This is the step where you choose what to show in your image. It’s what will make you want to aim your camera at a human subject and your viewers want to understand the resulting image, even when the subjects aren’t smiling or showing any facial expressions. But whether the shooting situation is controlled or spontaneous, there has to be a good story behind it. You may have even taken a faceless portrait on a whim while you were busy documenting your travels in a foreign land. It could be as easy as snapping a photo of a relative looking away at a family gathering or a child covering her face with a toy. Not all faceless portraits are planned and well-thought-out. It’s imperative that we use the body and the environment to make the portraits intriguing enough for others to want to understand and stare at the image a little longer.īelow are a few helpful tips to consider with faceless portrait photography: Image via Shutterstock Tips for Capturing Faceless Portraitsīy taking faceless portraits, we make our photos more open to interpretation and allow the viewers to place themselves into the image or story. And since people interpret them differently, there’s obviously some added interest and drama that allows faceless portraits to evoke a mix of emotions from its viewers.

When done properly, and with carefully composed photographic elements, it’s a great way to represent and capture the personality of a person.īut, what happens when you go beyond the norm and obscure facial features? The absence of a face does not and should not stop a portrait from representing a human subject, but rather, it should give the subject and shooter an opportunity to find other creative ways to tell a story. Portrait photography is a very popular category in the imaging world, as it features the most commonly photographed subject-people.

Faceless pictures