Sharing Photos on Flickr

Flickr is a popular image hosting website for international users to share and embed personal photographs, and a successful online community. Its service is widely used by both amateur and professional photographers as well as photo researchers in order to host images that they embed in blogs, websites and social media. Flickr has a total of almost 100 million registered users who share about one million photos every day. Photos can be accessed from Flickr without the need to register an account but an account must be made to upload content onto their website. I’m an active member of the Flickr online community: Matt Hahnewald - Facing the World.

Until the 31st of December 2018, as shown below, the following Top Ten of my more than 2,000 uploaded international portrait photographs were rated on Flickr as the most interesting ones, according to the views, faves and comments from all my Flickr friends and followers (and Flickr's interestingness algorithm):

Today is December 30, 2018. This is the final blog entry in my photo blog on Blogger/Blogspot. It will be replaced by my regularly updated Flickr account: Matt Hahnewald - Facing the World. Thank you for following, until now and from now on.

Today is January 15, 2025. I have retired from photography. It was a good time. Thank you to everyone who has been interested in my portraits.

I am no longer actively managing the above-mentioned Flickr account Matt Hahnewald - Facing the World.

Finding the Right Camera Angle

The camera angle marks the specific location at which the camera is placed to take a head shot or a half-length portrait photograph. Any portrait may be shot from several camera angles (main directions: eye level, low angle, high angle) which will influence the viewer’s perception of the subject (point of view). This might lead to different interpretations, emotions, fantasies, assumptions and speculations about the subject. A neutral shot or eye-level shot minimizes the psychological effects on the viewer.

A low-angle shot is taken from below the subject (the lens is below the subject’s eyes) and has the power to make the subject look taller, stronger, more important, or more powerful, or even threatening. It makes the viewer of the portrait photograph feel the opposite (e.g. smaller, more vulnerable) and simulates the view that a child (or a pet) would have. A second, but non-psychological reason for low-angle shots is the practical inclusion of large background objects (e.g. buildings, mountains) into environmental portraits.

A high-angle shot is a shot in which the camera is physically higher than the subject (the lens is above the subject’s eyes) and is looking down upon the subject. The high angle shot can make the subject look smaller, weaker, more dependent, more humble or even more vulnerable. It makes the viewer of the portrait photograph feel the opposite (e.g. grander, more important). A second, rather common but non-psychological reason for (subtle) high-angle shots are elderly photographers with knee problems or knee pain... 

"It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view."

(George Eliot: Middlemarch)

"Photography is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality."

(Alfred Stieglitz)

Eye level is the most common point of view, being a real-world angle that we are all used to. It shows subjects as we would expect to see them in real life. It is a fairly neutral shot that removes any hint of editorializing and instead simply presents the subject as it is in real-life.

In most cases, getting the lens to the eye level of the subject is the key for realistic headshots and half-length portraits - especially when photographing children...

High-res portrait photographs with complete exif data, geotags and technical details in Matt Hahnewald's

Flickr Albums

Animating Street Portraits with Props

Originally, a prop, fka (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or on screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct from the actors, scenery, and costumes. The term comes from live-performance practice, especially theatrical methods, but its modern use extends to film, television, and photography.

A simple yet highly effective way to animate and spice up an interactive aka posed street portrait is to use impromptu props in the scene. An impromptu prop for interactive street portrait photography would be anything that the subject owns, holds or touches and/or something near the subject that adds to the story and dimension of the image. Utilising props that mean a great deal and are highly personal to the subject, such as below the Buddhist prayer wheel, Mao’s Little Red Book, or the sadhu’s walking stick, can make the street portrait more unique and tell a story about that person.

Using props in portrait photography is a simple way to create a strong point of interest in the image. Props can complement the subject and make the picture more visually appealing. Props help to tell a story, producing a more intriguing photo for the viewer to look at. Cell phones, flowers, umbrellas/parasols, cigarettes/cigars, books/newspapers, food/drinks, musical instruments, cameras and pretty much anything else that the subject can lay her/his hands on will make a good impromptu prop for interactive aka posed street portraits.

Examples of street portraits "propped-up" with cell phones:

Examples of street portraits "propped-up" with flowers:

Examples of street portraits "propped-up" with cigars, cigarettes, vapes, chillums, beedies:

Including a prop will add another level for the eye to the process, therefore it is imperative to clean up everything else as much as possible: a tight frame/crop, a clean background/backdrop, and minimal distractions in general. Any prop should always be used to the advantage of portraying the subject. The objects used in the picture should be very convincing for the viewer in understanding the subject; there has to be a reason for the object to appear in the image. This can be done with the help of (i) person-related props, (ii) context-related props, and (iii) time-related props. Of course, the transition from one prop category to the other is gradual.

(i) Person-related props help the viewer to understand the character, personality, mood, attitude and role of the photographed subject:

(ii) Context-related props help the viewer to learn about the subject’s environment, culture, religion, nationality, and/or occupation:

(iii) Time-related props help the viewer to fantasize about the subject’s past or future:

More blog entries depicting impromptu props for street portrait photographs:

• Food/drinks (Slurping Oodles of Noodles, Munching at Donghuamen Nightmarket),
• Umbrellas/parasols (Dancing with the Thai Chinese),
• Musical instruments (Facing Exotic Northern Borneo),
• Pieces of art (Profiling Coconuts on Sulawesi),
• Books/newspapers (Making Decisions in Tamil Nadu).

Varying the Facial View of Portraits

The facial views in portrait photography derive from portrait painting (e.g. Van Dyck’s Charles I in Three Positions); it is what portion or angle of the face is showing towards the lens, the photographer, and the viewer of the photograph. For interactive street portraits with eye contact, there are only two main types of facial views: (i) the full-face view (including the seven-eighths view subvariant), and (ii) the three-quarter view (including the two-third view subvariant).

The (i) full-face view is produced when the subject is facing directly into the camera, and his nose is pointing straight towards the lens. In this view, one can see equal amounts of both sides of the subject’s face, both ears are fully visible.
The proportional full-face view is useful when one wants to show the symmetry of a subject’s face, or when one wants to convey a more assertive, dominant, or powerful attitude. The full-face view may support the yang aspect of a person (e.g. his dignity, power, masculinity, sobriety, cognition).
The slightly asymmetrical seven-eighths view subvariant of the exactly symmetrical full-face view occurs when the subject is turning his head just a tiny tad away from the camera, still maintaining eye contact, and both of the subject’s ears are still visible.

The (ii) three-quarter view aka half-profile view of the face is produced when the subject’s face is turned away from the camera until the far ear just disappears. It is called a three-quarter view because about three quarters of the subject’s face are visible. It is recommended that the face should not be turned so far that the nose extends past the line of the cheek. Also, it is important that the eye on the far side of the face be contained within the face by a small strip of skin visible along the far temple.
The three-quarter view is useful for revealing the shape and contours of the subject’s face. It is also more demure and less assertive than a full-face view. The three-quarter view may support the yin aspect of a person (e.g. her grace, mobility, femininity, playfulness, emotion).
The two-third view subvariant of the three-quarter view occurs when the subject has continued to turn her head until the tip of the nose is almost touching the outline of the cheek on the far side (preferably, without the nose extending beyond the line of the cheek, which wouldn't be very flattering).

Note below the subtle psychological commonalities and differences between the three-quarter view and the seven-eighths view, but remember: the map is never the territory...

"The face is an ongoing parade of expressions."

(Marianne LaFrance: Why Smile?)

High-res portrait photographs with full exif data, precise geotags and technical details in Matt Hahnewald's

Flickr Albums