ChezLark

I have no idea how to write this without sounding overbearing, so please forgive any presumption. I have slowly discovered some useful rules of thumb for taking pictures of people, which I now offer to you to do with as you may.

• Use a longer lens: Peoples’ faces look better if their features are flattened a little by perspective compression. What this means in practice is that you should step back from your subject and “zoom in” if you have a zoom lens, or use a longer focal-length lens if you are using an SLR. People look their worst if you stand very close to them and wide-angle lens (”zoom out”). Doing this tends to make whichever part of the face is closer to the lens (usually the nose) look more bulbous and prominent, which is rarely flattering.
• Don’t aim your flash at people: Using your camera’s built-in flash indoors is very tempting, and lots of cameras will turn it on automatically. Unfortunately, people don’t tend to look good if they are lit by a flash aimed straight at them. If at all possible, take pictures of people under better light, such as next to a window, so you don’t have to use a flash. Failing that, consider investing in an external flash unit that you can aim at the ceiling instead (this is called “bouncing” the flash light).

That’s all for now.