By Bill Spiegel, Byline Editor
Joel Reichenberger – a two-time ACN Photographer of the Year and three-time winner of the ACN Photo of the Year – says great portraits can be had without breaking the bank with loads of equipment. He presented the April ACN Webinar, “Snapping an Easy Farm Portrait,” which is free to watch for ACN members.
“If you don’t have a bunch of equipment, or a whole flash set up; and maybe you can’t be there at 6:30 a.m. when the light is the very best, hat’s my motivation for this webinar,” says Reichenberger, an ACN board member and editor with DTN/Progressive Farmer.
There are several bullet points Reichenberger recommends photographers keep in mind when making portraits of their subjects.
Context. A good portrait should tell you more than what the subject looks like. Surround the subject in a way that tells the reader more about his or her profession, or the reason you’re making their photograph, Reichenberger says. Perhaps it’s an agronomist in the field. Those shots are a dime a dozen, but what can you do to indicate the subject’s expertise? Maybe it’s a polo shirt with the company or university name emblazoned on it. Or a farmer with a combine in the background, positioned so that angles lead to the subject. Find the context, he urges. “You want a portrait to tell you something beyond just what the man or woman looks like, that as soon as you see it, you know,” he explains. “Anytime you can add some context, that’s a big thing for me.”
Personality. Use your skills as a journalist to find the subject’s personality.. Spend time with your subject to find what their passion is, what they love about their work. For one of Reichenberger’s early assignments as a newspaper writer, it was a volunteer named Helen who made dinosaur gardens for kids. She got on the ground with the dinosaurs, and Joel shot his shot.
When on assignment for DTN/Progressive Farmer, he tries to get the whole family in for at least one shot for one of their annual features; kids being kids often bring out the entire family’s personality. “You can’t make a kid do something cute, but you have to be ready,” he says.
Be careful to avoid shooting portraits when the subject’s shoulders square to the camera. Also, make sure you shoot a wide-, middle- and close-range head and shoulder image, he suggests.
Angles. Shooting level with the subject is easy, and it’s okay to do that. But get high, or get low to obtain a new and different angle of the subject, he says.
“Even when you’re walking from one position to another, you know, kind of keep your eyes open. I do a lot of, ‘Oh, can you do that again? Or, oh, I really like that.”
In one case, he photographed a wheat farmer in Washington, in the middle of the day. The subject came to the shoot wearing a white t-shirt. “That was about the least helpful thing he could possibly be wearing,” Reichenberger explains. But he salvaged the shoot by having the farmer spread the wheat out with his hands, and shot from below, with the sky in the background.
“I didn’t get weird shadows from the sun. I could kind of control the shadows because he’s looking down at me,” he says.
Talk to farmers. Getting farmers to open up and relax while shooting photos is not easy. Reichenberger says longtime ACN member Jerilyn Johnson offers great advice: Spend 20 or 30 minutes talking to them. Ask them where their favorite spot on the farms are, talk to them about the subject matters you’re trying to capture. I want to get to know them, their interests, how they feel, how they feel about the subject matter you’re trying to capture… spend the time getting to know them and let them know you’re truly interested.
“And boy, I can’t echo that enough. That’s excellent advice,” he says.
The last photo. Reichenberger’s photographer friend John Russell says to never put the camera away. “You can put it down, but not away,” Reichenberger explains. “A lot of times your best shot is gonna be that one when they relax a little bit at the end of the shoot.”
There is much more in Reichenberger’s webinar. Take a look at it here.