How to master portrait photography skills?

It takes a lot of practice and perseverance to take a good portrait. You may make some mistakes when shooting portraits, which makes you run counter to perfect portrait photography. In this article, I will provide you with eight skills to help you learn portrait photography skills immediately and raise them to a new level.

1, adapt to available light

When shooting portraits, light is one of the most important elements to remember, especially how light shines on the surface of the object. Proper lighting or lack of proper lighting may cause or destroy the image. Adjust it so that the photographer turns his head to the main light source, whether it is a street lamp or the sun. If this person is looking at the sun, it is recommended to look in a direction that will not make them squint or feel uncomfortable.

Although prime time is the best time for portrait photography, you may not always have the luxury of perfect lighting because of the whimsy of nature. In this case, you need to adapt to the available light to make full use of the portrait opportunity.

Remember, the light is bad. However, if you know what to do, then these can be used as advantages. Here are some basic techniques for different natural lighting scenes:

Strong sunlight-put the subject in the shadow to ensure that his face is evenly illuminated.

Prime time-let the person being photographed look at the sun to make his face shine beautifully, or let the sun stay behind to make the areola shine.

Cloudy days-you can take pictures almost anywhere, because clouds naturally scatter sunlight and provide uniform illumination for your face.

Night/low light-looking for street lamps or other light sources can provide good lighting for the subject's face.

Step 2 guide your topic

Facing the reality, most people will feel uncomfortable in front of the camera. By correctly guiding the people who are photographed, they can be helped to relax. If you don't know any posture, then focus on one thing and improve every time you shoot. Maybe let that person lift his chin and make their faces look more attractive.

3. Find a clean background that contrasts sharply with the theme.

Background is very important for shaping beautiful characters. The main function of background is to provide and highlight the environment in which people live, and it is very important to find a clean background that contrasts with the main body.

Precautions:

Depending on the position in the photo, branches, telephone poles and other objects may appear to emanate from the head of the subject. Try cropping the image so that the subject's head is not disturbed.

Try to find a color or shadow that complements or contrasts with the subject's skin color or clothes.

Step 4 focus on the dominant eye

This is especially important if shooting in shallow depth of field, and make sure to focus on the eyes closer to the lens. If the dominant eye is out of focus, the photo will look a little unnatural and may even ruin a good portrait.

5. The lines must be straight.

Oblique aiming can make people look weird, so please make sure to keep aiming straight. The same applies to environmental elements, such as the outline of doors or buildings. If these lines are not straight, the portrait will look less attractive. Of course, important lines can be aligned in post-processing, but this will lead to cropping, thus destroying the balance of the picture.

6. Carefully cut out the arms and legs of the picture.

Sometimes you don't want to film a person's whole body. Maybe I'm taking bigger pictures, just the chest and head. In this case, some parts of the body will be cut off, so be very careful when trimming around your arms or legs.

Pruning skills:

Don't trim body parts at joints: Trimming elbows, knees or wrists may leave a missing impression. Try to trim half between the joints. For example, if you want to cut your arm, cut it between your wrist and elbow, or between your elbow and shoulder.

If the subject's arms/legs are in the picture, please make sure the whole action: don't accidentally "cut" your fingers or toes at the edge of the image, which will ruin your portrait.

Look at that hand. There seems to be something missing.

The picture of the arm is uncut, and this picture looks better.

7. Pay attention to the edge of the picture

If you are shooting portraits outdoors, please remove the extra background from the corner of the frame, or at least make sure that it is out of focus and blends in with the background.

When you photograph people, it's easy to completely focus on them without looking at their surroundings. However, elements scattered on the edge of the picture will destroy the picture. Before pressing the shutter button, please try to crop correctly and pay attention to the edges.

8. Shoot something interesting with props.

If you really want to raise portrait photography to a new level, then it is important to get out of the mindset and be creative. Many people look dull, and these are just photos that are correctly exposed.

In order to make people lifelike, please try to use interesting props or environmental elements, be creative and start to master portrait photography.