When taking a portrait, most people either do a standard profile face shot, or the ever-increasingly popular Facebook self-mirror picture. But quite frankly, neither of these are particularly good examples of portrait photography, and there is so much more that can be achieved a portrait.

A portrait should express the identity and emotions of a person. The ultimate goal is to capture the soul and essence of a person in a photograph, but there are a lot of potential ways to do that. One of the great ways to work with portrait photography is by using half-portrait photography. Using this, it makes the viewer only able to see the half, but it forces them to examine the other half that is missing and understand the person in the photo.

See what I mean with these fantastic examples of half-portrait photography.

Sentimental by CathS

half life by Yavuz Sariyildiz

red by Elzbieta Derlaga

Untitled by Spigana

Half solved, Half secret by Farbod Green

a different view by ErolAYYILDIZ

Cow portrait by Herr H

Untitled by Vladimir Bolshakov

Half Moon by eugkyr

My other half by Maria Teresa Sanseverino

Sara by Tomek Dyczewski

Untitled by Drama_11

Brothers by deskounlmtd

Bijou by Resh Haydee

Picaso by Cory Smith

Half a twin.. by Patricia

Oana – Half by Razvan Radu

Untitled by laurenmark

Behind by Magnus Sundström

You Looking at Me? by Guillaume Megevand

That’s a Good Question by O-live-ia

Vertigo by idani

The Half of Me by lisse-wolf

2 Half Faces = 1 Whole Face? by amadika

You are my better half by Circus-Wonderland