The 3 Types of Portrait Shots You Should Be Taking

Sometimes it can feel like we take the same images time and time again!  That's why I always try to mix it up by making sure that I include three types of photos when taking images of a person.   

Although that sounds like a little amount of options, within these basic types you will have a considerable amount of variation available on each one, depending on where you place your subject and where you shoot from, how you have them pose etc.  

If you keep these three simple types of portrait shots in mind when shooting, you will help make sure you get a good range of photos from one session. 

Ready? Let's go! 

Before we dig into the 3 types of portrait shots, I just wanted to touch on camera settings for a moment, since they are crucial for getting a good portrait image!

I recommend shooting in manual mode, as this will allow you to make sure that you get the perfect aperture to get everything you want in focus, and a high enough shutter speed that you can avoid motion blur - always a risk when photographing people.

If you aren’t 100% sure what settings you should be using, then do be sure to download my free manual settings cheat sheet - that will help you choose the right aperture, shutter speed and ISO. GO HERE to download it!

Got it? Great! Then let’s dive into the 3 types of portrait shots you should be taking….

Portrait Shot #1 - The Head Shot 

The first up is the Head Shot.  

In this composition,  you will have in the head, and usually the shoulders in the frame. Generally speaking you are looking to get the eyes as the main focal point.  (just a quick point - although eye contact is not absolutely necessary, the eyes do help to draw you into the image, so get it if you can!) 

In this shot below, those beautiful eyes are definitely the main focus. This was taken at F3.2, which blurs out the background so that there are no distracting elements that might pull the eye away from that gorgeous little face, and keep the eyes sharp and clear.  

In this second shot, the eyes are again the focus, and it is a much tighter crop - if you do decide to chop off part of the head, make sure you do so in a way that looks deliberate, so no just skimming the top of the hair for example.   Don't be shy with the crop tool here! 

Here is another example of a head shot, but this time with no eye contact. If you go down the no eye contact route (either deliberately or because the little blighters won't look at you) you preferably need to have a strong emotion or feature that will draw you in the photo instead. 

You can get more tips for taking a portrait head shot here!

Portrait Shot Type #2 - The half body shot 

The next type is the partial or half body shot.  

Now, when cropping at the body you always try to crop at a fleshy part of the body, and not at a joint, such as the elbow or the knees.  Also, if there is a hand in the frame, try to include the whole hand and not accidentally chop the tops of fingers off - this goes for any body part!

In this image below, I should have stepped back just a smidgen, so that i didn't slice off part of her shoulder or elbow (small as it is) but apart from that it's a good example of a partial body shot. 

In this example, had my subject on the ground to include the top half of her body only. 

Agan - eye contact is not necessary, but still try to have more going on in the frame to make up for that lack of eye contact. In this one, I do wish her arm wasn't chopped off at that angle (elbow!), but I think that the light, movement and expression allow me to get away with both the lack of eye contact and the slightly awkward chop.  

Portrait Shot Type #3 - The Full Body Shot 

Last up is the full body shot which is also fairly self-explanatory!

When going for a full body shot, make sure you get all the appendages in - feet not clipped off at the toes, elbows in shot etc The subject doesn't need to be standing, they can be sitting or lying down too! 

Again, eye contact is not always necessary to make a statement and draw you into the picture - when we don't have eye contact we alter the mood of the photo,  changing the viewer into being more of an an observer - its up to you as the photographer to decide the mood or feeling you want the portrait to project. 

You can also choose to show more of the environment in a full body shot, to give a sense of place and context, or just to show more about "who" your child is, rather than simply what they look like.  

That was a very quick visual guide to the three main portrait types - as I said above, there is a huge amount of variation within these three, but it can be good to keep this simple mantra in your held so you can get a good range of images from one session!

Keep on reading with more tips for a portrait close up here, along with must use camera settings for portraits here! Also, don’t also forget to download that free manual mode cheat sheet to help you with your settings!