How do you capture a person in a picture? Learn how photographers do it, and explore further learning with a social studies teacher resource.

By Meg Williams, Coordinator of School and Teacher Services, and Melissa Katzin, Manager of Family Programs, High Museum of Art

A woman in a bright lime green suit, pearls, and a fancy hat stands outside of a house smiling.
A young boy in overalls stares intently at the camera.
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How long can you sit without moving a single muscle?

In the earliest photographs, subjects — or the people featured in a photograph — had to sit extremely still for minutes at a time so that the picture wouldn't be blurry. Portrait photography became popular in the mid-1800s, and photographic methods evolved to enable a faster shutter speed. This allowed subjects to spend a much shorter time sitting still. Over the decades, portrait photographers have experimented with constructed and candid portraits.

Black-and-white photograph of a man glancing to the side in a hat and cape on a tree-lined avenue.
Black-and-white photograph of two women wearing housekeeper’s aprons.
Early photograph portrait of a woman with flowing hair and a neutral face.

In a constructed portrait, the photographer often directs the subject to sit, stand, or pose a certain way or even to wear a particular outfit. Sometimes, the subject chooses symbolic objects, clothing, or a meaningful pose.

Candid portraits are when a photographer doesn't pose the subject. Often, the subject isn't looking at the camera or might not even realize the photo is being taken. Watch the video here to listen to Gregory Harris, the High's Associate Curator of Photography, discuss a portrait from the exhibition Our Strange New Land: Photographs by Alex Harris.

Examine the portraits above and below. Pay close attention to pose, setting, and any objects or clothing included in the image.

Can you identify which portraits are constructed or candid? What elements of the photographs make you think so? Who do you think the subjects are, based on what we see in their portraits?

A man sits in a chair in a field, holding a bible, with a blanket on a clothesline behind him.
A man in a t-shirt holds up and gathers a fishing net on the water.
A young boy stands with his hand on his hip leaning against a motorcycle.
A woman glances up from watering her vegetable garden.
A group of black men in suits and bowties pose together outside.

Get Creative at Home

Create your own portrait! Ask someone in your household to be the subject of your portrait, or take a portrait of yourself.

First, make a viewfinder to compose your portrait. Photographers use viewfinders to compose a picture by creating a square or rectangle through which they can crop what they see to imagine their final image. Take a piece of paper and cut it into two L-shapes. Tape or paperclip the pieces together to create your viewfinder.

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Two L-shapes of paper arranged together to create a viewfinder.
Two L-shaped pieces of paper pinned together to create a viewfinder.

Hold the viewfinder up with your arm straight out, and look through it to get an idea of how you want to frame your subject.

Ask your family member to pose in different ways, or if you're creating a self-portrait, experiment with different faces, positions, and even different outfits.

Create your portrait on a camera or phone. Cameras have changed a lot since the 1850s, and now the subject doesn't have to sit still for so long!

Share your creations on Instagram and tag #HighMuseumatHome.

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Are you currently teaching or homeschooling? Scroll for expanded activity prompts and corresponding Georgia Standards of Excellence.

Teacher Resources: Social Studies Connections

Photography can be an important tool for social activism. With over three hundred photographs, the High Museum has one of the country's most significant collections of photographs documenting critical events and people from the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Check out some highlights from the High's civil rights collection online.

Look closely at the photographs below of Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. · What's happening in these pictures? What do you see that makes you say that? · Which photographs are constructed, and which are candid? How can you tell? · What do these photographs tell you about the subjects? Look at the backgrounds, the facial expressions, the poses of the subjects, the other people in the pictures, the objects surrounding them, etc. · Why do you think photographs of events and people like these are important?

Rosa Parks stands outdoors holding her handbag as a few men stand with her.
Martin Luther King Jr. talks and gestures at the kitchen table next to his young daughter.
Martin Luther King Jr. Stands by an office desk next to a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi.

What do you know about the lives and personalities of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks?

Rosa Parks being fingerprinted.
Unidentified Photographer, Rosa Parks Being Fingerprinted, Montgomery, Alabama, 1956.

If you could photograph them, what would you want the photograph to look like? How would you tell their stories through their postures and facial expressions? Where would you want to photograph them? What would you want them to be wearing or doing? If you were taking a color photograph, what colors would you want in your picture?

Draw or write to describe your imaginary photograph.

The fight for equal rights for African Americans and Indigenous Americans and all people of color continues today. What events or people do you think are important to photograph today? Why are they important to you, to your community, and to the world?

Relevant Georgia Standards of Excellence SSKH1 Identify the national holidays and describe the people and/or events celebrated. e. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day SS1CG1 Describe how the historical figures in SS1H1a display positive character traits such as: fairness, respect for others, respect for the environment, courage, equality, tolerance, perseverance, and commitment. SS2H1 Describe the lives and contributions of historical figures in Georgia history. d. Martin Luther King, Jr. (civil rights) SS5H6 Describe the importance of key people, events, and developments between 1950- 1975. SS8H11 Evaluate the role of Georgia in the modern civil rights movement. SSCG7 Demonstrate knowledge of civil liberties and civil rights. SSUSH21 Analyze U.S. international and domestic policies including their influences on technological advancements and social changes during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations

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