Better Portraits

Scott Kelby recently invited Joe McNally  to critique viewer submitted portraits on The Grid, Scott's weekly photography show.  You can watch the re-broadcast here: If You're Serious about Taking  Better Portraits, Watch This.  More of a conversation than a lecture, Mr. McNally's critiques are very helpful to anyone wanting to improve their portrait photography.

The most common advice given was (these are paraphrased):

1. Get closer to the subject.  Several of the pictures were good scenes, but not good portraits.
2. Use the Rule of Thirds for better composition in most scenes and portraits.  Placing the subject dead center (or in the bull's eye) is only effective occasionally.
3. Watch the lighting.  It should match the subject and the mood of the composition.

Joe McNally says it better than I do so watch the video.  It is about an hour long, but is so interesting it seemed shorter.