PORTRAITS WITH IMPACT
13th January 2026
The club began its festive break in early December and members were ready for a meeting. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas and those living beyond Retford began apologising early. With great good fortune the speaker was booked to appear by Zoom. Thanks to our speaker finder, Rob Neal, members were able to tune in from home. Thanks to Rob for supporting those unfamiliar with how the system works and enabling everyone to enjoy an excellent presentation form Emma Finch.
Emma is a long-term photographer who specialises in portraiture of two types – natural photos of children and adult work with commissions to creative work for her own interest or competition entries.
Emma was generous with her tips throughout. She introduced her view of what creates an impactful portrait, including capturing the personality of the person, having a connection with the viewer and telling a story in a timeless fashion while creating a likeness of the model they are happy with. No small challenge!
Emma referred throughout to putting the model at ease, be they professional, children or public. Playing their choice of music and having a temperature comfortable for them are devices she uses. She advocates chatting throughout the shoot and knowing your kit well enough to adjust the camera appropriately while emerging from behind it and keeping the conversation flowing. There was an unspoken theme of being prepared to sacrifice your own dignity to make the subject smile. This might be jokes, pulling faces or doing the unexpected to generate a natural smiling or laughing response – and being on the ball enough to click the shutter at the right moment.
It helps to tell adults what you are doing as you work. If you grimace at your own mistakes, you should tell them or they may think their image is poor. Compliments and feedback keep the encouragement going, especially with those who are not professional models.
Preplanning is important. Emma provides a hair and make-up stylist for her clients to ensure they are suitable for work with studio lights. She will discuss clothes and advise people to avoid words, logos, brands and busy patterns which compete with the subject for attention. She will try to coordinate her background with the clothes and location selection is easier for outdoor shots if you know what colours will be worn.
Emma stressed the importance of what draws the eye in a shot. Top of the list is light areas be they intentional or otherwise – a point oft stressed by our judges! The key feature should be the face and the composition should be designed to lead the viewer to the eyes, which are the critical point to get sharp. She spent time discussing the impact of different shooting levels and the position, direction and height of the light depending on the desired effect.
Emma described her kit and explained that she uses a 24-70mm f2.8 lens indoors and a 70 – 200mm f2.8 lens outdoors. She always tries to shoot at the long end of the lens, moving back to enable this if needed. She uses a diffuser on her lights and may use a whole collection of things in front of her lens depending on the effect she wants.
We were advised to try to get the eyes on the thirds in the frame, to use negative space in front of a side view and to avoid cropping through joints. Above all we were advised to check all around the frame before taking the shot to spot distractions. Emma is a strong advocate of getting it right in camera and a thorough check will save a lot of time in editing. Retouching skin, in consultation with the model is important, although normally only temporary blemishes such as minor injuries are removed. Matching the skin colour on the back of the camera with that of the model Emma considers critical.
Emma helpfully broke the subject down into the different ages of children, adults and working with models. We learned that models can create intensity in their gaze and tolerate bright light which most people simply cannot without squinting. She spoke about lighting for different conditions and effects. When speaking about creative work, Emma suggested that local theatres can be good places to hire costumes for specialist shoots. Members came away inspired by their new learning and maybe we shall see some portraits in competitions soon.
Club nights continue until the end of April. We hope to see everyone then and maybe a few new faces as well.
Full details of the club and programme are on the: http://www.retford-photographic.co.uk/
Meetings are weekly on Mondays at 7.30pm in St Joseph’s Hall, Babworth Road. We have a from our mid-season break from December 9th, resuming on January 5th then, continuing until the end of April 2026.
Emma is a long-term photographer who specialises in portraiture of two types – natural photos of children and adult work with commissions to creative work for her own interest or competition entries.
Emma was generous with her tips throughout. She introduced her view of what creates an impactful portrait, including capturing the personality of the person, having a connection with the viewer and telling a story in a timeless fashion while creating a likeness of the model they are happy with. No small challenge!
Emma referred throughout to putting the model at ease, be they professional, children or public. Playing their choice of music and having a temperature comfortable for them are devices she uses. She advocates chatting throughout the shoot and knowing your kit well enough to adjust the camera appropriately while emerging from behind it and keeping the conversation flowing. There was an unspoken theme of being prepared to sacrifice your own dignity to make the subject smile. This might be jokes, pulling faces or doing the unexpected to generate a natural smiling or laughing response – and being on the ball enough to click the shutter at the right moment.
It helps to tell adults what you are doing as you work. If you grimace at your own mistakes, you should tell them or they may think their image is poor. Compliments and feedback keep the encouragement going, especially with those who are not professional models.
Preplanning is important. Emma provides a hair and make-up stylist for her clients to ensure they are suitable for work with studio lights. She will discuss clothes and advise people to avoid words, logos, brands and busy patterns which compete with the subject for attention. She will try to coordinate her background with the clothes and location selection is easier for outdoor shots if you know what colours will be worn.
Emma stressed the importance of what draws the eye in a shot. Top of the list is light areas be they intentional or otherwise – a point oft stressed by our judges! The key feature should be the face and the composition should be designed to lead the viewer to the eyes, which are the critical point to get sharp. She spent time discussing the impact of different shooting levels and the position, direction and height of the light depending on the desired effect.
Emma described her kit and explained that she uses a 24-70mm f2.8 lens indoors and a 70 – 200mm f2.8 lens outdoors. She always tries to shoot at the long end of the lens, moving back to enable this if needed. She uses a diffuser on her lights and may use a whole collection of things in front of her lens depending on the effect she wants.
We were advised to try to get the eyes on the thirds in the frame, to use negative space in front of a side view and to avoid cropping through joints. Above all we were advised to check all around the frame before taking the shot to spot distractions. Emma is a strong advocate of getting it right in camera and a thorough check will save a lot of time in editing. Retouching skin, in consultation with the model is important, although normally only temporary blemishes such as minor injuries are removed. Matching the skin colour on the back of the camera with that of the model Emma considers critical.
Emma helpfully broke the subject down into the different ages of children, adults and working with models. We learned that models can create intensity in their gaze and tolerate bright light which most people simply cannot without squinting. She spoke about lighting for different conditions and effects. When speaking about creative work, Emma suggested that local theatres can be good places to hire costumes for specialist shoots. Members came away inspired by their new learning and maybe we shall see some portraits in competitions soon.
Club nights continue until the end of April. We hope to see everyone then and maybe a few new faces as well.
Full details of the club and programme are on the: http://www.retford-photographic.co.uk/
Meetings are weekly on Mondays at 7.30pm in St Joseph’s Hall, Babworth Road. We have a from our mid-season break from December 9th, resuming on January 5th then, continuing until the end of April 2026.