The face of a patient with all its expressive possibilities provides valuable information for the planning, execution and final evaluation of dental treatment. Portrait photography is designed to capture this information under standardized conditions. A camera mounted on a tripod and a permanently mounted flash light source are best suited for this purpose. Reflectors allow good illumination of the patient. In addition to correct illumination, it is important to ensure a consistent head position to guarantee reproducibility and adequate evaluation of the information.

Common errors:
• Positioning the patient too close to the background, creating unwanted shadows
• Background of the wrong color: a white wall works best, becoming “neutral grey” with distance from the light source. Black backdrops make it dificult to separate the subject from the background
• Single frontal flash producing harsh facial wash and shadow zones
• Wrong lens: 28 or 55 mm lenses are totally inadequate when compared with a 105 mm (facial portrait) macrolens
• Disparity between the level of the camera lens and the patient's face. Best it is to use a tripod for portrait photography to create reproducible results