eye contact. I notice on Alamy's homepage that there's a head shot of James where he's looking off into the great beyond: no eye contact. (Nice picture, though.) 

 

Which approach do you favor and why? 

 

For your eyes, if not only.  http://newyorkstreetportraits.com

[Gervais Montacute]

Today I took few people images and sometimes I asked them to look into the camera, sometimes not to look and some I asked to turn their back to the camera and look at something else. I'm not a great people photographer at the best of times and can get uncomfortable on occasion.

[David Kilpatrick]

Brian Griffin was the British corporate photographer who popularised the 'looking out of the frame' formal portraits, late 70s early 80s and on. His style was widely copied and now I think almost anything is acceptable. After all, do Picasso portraits have eyes which look at you? Or indeed, at anything?

[York Photographer]

Depends on the context of the picture, eye contact is important to build trust in the viewer, not looking into the camera can look shifty if they are trying to sell something.

 

Looking off camera I think works better in an editorial context

[Ed Rooney]

I use the word "portrait" when I have some control over the subject and say, "candid" when I don't. Candids work best when the subject is busy doing something. For portraits I prefer eye contact. (Actors are selling themselves, so eye contact is important.) Best to look to Vermeer for portraits; most of Picasso's portraits are cross-eyed after his Blue Period. I detest those fay people pics with the self-involved thousand-yard stare into nowhere. 

[Chuck Nacke]

Ed,

 

I began working as a photographer for a daily newspaper and I was discouraged from photographing people looking directly into the camera. In journalism school I was again discouraged from "direct into the camera". Years later while working for large news photo agencies and the news weekly publications photographing more notable people, the direct looking into the camera became the preferred image. When shooting images for corporate communications it all depended on the art director and final usage of the image. In my opinion it depends on the subject and the final client. It is always best to include images of the subject looking like they are really doing something.

[Tina Manley]

I prefer to be a "fly on the wall" and document whatever is going on as if I were not there.  I spend weeks staying with families so they get used to my taking photos and forget that I am there.  I am good at being invisible ;-)  That is my goal. Strictly for editorial use, though.                                                                                            

 

Tina

[Tina Manley]

I will say that I have done a lot of work for non-profit charities for fund-raising projects.  In that case, it is almost always better to have eye contact in the photo with the person (a child or elderly person) who will benefit from the funds raised. Raises the level of guilt and amount of funds!

 

Tina 

[Gervais Montacute]

I use the word "portrait" when I have some control over the subject and say, "candid" when I don't. Candids work best when the subject is busy doing something. For portraits I prefer eye contact. (Actors are selling themselves, so eye contact is important.) Best to look to Vermeer for portraits; most of Picasso's portraits are cross-eyed after his Blue Period. I detest those fay people pics with the self-involved thousand-yard stare into nowhere. 

 

Certainly think that the old masters like Vermeer and Van Eyck, (The Arnolfinis) for example, are every serious photographers ideal candidates as a learning curve for taking portrait photos. The landscape artists are the the same of course for compositional placement in landscape photography, especially as they took a lot of liberties with reality through their own imagination. 

[Ed Rooney]

"Controlled candids"* describes my candid-looking images that were influenced by my direction. - Jeff

 

I once did a South American shoot for PanAm where the brief was for me to get local people smiling into the camera or at least looking friendly. The airline's research told them that tourists were often afraid of dealing with the local people in far-off places. And yes, I had to get releases. We had a friendly translator doing just that. Very time consuming, as I recall.