Looking Directly Toward the Camera

There are two main positions for your subject, and each has a different impact on the overall look and feel of the portrait. They are: looking directly into the camera or looking off and away from the camera. The most commonly used pose is for your subject to look directly at the camera, and by doing so, they make direct eye contact with the viewer and immediately engage them. It can be a very intimate type of look where you feel the connection to the subject. Also, when your subject looks directly at the camera like this, it’s clear they are aware they’re being photographed. Of course, depending on their facial expression, this direct engagement can be solemn, sad, happy, confrontational, intimate, intense, and so on, so this direct-at-the-camera pose generally offers more possibilities for expression and connection.