NUMBER ONE

I have been thinking a lot: what is the number one ingredient which makes a portrait great?

There are many ingredients: light, shadows, location, background, camera settings, the right lens, creativity and a good connection to the model.
All of them are important.

BUT.

Which is the number ONE?

For me the number one ingredient for a great portrait is:
AUTHENTICITY! The moment where the wall is down, being "lost in thought", not thinking about the camera, having a raw emotion.
That's why I don't like portraits where you smile. A smile is like a wall. One exception: if the smile is natural, then it's ok.
Do you know what I mean?

We all walk around with a walls. I hear somebody screaming: "No, not me". Ok, there are exceptions. But I believe we all walk around with walls, some bigger - some smaller.

For my taste, you can sacrifice all other ingredients, as long as you get an authentic, raw moment with the model.
There are so many beautiful portrait photos out there. Everything is perfect, but the one ingredient is missing: authenticity.
And I have been guilty of it, too. Most of my portraits have this missing ingredient. Because I was not aware of it.

This is what I want to focus on more. Catch the authentic moment.

AUTHENTIC MOMENT
[ih-maj-uh-ney-shuh n]