Hi everybody on behalf of Adorama TV my names Doug Gordon and welcome
to
understanding camera height. I'm here to start talking about
understanding camera height and what a difference it really makes in your
images
it's one of the biggest misconceptions I see all the time when looking at
photographers work
that one of the biggest problems is that they're very stagnant with the camera
height they generally keep it at the same level
which is ultimately going to wind up hurting them when I look at a subject
whether they're in a seated position whether they're not in there in a
full-length position
camera height makes all the world of difference and what's gonna happen is
you need to understand that one of the biggest problems is that
our clients they tend to be plus-size
most to the clients that we photograph aren't coming to us because they want to
look bigger
they want to look better so people automatically assume that
always going with a higher camera height is going to work and most times it will
but i wanna kinda teach the differential of it one of the things
that happens is
with setting up the camera height we want to try to make the body look best
so right now she's in a seated position depending on the type of
portrait that I'm going to take of her
I generally wanna try to create the camera height that's going to
work that, so what do I mean by that well right now she's in a seated
position
so what I want to do is can I ask you to cross your front right leg
over you left, cross it over that way bring this leg up
over, your gonna turn your body sideways this way and I want you to lean
forward at the waist put your left hand here
bring this hand back a little bit and turn your head to the right just a little bit
more
and now move forward to me okay so now
I know that I'm basically gonna crop in what we call it the three quarter position
so I basically have three choices of camera height
I can shoot down from low at the bottom of the image I could shoot at bust level
or I can shoot right above high-level now considering
that she's obviously not a plus size subject the best height for me based on
the position
of the angle of the image I'm taking for this three quarter image from
the waist up or half body
is going to be right at bust level, let me show it to you
in the incorrect set up first and see the difference that makes
so first I'm going to start with a low camera angle
ok so turn your head to your right a little bit, tilt your head to the left
and your eyes right out here looking straight up chin up just a tad beautiful
leaning forward at the waist you doing great so now I'm
down below her, let's take a look I'm locking in
perfect theres our first image now for the second one
I'm gonna come up right to about bust level stay there you're smiling you're
doing great
and now for the third one I'm gonna come down on her chin up a little bit eyes
higher
above eye level, perfect so
when you look at all three when we compare them you could see that three
completely different effects
shooting up clearly is not working on her
what I'm shooting the bust level I'm basically cutting the body
it's perfect everything's even and when I shoot down I'm bringing the face
closer
but what's happening is by bringing the face closer I'm making it appear thinner
but the rest of the body starting to get a little bit smaller
in terms of what's happening when Im shoooting up, it's kinda shaped like a bowling pin
I'm bringing the body up now I love taking extreme
coming down on I love having had camera height that's extremely
above the subject because it allows me so much as
so much to work with especially with a pIus size subject
it's going to make all the difference in the world
now one of the things that we have to remember is when where leaning the
subject forward
leaning forward this way , we want to try to keep the camera on the same plain
so if she's with some really shooting up on her
I'm really gonna have her leaning forward at the waist, but camera height
is essentially going to determine as you could see by the last three images
the base in the size of the body and this is key to creating
any type a portrait it's a little thing but it goes a long way
and making the portrait perfect so again we're gonna stand her up this time
we're gonna change it up just a bit.
Do wanna come back here we're turning sideways just thumbs in your pockets turn your body this way
towards me
forty-five degrees point that front foot forward
just like that now push it back in lean your hip back
leaning forward turn your head to your right looking right here tilt your head
chin down a little bit and leaning forward beautiful so again we can now I'm
gonna take a full length image
let's look at the difference in camera height here so I'll
I'm gonna keep her eyes on me now I'm going to start from the ground
okay so I'm shooting a full length image eye up above my head stay there
just like that I'm down real low now I'm gonna come up to the midpoint of her body
which is about waist level
just like that and then I'm gonna come up and shoot down on her
perfect looking there. The big thing to determine its do you see the difference
in body shape
for all three when you're looking at the screen take a look and see it
one way down low body gets a little bit bigger at the bottom
When were in the middle for this full-length body looks completely
even and natural when we come up will were bringing the face closer
so what i'm saying to you is basically the best trying to break the camera
height above eye level
would always be for a plus size subject or
when I'm working bust up.So let's take a look here
when were working bust up so now I'm gonna shoot down turn your head to your right
eyes here not so much back a little bit looking straight out eyes higher
looking out you're smiling beautiful happy now you see it shooting up the
nose
than I'm here just like that stay there and now when I'm above eye level
let's take a look. Eyes straight up
you see the difference first when I'm shooting up her nose
and clearly making her bust look bigger for the second one I'm kinda splitting her
in half a little bit but I'm not
really doing anything to help her but when I come up above eye level
look at what happens it's just different angles
now you may say they look like three completely different images
and you're right they do but that doesn't mean that it's the most
flattering
now I want you to look at what happened when I start to bring the face
up and I track the light now in this case some lucky because I
the natural light coming in here but I also have light here
now one of the keys to what I'm working with is where I bring light from
when I'm shooting above I always wanna try to use my reflect their
to really help me get some light up to her
so that's important to me so I'm bringing the reflector underneath here
just like that and I'm gonna go up on the stairs
in a second there so now let's take a look without it
with it, without it, now I'm gonna come up over here so let's see what we get
I'm gonna bring her body in here same position
and just by changing that angle looking up at me beautiful
chin up a little bit tilt your head a tad to the left
you're doing great stay right there smiling chin up a little bit
you're doing terrific beautiful angle shooting down
and by doing this I'm able
to completely structure, great angle for plus size subject but more importantly
it's made good by having the light underneath I need to get light
underneath to open this all up because if it goes in the shadow
it's not going to work so what are the basic rules full length image
I want to keep the camera height at roughly waist level
for the waist up I want to keep the camera hype for most subjects
a bust level for a head and shoulder shot
from bust up I'm going to basically work with the camera heights
slightly above eye level if you do that you're going to be in great shape
it's simple its easy and its rules that are gonna stick with you for ever
that's how you create great portrait and understanding how to thin people out
by working with camera height hope you enjoyed this video please be sure to
subscribe to
Adorama TV right here on YouTube my name's Doug Gordon and we'll see you
next time
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