MT Shooter Loc: Montana

If you ever look at old movie star headshots you will see the majority of them were always turned slightly left. This may mean nothing at all because they all used to be shot with 8x10 view cameras and contact printed so the way they faced could be changed by simply printing the negative emulsion side up instead of emulsion side down.
For me, I always avoided doing a portrait where the subjects hair part faced the camera, it was seldom flattering to see.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

I don't remember who it was, but, many years ago, a new movie director almost created a riot on a set when he was filming a replica of a stage play with the original cast. He had a fit when an actor entered from camera left, which according to the stage script was noted, "??? enters stage right" and all the cameras were pointed to camera right versus stage right. That's why many shooters use terms like "raise near arm," "face the camera", or even, with trained actors, "turn downstage." I would hate to be a production photographer asked yo photograph a wedding; everybody would be reversed. When I had my portrait taken, along with four or five prople from my company (we were the only twenty-five year survivors out of close to two thousand employees), the photographer made a point of telling us that the directions he gave would be in regards to ourselves (stage directions), not from his perspective (camera directions). It seemed strange at the time, but in retrospect, and in light of this thread, I can understand the confusion. I think I'll pull out an old script and try to imagine myself shooting from a pit lift while following the script directions.

dragonswing Loc: Pa

And your horse looks perfectly fine running that way. Doesn't make me tense at all. :-D :-D :-D

MtnMan Loc: ID

I just googled portrait images and scanned down through the several hundred it came up with. Most are head shots right into the camera and the few that are facing one way or the other seem about equal.

dragonswing Loc: Pa

If you were looking at the photo, the person would be facing towards the right, their back would be against the left side of the photo.

Pablo8 Loc: Nottingham UK.

I have a repeat / regular assignment photographing sport personnel / new president etc., When wearing a blazer with club badge on the (their left) breast pocket, that is the side which faces the camera. They are not 'square shouldered' to the camera, but approximately 45 degrees. Suits me...suits them.

adetechblog Loc: Nigeria

Depend on what you have mastered when taking a shot; to some facing right is more convenient while to some,left sweet better but either way, you need to give a befiting shot

Nikonman2014

"Interesting theory. It would be interesting to test it. Without an objective test it is one persons hypothesis. With the horizontal flip capability it seems easy enough to test. Expose random people to random mixes of the same photo and ask them to rate them, and then see if there is a bias in the results. "

That's actually a really good idea. I wonder if some Masters or PhD candidate in Psychology wants to take a stab at this. With post processing, it is easy to mess with composition with ease, and a lot of our composition rules could be tested. For example, it's easy to crop a photo to have it be close to the rule of thirds, and we could actually test this to see if the photo is really more "interesting."

I like it, I like it a lot!

alandg46 Loc: Boerne, Texas

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Interesting observations from the photographer.

While there is a legitimate debate about this particularity it reflects on our notion about what looks good and what looks bad.

Our face and body are asymmetrical. A profile from the left or from the right will give different result. A full face picture will show with more or less emphasis which of our eyes is what is called 'lazy'.

A nude picture of a person standing straight up will show the difference plainly too, one side is more developed than the other. This is medically documented all over the place for eons.

The real question for me, is my posing method bothering my model? If so, I need to adapt unless I want surly looks. That is all that counts, in my opinion.

As to beauty, I have taken beautiful portraits of 'ugly' folks and some really shitty ones while taking perfect '10' models. Trust me, it is harder to take a perfect 10 than a 2 or 3. Part of it is expectation and the other part is the model's attitude and sometime experience.

To me, it is about control, not much else.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Reading in the western world is from left to right. Right is looking forward, left back and toward the photographer. Three is magic, gods, pats on back, and in many other common things in our lives. ... even the rule of 1/3s.

Reading asignment for the day, test at end of week students:
http://users.rider.edu/~suler/photopsy/article_index.htm

DiVall Loc: Thessaloniki/Greece

I do not disagree with the "pro", but does not mean that I agree with you.
Keep, also, in mind that The (ART) Law is a challenge, for the artist.
-

djenrette Loc: Philadelphia

In taking many portraits over the years I discovered that one side of a person's face is often better than the other (we are somewhat asymetrical). We used to refer to this as the "ice cream" side. But camera club "experts" live by these "rules" derived from Pictorialism (which camera clubs carry on but painters abandoned a long time ago).

AntonioReyna Loc: Los Angeles, California

are you TENSE

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

As a professional video cameraman, I can say that the general rule for interviews is that sympathetic figures face right, opposition faces left.

The reason for this is that most people are right-handed, and the dominant hand should be closer to the other person--it causes less anxiety. We do not wish to lead with our weaker side.