Wider Eyes Can Make People Pictures Click

Professional portrait and people photographers know that even the slightest changes in composition, framing and posing make a big difference in how a viewer perceives a photograph.

Perhaps the most important change the photographer can make is how the viewer sees the subject’s eyes, which generate the emotional response to a people picture.

To understand the important role the eyes play in people pictures, it’s interesting to consider something called pupillometrics.

“Pupillometrics,” according to Dr. Richard D. Zakia, professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology, “is the study of how the size of a subject’s pupils changes along with the emotion of the subject--dilated when a person is excited and contracted when a person sees something that is unpleasant.

“Studies of pupillometrics have illustrated that photographs of wide-eyed subjects are generally preferred over photographs in which the subject’s pupils are small.”

With pupillometrics in mind, it’s important to keep your subjects happy and at ease during a photo session.

In addition to emotions, the light level affects the size of a subject’s pupils. In bright light, the pupils are contracted; in low light, the pupils are dilated.

Indoors, you can get wide-eyed, natural-light pictures of a subject by positioning him or her by a window or door. The relatively low light level causes the subject’s pupils to open, especially if the person is not looking outside.

(New ISO 800 films are well-suited for indoor natural-light pictures. These “fast” films can eliminate the need for a flash, which may create the dreaded “red eye” effect when the subject’s pupils are wide open).

Outdoors, getting a wide-eyed subject can be a greater challenge. If you shoot in subdued light (on overcast days and before sunrise and after sunset), you’ll have a better chance of getting a wide-eyed subject. Positioning your subject in the shade also helps.

The size of a subject’s pupils should not be the only consideration when taking people pictures. Sometimes, not seeing the subject’s eyes (using the shadows created by overhead and side lighting to hide the eyes) can add mystery to a photograph. Francis Ford Coppola used this technique in several scenes in the first “Godfather” movie because he wanted to create a sense of mystery.

Sometimes the viewer wants to see a sparkle in the subject’s eyes. This effect is easily achieved by using a reflector to bounce light into your subject’s eyes or by using a flash.

More information on pupillometrics and the emotional response generated in people pictures can be found in Dr. Zakia’s new book, “Perception and Imaging” (Focal Press, $34.95).