Evening star., 1951-10-14
By Alexander J. Wedderburn
curatof Of Photography
The Smithsonian Institution

Modern camera portraiture
tends to flatter or glamorize the
subject. It's not considered crick-
ct these days to show up people
as they really are and you might
as well follow the current trend
in portraiture If you want to keep
your friends.
Women openly demand and ex-
pect to be glamorized In their
portrait camera studies and while
the men may not be quite so
fortnight, they nevertheless are
mot having any. thank you," III
their pictures don't come up toI
expectations.
Now, while we can't hope toI
compete with the glamour pho
tographers Of the Hollywood set,
there are a number of ways inl
which we can improve on nature
by a few simple receptions that
won't be apparent in the pic
lures. We will not fool the init
mate friends of the subject, but he
or she will be happy If we sue
ceed. The ultimate success of
our gentle deception will be
reached when succeeding genera
tions are completely fooled be-
cause the original subject will no
longer be around for comparison.
Makeup Solves Problems.
There are q number Of ways
in which we can make a person
look better than he really does.
Retouching the negative will re-
move blemishes, scars, freckles.
wrinkles, and the like. but we are
going to omit discussion Of this
subject because retouching re-
quires o special skill that most
/ of us do not have. Besides, we
can achieve the same end by the
use of judiciously applied makeup.
Most women are skilled makeup
artists and We can always enlist
their aid when preparing a sub
ject for a portrait sitting.
/ Then there is the matter OF a
persons good or bad features.
There they are-open to your in
spection. Make a mental note to
hide the poor ones and then go
ahead and emphasize the good
ones and the battle is more than
half won. Make the best OF a
persons good features. hide or
obscure the bad ones. use your
Photographic tools skillfully-then
add the final ingredient OF pleas
ing expression and your job will
be we'll done.
| Perhaps you are wondering how
! bad features may be hidden or
obscured. It's easier than you
think. The answer lies chiefly in
lighting and camera angle. Either
or both are excellent beauty aids.
When used together properly they
will work wonders with human
physiognomy. Light and shadow
act powerfully together for you as
different hues do for the painter.
/ A highlight can be used to draw
attention to a good feature and
an unpleasing one lost in the OBJ
scurity of a shadow. Raising.
lowering and fitting the camera
! is still another means by which
certain features may be empha-
sized or subdued.
Ground Glass Focusing.
/ Before we become involved In
procedure it will be well to dis
cuss cameras for a moment. Any
camera that has ground glass
for focusing is better suited to
portrait photography than the
others that are not so equipped.
Although few amateur photo
graphers have view camera,
which professionals use in portrait
photography. many have the re-
flex with single or twin lenses.
If you do plan to do any re-
touching. the films must be large
enough to produce a two-inch
head. Smaller images are almost
impossible to retouch without the
art work showing with such
camera. or any other for that
matter. it should be obvious that
you will need a tripod to main
tain the planned composition
while you are moving lights and
reflectors. The other types of
finders can be used, of course.
but in close up work, encountered
in portrait photography. they will
only give you an approximate idea
of the image that will actually be
recorded on the film.
! Now let's see how we shall make
the lights and camera angles work
together to overcome some OF the
defects commonly found. First.
assume that we have an individual
with a short nose. To please this
person we must make the nose
seem to be bit longer to conform
with the accepted style" Raise
your main light so that a rather
long nose shadow is case and. at
the same time, raise the camera
to a higher position than normal.
But If the subject should have a
long nose, go about the arrange
ments in the opposite way. A long
nose calls for a lower camera posi-
ton and the main light should
also be lowered so that compare
lively short nose shadow is cast.
In either case. or indeed In any
case, where the nose is noticeably
out Of the ordinary, stay away
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