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You know you have a good picture when the subject is happy with it. This relaxed portrait shows personality and captures the subject's youthful essence.
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It is always a pleasure to photograph a subject who enjoys having his or her picture taken, and who will photograph well. Just about every healthy teen-aged and young adult girl is pretty, usually thinks it’s fun to model, and will look good in pictures.
However, many photographers find it difficult to capture a flattering image of an attractive girl, resulting in frustration and disappointment for both parties.
The problem is not one of equipment. You don’t need a professional studio and a top camera - a pleasing picture can be taken with a simple point-and-shoot and some know-how.
The problem is usually a combination of things, including technique, posing skills, rapport (which leads to bringing the best out in your subject), getting the right expression, self-confidence, nervousness, having a clear objective, and knowing what works and what to avoid.
This section of photographytips.com is intended to help you with all of these.
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THE OBJECTIVE
First, you should mentally prepare yourself by clearly establishing the objective in your own mind. Your goal should be to take a sincere picture of a girl that shows her at her best and that she will be proud to show to anyone. The objective is not to do a fashion shoot or a school portrait, but to bring out the subject’s loveliness, charm and personality in a pleasing picture. Treating your subject as a fashion model would mean that she is secondary to the apparel, which fashion photography is meant to show at its most-appealing. You are photographing her, not her clothing or accessories. In a nutshell, you are meant to be taking a picture that shows your subject as she would like to be photographed.
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Your subject doesn't have to be looking at the camera for a successful picture, but the image must convey a sense of character and show her at her best.
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Some subjects have a natural knack for posing and expression, requiring little guidance. Others need the photographer's direction.
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RAPPORT
Rapport refers to the relationship between you and the subject, the connection, if you will. If you keep the foregoing objective in mind at the start of (and throughout) the photo session, you are on your way to establishing the kind of rapport that is essential for success. Why? Because that is also the girl’s objective, and when she begins to sense that you and she share the same goal, you will find that you both begin to cooperate with each other to make good pictures.
Good photographer/subject rapport is somewhat nebulous, and hard to define, but a big part of it is tied to trust and confidence. You must therefore demonstrate self-confidence and provide every reason for trust to develop and grow. This is not only trust in your intentions, but also in your ability to make good pictures and to provide instructions to your subject that she can easily follow and feels comfortable about.
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A relaxed, confident girl who feels good about the photographer and the photo session will make a good subject, and it will show in your pictures.
If both subject and photographer enjoy the session, it will be evident in the final results. If the model is up-tight, however, that too will show up in the pictures. Friendliness and even humor are therefore also necessary components of the rapport between you, and it is often up to the photographer to “break the ice” with a little humor or a warm smile that lets the girl know that you are human, friendly and that the session will be fun. Laughter is a great relaxer, and there is no reason why it can’t be part of your picture-taking.
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Black velvet fabric makes an excellent backdrop for an attractive close-up of a pretty teen-ager, whether indoors or outside.
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What is prettier than a teen-ager dressed for a big social event? A father or boyfrend would be pleased to take a picture such as this of his favorite girl.
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POSING SKILLS
Most girls have an innate ability to pose pretty well. Given the opportunity and their degree of comfort, some will slip into a number of good poses on their own, particularly if they have been photographed before and have evaluated the resulting pictures to see how they could be improved. But, such girls are rare. Many are shy and feel they would be performing, doing something out of their normal character. Others just don’t know what to do in front of the camera, and only develop good posing skill with experience and help.
The photographer is usually relied upon for posing direction, and should not only be prepared with specific poses in mind, but should also be ready to suggest posing changes on the fly to make the subject look her best. We invite you to visit our section entitled Posing for information and tips that should get you off on the right foot, whether you are the subject or the photographer. If you are looking for posing ideas, we recommend you visit our sub-section, A guide to poses for the female model.
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EXPLORE & LEARN
We encourage you to visit Planning and Overcoming imperfections for further information and helpful hints and tips on photographing girls. (Click on the links below.)
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Sometimes all it takes is a simple prop, like a long white glove, to add that "je ne sais quoi" to a photograph to make it sparkle. Of course, having an attractive subject helps, too.
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