Portrait Technique Question

I have been working on developing the fundamentals for general photography and leaning towards portrait photography. I find that I am using the rule of thirds as a hardened rule and not a suggestion. So my questions is this.....when taking portraits, be it HS Senior or any other type, do you adhere to the rule of thirds as well? If the shots are 1/2 length, 1/4 length, headshots, etc, is it better to fill the frame with the subject (supposing the posses are good) and just off-center them or should I keep it more centered? Thanks,

it depends on the image, background, body type, mood you want to cretae. there are no tell tale rules, just guidelines. Try a bunch of crops and see which ones look best. Also remember the intended output. A magazine cover, cd cover, 4x6 and 8x10 all have different crop needs, and you might risk a bad crop of the person if you don't think about that ahead of time.

How long have you been taking portraits? I found in every branch of photography that if you take every opportunity to get away from 'the rules' you get more winners, you also get some losers but you learn. If they're commissioned work then get accustomed to doing a mix of by the rules and against them. You get to feel when things are going your way. Stick your neck out occasionally.

That makes sense. I imagine with practice (which is invaluable) I will get used to shooting for the different crops.

Gerry@Rick wrote:
How long have you been taking portraits? I found in every branch of photography that if you take every opportunity to get away from 'the rules' you get more winners, you also get some losers but you learn. If they're commissioned work then get accustomed to doing a mix of by the rules and against them. You get to feel when things are going your way. Stick your neck out occasionally.

I don't know that I have really successfully taken many portraits. I have been trying for a few months and I notice that I pick up something new every time. I did not think about shooting both with and without rules. I was using some of the rules as just that...rules. I will work on that.

Thanks for the replies.

Here's something I posted the other day to illustrate different aspect ratios:

• 1.25 = 10x8
  
• 1.33 = standard PC monitor
  
• 1.40 = 7x5
  
• 1.41 = A5, A4, A3 etc. paper
  
• 1.44 = 11.5x8
  
• 1.50 = 12x8, 6x4, standard uncropped photo

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