Martin Szipal, our instructor of the portrait photography class started the 5th session with telling us that there is practically no need for any kind of preparation for the portraiture he is teaching us. He promised showing that to us later.

Martin looked through someone’s portfolio criticizing the photos harshly. “When the nose is standing out from the face that’s a big mistake like belching at the dinner table at the family of your wife-to-be. Profile pictures are exception from this. Your model should look at you on your portrait photo. Ninety percent of the paintings are like that. When I introduce myself I look into your eyes, right?”
The portfolio contained a few pictures of dancers and some others taken in theaters. Martin said: “A dancer has to move in geometric shapes. All the time.” “Here (in Hungary) theaters are not lit well. In the US the lighting of every square centimeters are planned properly. And a good actor knows where to stand to be lit well, to look good. When I split up with my wives I trained them: I told them where to sit in the apartment in the morning, at noon or in the evening to look the most beautiful to attract their new boyfriends.”

We were checking a few of Martin’s photo-prints.
Click on the images for a larger view. (Terribly sorry, it does not work in IE 6 and below. Update: I re-enabled the animation and now it seems to work OK in IE 6.)

On poses

“I asked a musician friend of mine: ‘Why don’t you make some good music?’ And he said: ‘Martin, we have eight notes that have been used for centuries now according to the rules. We either steel or make something bad.’
We have two arms and two legs. There are just a few poses that look good. I’ll show you those poses next time. Today, everyone would like to show something new, something different. Yes, those things are different, but not good.”

“One of my wives was not photogenic. Whenever I photographed her, she looked differently.”

“People’s attention is rather drawn by geometric shapes than by beauty. Taste is something that you learn. Attraction towards geometric forms is natural.”

“I was calling an actress one time and she told me that she was so depressed that she’s about to commit a suicide. I told her to rather come over for a shooting because people look the best when they are depressed.”

On communicating with models

“There are two types of physicians. One of them examines you, fills a prescription and tells you to go to see him next week. The other explains to you that you must have eaten something slightly poisoning and that and your daily stress makes the pain in your stomach. Which physician do you trust?
You have to explain to your model what you are doing and why. You must be talking all the time. You must say that tilt your head a bit, a bit more, and that’s great. But sometimes you have to tell them that something is not OK. That way they will pay attention to you. Tell them that you want to make photos where they look the best.
Digital cameras are good because you might show what you have done and retake the photo when needed.”

“I always tell them the example of the imperfect cube that you can twist and turn until it looks perfect. And when I want just a little smile I tell them that silly story of the dinner and the handsome guy next table to him they should smile back in a way that no-one should notice.”

We found it difficult to instruct our model and Martin admitted it’s not the best thing to do in front of so many people. He said: “Sex, psychiatric therapy and photography are business of only two people”

I had a chance to chat with Martin and told him about Joe McNally and his book. He said that he’s also working on a book. But the book he is working on is not like Joe’s. He is not planning to write stories at all. Stories are for magazines. He is going to use series of bad examples in his book to show how to improve lighting and pose until achieving a perfect portrait. He explained to me that his pictures are art that you might want to hang and see every day in your living room. In art geometric forms and shapes dominate not stories. In magazines your photos must be telling. But he is doing a completely different thing.
Finally I got it.
He continued with the dancers saying that good dancers are moving only in geometric shapes and that pleases the eye, like in Argentine tango when the skirt of the woman draws a complete circle in the air. I did not agree with that since in dances like that expressing emotion is crucial.

Throughout the pictures below there was only one artificial light, a 300W continuous one lighting the model through a white umbrella and there were those el-cheapo white reflecting boards we use all the time. At the beginning there was some light coming through the window too that you might notice in her eyes.
Click on the pics for a larger view.

If you’re happen to be interested I used Lightbox for this kind of photo zooming and I explain it here.

Read about the other sessions:
Portrait Photography Class – Session #1
Portrait Photography Class – Session #2
Portrait Photography Class – Session #3
Portrait Photography Class – Session #4
Portrait Photography Class – Session #6
Portrait Photography Class – Session #7
Portrait Photography Class – Session #8