A dispersive representation based on unitarity and analyticity is used to study the low energy $\gamma N \to \pi N\ \text{and}\ \gamma^* N \to \pi N$ partial wave amplitudes. Final state interactions of the $\pi N$ system are critical to this analysis. The left-hand cut contribution is estimated by invoking baryon chiral perturbation theory results, while the right-hand cut contribution responsible for final state interaction effects is taken into account via an Omn\`{e}s formalism with elastic phase shifts as input. It is found that a good numerical fit can be achieved with only one subtraction parameter, and the experimental data of the multipole amplitudes $E_{0+}, S_{0+}$ in the energy region below the $\Delta (1232)$ are well described when the photon virtuality $Q^2 \leq 0.1 \mathrm{GeV}^2$. Furthermore, we extend the partial wave amplitudes to the second Riemann sheet to extract the couplings of the subthreshold resonance $N^*(890)$. Its couplings extracted from the multipole amplitudes $E_{0+}, S_{0+}$ are comparable to those of the $N^* (1535)$ resonance.