What makes a good portrait?

What is a good portrait? Why makes one portrait different from another? I’ve been asking these questions for a long time and only recently did someone answer those questions for me. A good portrait is one where it causes the viewer to take notice of the portrait, to want to learn more about the person in the portrait and after which that, leaves with a yearning for more.

That answer led me to think about portraiture in general and why it’s a very difficult art to master. There are guidelines and rules in portraiture photography that will help you enhance the picture so that it’s pleasant looking, but the ability to capture the essence of the subject in the portrait to a point where it will arouse interest is something else totally. How do you take a portrait that would bring these questions to mind? Questions like, who is this person? What does this person do? Why did the picture of this person invoke this feeling in me? Why?

To be continued…