Have you ever been for a professional portrait? You know the lights I’m talking about… big umbrellas, soft-boxes, and believe me there are many more.

But is good lighting good enough to make a portrait? Sometimes, yes. I’ve seen it. And sometimes not.

My friend, Susan Stanton Rotman, tells this story:

“My old site had a professional photo, taken about 3 1/2 years ago (seen above). 140 shots and we could not get a photo that really looked like me, so we went with the best we could do. It was professionally lit and photographed, but just seemed like it wasn’t me. I immediately, and consistently since then, received comments that the photo did not look like me, it didn’t capture me, etc…”

I’m not so sure the photographer who took the picture really knew his lighting, but assuming he did, I agree that the image feels flat and misses something.

It’s interesting because Susan is an intuitive counselor, or psychic if you will. She helps businesses and individuals uncover their own subtle direction and develop their intuition. For a person like that, inner light is probably the most important thing that should be conveyed in a professional photograph. So when it’s lacking (above) it’s sorely noticed.

Susan continues:

“One of the most frequent comments was that there is a “light” or radiant quality that people experience with me, and the photo didn’t get it. I just assumed that is because a photo is a frozen and static moment in time, and couldn’t capture the aliveness of the real person. At least with me.”

“Then this past August my daughter took an impromptu snapshot of me, sitting on the front porch of the second floor apartment of one of my other daughter’s home, holding my 2 day old granddaughter–and voila! The light was there. One shot, not by a professional, no lighting or filters, just a natural image.”

Now, even from a professional point of view, this image is well lit. The backlight is excellent while the face does not fall into shadow. There is light wrapping around from behind and it creates depth to the features of the face.

But above and beyond the better lighting, there is a sparkle in Susan’s eye. There is a relaxed happiness that comes through and makes me feel connected and draws me in. I want to look longer at the image.

This is how you photograph an open heart. The photographer and the subject both need to have that openness for it to come through in the image. In this case you can see the love between daughter (photographer) and mother (Susan). As they say, a lens points both ways.

Now look at the image from which the previous one was cropped. A 2-day old granddaughter in Susan’s arms. If that couldn’t light-up her soul, I don’t know what could.

Susan says, “Very interesting how there is an intangible, vibrational quality that projects who a person is, along with the image, and how hard it can be to capture!”

Or I might add, “how easy!”

You can see this image on Susan’s website. I had a consult with her once, she’s good.

This week, my newsletter was all about the very White Christmas we’ve had in North America.

Here a some of the shots I shared in the newsletter.

How about you? Did it snow where you are? Did you get any pictures? Post a link in the comments. I’d love to see what winter looks like where you are.

Read more in this week’s newsletter. And let me see your photos in the comments section.