Understanding The Importance Of Camera Height

On this Adorama video, Photographer Doug Gordon explains the importance of camera height and the difference it makes when shooting different types of portrait images.

There are all kinds of portrait images, full body, headshots, sitting, standing etc. On this video Gordon takes a look at several common types of portrait shots and shares a few simple guidelines that can help you get the most from your subject:

Full length image – camera at waist level.
Waist and up image – camera at bust level.
Head and shoulder – camera above eye level.

These are not set in stone and they depend on the look of your subject and the kind of image you would like to create but they are a good starting point.

We have covered posing in Photography quite extensively in the past including photographer’s Frank Dispensa excellent video on Classical Posing & Portrait Lighting, Bambi Cantrell workshop on Portrait & Posing and r Jasmine Star’s short video on Posing a Bride for a Photoshoot.

You can find many more helpful photography tips on our Photography tips section here on LensVid.

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.