The moment you say "smile" to a portrait subject, you have already lost. That forced, toothy expression people produce on command has nothing to do with who they actually are. It is a mask, and masks make terrible portraits. I have spent twenty years learning how to get past the mask.
Early in my career, I directed everything. "Turn your chin left. Drop your shoulder. Look past me." The results were technically competent and emotionally dead. The subjects looked like statues, not human beings. It took me years to realize that the best portrait is the one where the subject forgets they are being photographed.
I give my subjects a framework, not a pose. I might say, "Lean against that wall and think about the last thing that made you laugh." That is not a pose instruction. It is an emotional prompt. Their body naturally finds a position that matches the feeling, and that position is always more authentic than anything I could direct.
This technique works for everyone from corporate headshots at Biricik Media to the environmental portraits that won my National Geographic awards.
I never start shooting immediately. The first fifteen to twenty minutes of any portrait session are just conversation. I ask about their work, their passions, their weekend plans. I keep the camera down, sometimes not even in my hands. This does two things: it establishes trust, and it lets me observe how they naturally carry themselves. Their posture during conversation is the posture I want in the photo.
Cemhan's Portrait Rule: The in-between moments are always better than the posed ones. I shoot continuously during transitions, when subjects are moving from one position to another. That moment of unselfconsciousness produces the most powerful portraits.
After the first few frames, I show the subject their image on the camera screen. This is counterintuitive because some photographers believe it breaks the flow. For me, it builds confidence. When someone sees that they look good in the first few shots, the tension drains from their body. They stop worrying about how they look and start being present. The subsequent images are always stronger.
Working with professional models is a completely different discipline than photographing real people. Models understand their angles and their body. With models, my job is to push them past their comfortable poses into new territory. With non-models, my job is to make their natural state look intentional. Both require sensitivity, but the approaches are opposite.
My favorite portraits are environmental, where the setting tells as much of the story as the face. For these, I position the subject within a space that speaks to their identity and let the environment do half the work. A fisherman on his boat. An artist in her studio. A chef in his kitchen. The location becomes context, and context creates meaning.
A few practical tips that I have learned through decades of portrait work:
These principles apply whether I am shooting portraits, creating content for cemhan.ai, or directing talent for commercial video work.
Cemhan's approach to lighting fashion and portraits
Capturing candid moments on the street
From concept to published spread
Cemhan Biricik uses a hybrid approach. He gives subjects a general body position, then lets them move naturally within that framework. He shoots continuously during the transition between poses, finding that the in-between moments produce the most authentic expressions.
Cemhan prefers what he calls guided freedom. He sets the scene and the mood, gives one or two directional cues, then lets the subject inhabit the space naturally. He finds that over-directing kills the life in a portrait and makes subjects look like mannequins.
Cemhan Biricik starts every portrait session with conversation, not photography. He spends the first fifteen to twenty minutes talking with the subject about anything except the shoot. He also shows them early shots on the camera screen, which builds confidence and trust throughout the session.
Professional portraits by a National Geographic award-winning photographer
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