My Approach to Portraits by Monica Cutraro

MY APPROACH TO PORTRAITS

BY MONICA CUTRARO

“What could be more simple, more complex,

more obvious and more profound than a portrait “

Charles Baudelaire

Introduction

Hi! I’m Monica Cutraro from Monica Cutraro Photography. I’m a family lifestyle photographer and a Senior, Children portrait photographer located in Houston, Texas. I really enjoy classic creative portraits. I also have a deep love for environmental portraits, and enjoy exploring more conceptual styles too. My way of shooting has become more and more intentional over time in my personal projects as well as in my client work and composition and use of color are the two aspects I pay more attention to when I’m either on a shoot or in the middle of my editing work flow. Many of the tips I’m going to talk about are applicable to all types of portraits, but I’ll start by talking very briefly about the particularities of environmental, classic, and conceptual portraiture. They all have a particular way of visually telling a story.

Environmental portraiture:

It’s the type of portraits in which the subject and his/her usual environment are both important. The location and surroundings “say” something about the subject or add to what the artist want to communicate with the image.

In this kind of portraits the context is specially important because it intentionally communicates details about where the subject works, relaxes, plays, lives, etc. Also, since the subject is being photographed in a familiarized location, there is in my opinion this feeling of a more “candid” approach to it. In this type of portraits we, as photographers, observe the interaction between subject and location or activity and tell the story leaving to the viewer little space for guessing. Our point of view, the lens we choose, the objects we decide to include in the frame, are going to be our resources to communicate with the viewer. I really enjoy this genre. When working on personal branding for clients, or personal projects with my own kids, I find this as a beautiful way of preserving memories linked to a space or activity.

Conceptual portraiture:

I don’t consider my portrait work under this type of photography, but I have been exploring it lately as a way to boost my creativity. In conceptual portraits the idea and the concept are first and then as a creative the artist works the shoot around it. The imagination and creativity are the essence. My approach to it is very minimalist in terms of how I prepare my shoot and then edit my images, but conceptual artists have a very thoughtful preparation and a very intentional editing, sometimes the images are heavily processed to bring the concept or idea to life with a magical surreal feel.

In this kind of portraits the viewer has to “guess” what the message is. The scene is representing that message. Even though the artist has carefully planned, directed the subject, and edited the photograph, there is a space left for interpretation that is for the viewer to make. The subject is carefully directed by the artist in order to achieve the creative idea.

Classic creative portraits:

The subject is the essence here. And our challenge as photographers will reside and how we use our resources to evoke a feeling in the viewer. Lighting, angles, composition, communication with the subject, the ability to direct or the patience to get the best body language, are all tools that we need to put in use in order to visually communicate and express a non verbal message with our shot.There is a lot we can do during a photoshoot to encourage genuine expressions. Showing them the results in the back of our camera, give a positive feedback when we liked a pose or expression, say a word that evokes a certain feel to get the facial expression we are going for.

My tips: The connection with the subject:

When working with clients or my own kids, unless I’m going for a more candid portrait of my subject in the middle of a moment that I’m naturally witnessing, “building” that little moment myself help me to get the most natural and genuine expressions. Prompting, showing them what my idea of the portrait is, getting to know the subject with a little conversation if it’s someone I just met, are all things that help. Patience is key, specially with little kids.

On location: Clutter and crowds can be avoided by changing angles, rearranging things around when possible, and also picking the right lens with a wide aperture that allows to blur the background. The use of light is also key to direct the viewer’s attention. Having that all achieved in camera is best.

Knowing your gear and settings: While we know that the technical part is not enough to communicate a message with a portrait, when a good understanding of the gear and what it does for us is present, a big part of the work is done already. Here are some camera settings and gear I’d recommend:

1. What is the “right” lens? I personally don’t think there is one and only focal length for portraits. A wider angle will be perfect to incorporate storytelling information in the frame or work in small spaces:

50mm 1.4

A telephoto lens will give us a beautiful compression and make our subject pop, so what lens we choose, as always, will depend on the story we want to tell.

85mm 1.8

2. Shoot in manual with a good understanding of the exposure triangle, so you are in control of what the camera does for you and are able to work in any lighting scenario.

3. Autofocus to a single point. Sometimes I manually focus when I prefer to be very precise on a detail.

4. Aperture: when the lens has the ability, I go between f/1.8 and f/3.5 when photographing one subject or f/4 or narrower for larger groups.

5. Shutter speed: when using natural light, I usually go 1/400th or faster when photographing kids and 1/200th when my subject is not moving.

6. Use kelvin for your custom white balance.

1/1000sec f2.0 ISO200

Light: We can’t talk about photography if we don’t talk about light, right? The quality of light and how soft or hard it is will help to communicate different feelings, and evoke different emotions. Understanding light affects every aspect of a portrait work. How dense the shadows are, how the catchlights in the eyes fall, it all has an effect in the final result. I personally love to evoke nostalgia and melancholy and most of the time I use soft light. Light can be shaped to our taste. Beside the resources to control and shape artificial light, there are also tools to manipulate natural light to achieve a certain look. To soften natural light on location use a curtain, a tree, the angle you shoot from, a reflector, or a white cloth or wall if available.

The different angles: I usually use an eye level focus for the classic portraits, but when the details are interesting (I love freckles, lashes, hair), changing the angle and focusing on those details can add interest to the image.

Converting to black and white? It’s definitely an artistic choice that is yours, as an artist, to make. I personally convert to black and white portraits that show deep emotions, genuine expressions that feel special and would benefit from a monochromatic contrasty conversion that make the eyes of the viewer focus on those feelings instead of a color palette.

I hope you find this helpful and if you have any questions just let me know. Have a great portrait month!