Looking into the camera or not
The last few days you have read some tips and saw some images from the workshop with Susanne, today just a post with the rest of my favorite shots from that workshop. And one last tip from that series.
A lot of people struggle with the question “Should my model look into the camera, or not?”
Well I think there is no real 100% answer that will fit all situations, for me it’s often more interesting if a model doesn’t look into the camera, but sometimes it’s so much stronger if she does. When you are in doubt, always shoot both. It sounds like a very obvious tip however it’s one that is often overlooked. Somehow you sometimes seems to be locked into a “program” mode and forget to think about the other options. Especially with the “looking into the camera” shots it’s however very easy to shoot both very quickly. In most of my light setups it will however not work because I often place my light sources under a more extreme angle, but in a case like this I will always try both…. my personal favorite ? the second one 🙂
And as promised the rest of the images from the workshop
I agree with your choice of the second one, my favorite of the group as well. Â I, too, prefer the mystery created by the model looking away from the camera. Â At the same time, their is some degree of disconnect with the viewer. Â If the model simply looks like he or she is just looking into the camera, I don’t feel it is a very strong image. Â If, however, I look at an image and I feel like they are looking at me, the image carries a visual impact stronger than most images in which they are looking away from the camera (probably because beautiful models wouldn’t otherwise look at me!).
It’s always a matter of “there is no 100% solution that always works”.
First photo, the look goes through the screen, into my eyes and then to my brain… Of course it’s also up to the model and the way of the look… I like both, look or no look shots… but looking ones usually more personal and I like that 🙂