Hey everyone! Glad you made it back here to see us at JLykins Photos. I thought today we'd talk about camera angle in relationship to the model/background. I'm going to show you what a little tweak or change in camera angle can do for your photographs. This of course falls under the broader category of COMPOSITION, but today we're going to be really specific about camera angle. Hit the jump to see what I'm talking about...
You want to know a photographers secret? It's a really, really closely guarded one that not many are willing to share(kidding), move your butt! Seriously... If you take all of your images at eye level, as you would normally see the subject, you are limiting yourself to mediocre images. Not to say that there haven't been some wonderful images taken at eye level, but more, many many more have been taken at off or different angles. For example look at these two images below. The first was taken at eye level. The second, was taken on a ladder slightly above the subject. Which do you think looks better?
Now the model here is by no means fat, but notice how the first image makes her look heavier? See how her chin/neck area looks chubbier? When you have the model looking up at you, it elongates their neck, slimming it. Who doesn't want to look slimmer? Not that Alex(the model here) has one, but if the subject has a double chin, shooting from above them will reduce if not eliminate it.
Here's an example of when getting down low makes all of the difference in the world. Can you imagine if I had taken this shot from eye level looking down at her? The perspective would be changed, the "feeling" of the image would be bland. Getting down low makes sense in this instance because the model is close to the floor, and thus just skimming across the floor gets you what I call the dogs eye view. If you were a pooch running around my studio that day, this is the view you would have had.
Now that's not to say that some images can't be taken from eye level. For example, the image below was taken at eye level. changing my shooting position wouldn't have made a difference. Usually when it comes to tight in headshots like this one, the only thing that could be effected would be the elongation of the neck but in this instance I didn't want to do that.
So there you have it. When shooting images, MOVE! Move your butt up, down, left, right. The more variations you get, the better your chances that you'll have a happy customer and the happier the customer, the better the chances that you'll get repeated business.
See you all soon. Jason
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