Project 18: Portrait Angle

Taking pictures of people can be stressful, but portraiture is one of the primary reasons photography was created. Early pioneers wanted to take pictures of people. Some portraits are head-on shots, like Steichen's face-view picture of Greta Garbo above. Some incorporate different angles of the human face.

When you photograph a face you have to decide on a view. In other words, how much of the face you are going to show. There are four angles you can photograph:

3/4 or Three-quarters: This view is the upper left-hand image below. In 3/4 view, you can see both eyes, cheeks, and ears (barely). Both eyes are within the limits of the face.

2/3 or Two-thirds: This view shows only 2/3 of the face. You will see both eyes, both cheeks, but only one ear. The eye nearest the camera will be centered and the eye farthest from the camera will be on the edge of the face. 

Face-view or Head-on: You will see the entire face. This is the kind of photo you see in drivers licenses or IDs. 

Profile: In a profile picture you will only see one eye, one cheek, and one ear. We've explored profile images before. 

For this assignment you are going to take four photos of one person (a partner in class) and photograph this person in 3/4, 2/3, face-view, and profile. Let's look at each of these formats:

You'll create an 8x10 file in Photoshop with each of the four views in a single file.

PR18