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Lesson
Lesson 3. The waist-up portrait and the person in a wide shot
Shot size answers the question “what is the shot about?”
Shot size isn't “closer or farther” — it's the answer to what the photo is about.
A waist-up portrait is about the person: the face is large, and the background barely registers. A full-length shot is about the person in a place: you see the pose, the shoes, the ground underfoot. A person in a wide shot is about a place that happens to have a person in it.
The beginner's mistake is an in-between shot size: the person is no longer large, and the place doesn't read yet. A shot like that is about nothing.
Lesson notes
Shot size isn't “closer or farther” — it's the answer to what the photo is about.
A waist-up portrait is about the person: the face is large, and the background barely registers. A full-length shot is about the person in a place: you see the pose, the shoes, the ground underfoot. A person in a wide shot is about a place that happens to have a person in it.
The beginner's mistake is an in-between shot size: the person is no longer large, and the place doesn't read yet. A shot like that is about nothing.