By Stephen Terlizzi
Photographer: Stephen Terlizzi
Photographer: Stephen Terlizzi
Click photos to enlarge
Figure 1 - 38% Figure 2 - 55% Figure 3 - 95%
People love faces. If you want to engage people in your photos, then give them an in-focus face, beautiful eyes and a wonderful smile. And voilà, you have created instant interest. Ever wonder what people are thinking when they are looking at that face?
There have been studies that show that the degree to which a face fills the photograph, influences the viewer's perception of the subject. It is called facial prominence or Face-ism.
According to the Wikipedia entry, "The term “face-ism” or “facial prominence” was initially defined by Archer, Iritani, Kimes and Barrios in their five studies of sex differences in facial prominence (Archer, Iritani, Kimes & Barrios, 1983)."
Face-ism
"In their study, facial prominence was measured by a Face-ism index, which is the ratio of two linear measurements, with the distance (in millimeters or any other unit) in a depiction from the top of the head to the lowest visible point of the chin being the numerator and the distance from the top of the head to the lowest visible part of the subject's body the denominator. It was found that across societies and over time, facial prominence of men has been much higher than that of women (Archer et al., 1983)."
The above triptych includes three different crops of my wonderful friend Lynne at a face-ism index of 38%, 55% and 95%, respectively. Does she look different to you? According to the Archer study, in a photo with a low face-ism index, the subject will look more sensual and the physical attributes will take center-stage while in a photo with a high face-ism index, the subject will look more intelligent and ambitious. Now take a look at the triptych again? Notice the difference.
One can use this to their advantage when composing the photograph. For a more thoughtful theme, come in tight and, for a more sensual theme, widen the shot.
