Portrait shooting skills

Everyone, like a photographer, has to face the challenge of dealing with the details of the subject, such as posture, light, composition and so on. The following are my skills for portrait composition. Welcome to read.

First, highlight the characters with a simple background.

The choice of background is very important when shooting portraits. If used properly, it can set off the atmosphere of the picture well, and the complex background can easily distract the viewer's attention. So try to choose a simple and harmonious background when shooting, so as to better highlight the subject. If shooting indoors, the wall or background cloth can be used first when looking up, and the bed sheet or floor can be considered when looking up. If shooting outdoors, you can consider using a large aperture to blur the background, or looking for beautiful building exterior walls and dense flowers. You can also look up with the blue sky as the background or look down with the grass as the background. In short, as long as the background selection is based on the simple principle, you can always find the right shooting scene and angle.

Second, use the infectious background to create beautiful pictures.

Simple background can make people stand out in the picture, but the picture lacks story and can't explain the surrounding environment of the characters in the picture well, so it is only suitable for shooting portrait works. If you want to make the picture more readable, you should choose the background according to the shooting intention or the characteristics of the subject. You can try to choose a beautiful scenery or content environment as the background to enrich and enrich the picture. This is especially important when shooting portraits with wide-angle lenses, so wide-angle lenses will be integrated into more picture environments, so the choice of background is more important. In addition, we should also pay attention to the reasonable arrangement of the position of the characters in the picture, in order to get photos with aesthetic feeling and outstanding characteristics of the characters.

Third, choose a large aperture to get a shallow depth of field.

As mentioned above, the larger the aperture (such as f/ 1.8, f/2.4), the smaller the aperture value and the smaller the depth of field. The smaller the aperture (such as f/ 18, f/22), the larger the aperture value and the greater the depth of field. If you want to get a photo with a shallow depth of field, you should first consider shooting with a large aperture. Large aperture plays a very important role in portrait photography, which can obtain the beautiful blur effect of shallow depth of field and help us to ensure higher shutter speed in the case of poor ambient light.

Fourthly, a shallow depth of field close to the subject is obtained.

The easiest way to get a shallow depth of field and blur the background is to put the camera close to the model when the distance between the model and the background is constant, so that the effect of shallow depth of field can be easily obtained, the characters are more prominent and the background is naturally blurred. When shooting, we should pay attention to the fact that the foreground can't be a messy scene, because the foreground will be clearer in the picture when the lens is close to the model.

5. Keep the background away from the subject to get a shallow depth of field.

The easiest way to get a shallow depth of field and blur the background is to put the camera close to the model when the distance between the model and the background is constant, so that the effect of shallow depth of field can be easily obtained, the characters are more prominent and the background is naturally blurred. When shooting, we should pay attention to the fact that the foreground can't be a messy scene, because the foreground will be clearer in the picture when the lens is close to the model. Changing the distance between the model and the background is also one of the methods to obtain shallow depth of field. Arranging the model at a certain distance from the background (not necessarily close to the model) can also achieve a perfect shallow depth of field effect. Simply put, the farther away the model is from the background, the easier it is to form a shallow depth of field, from which a greater blur effect can be obtained.

Six, let the characters become the visual center of the three-point composition method

Three-dimensional composition can be divided into horizontal three-dimensional composition and vertical three-dimensional composition. When shooting a portrait, the picture is divided into three equal parts horizontally and vertically. The torso of the person can be placed on each dividing line, and the face or eyes of the person can be placed on one of its four intersections, so that the person can be more clearly highlighted.

Seven, curve composition method shows the softness of female body.

Curve composition is divided into S-shaped composition and C-shaped composition. When shooting female portraits, S-shaped or C-shaped compositions are often used to show the femininity and sexiness of the body. Among them, S-shaped composition is the most commonly used, and C-shaped composition also has a good performance effect in expressing women's feminine figure, but it is weaker than S-shaped composition. Usually, when a woman with good figure stands naturally, she can shoot a beautiful S-shaped curve from the side, but if she shoots from the front, she needs the model to tilt slightly. In addition to these two angles, you can also form a sexier S-shaped curve by lying down.

Eight, the diagonal composition method of stretching the beauty of characters.

Diagonal composition is often used in portrait photography. When the posture or body movements of characters appear in the picture in a diagonal way and occupy enough space, diagonal composition method is formed.

The stretching effect produced by diagonal composition has a very good effect on expressing the slender figure of women or beautifying the defects in the body material of the subject. When taking a portrait with this composition method, the instep of at least one foot should be stretched straight, so that the body line extends from the leg to the instep, so as to play the role of lengthening the body line.

Nine, triangle composition method to express the sense of stability of the picture

Triangle composition is a typical composition form in portrait photography, which is divided into regular triangle, inverted triangle and oblique triangle. When shooting, the limbs or postures of the characters are combined into a triangle. This composition has a strong sense of stability and upward impact, and the face of the person is usually located at the top of the triangle as the visual center.

Ten, horizontal frame portrait.

The horizontal frame composition is widely used by people mainly because the horizontal frame conforms to people's visual habits and physiological characteristics, because people's eyes are horizontal and many objects extend in the horizontal direction. Portrait photography suitable for people and environment can also be used to shoot group portraits.

XI。 Portrait shooting in horizontal frame

The mullion, that is, the vertical rectangular composition, extends up and down. This frame mode is also a common composition method for taking portraits. The mullion emphasizes the vertical factors in the picture and the depth of the picture, and can be used to shoot full-length portraits or busts.

Twelve, overlooking the portrait.

Overlooking angle shooting means that the camera lens is above the normal horizon and shoots the subject down from a height. When shooting a character from this angle, the body of the character will be compressed, and there will be a deformation effect of' big and small', the head will be exaggerated, and the body part will be reduced, so that the character will be more cute and playful. If the angle between the face and the camera is less than 90, you can easily take photos of beautiful women with small faces, and your eyes will look bigger than usual.

Overlooking is also a common shooting angle of Sleeping Beauty, so we should pay attention to making the picture close to high profile when shooting.

Thirteen, look up and take a portrait

Looking up shooting refers to shooting from bottom to top with the lens under the person being photographed. The picture effect exaggerates the height, and the spatial perspective effect is stronger. When taking a portrait, the lower part of the body near the camera will be enlarged, while the face away from the camera will be reduced. Portraits taken from this angle usually look taller, straighter and slimmer than usual, so if you want to show the strong temperament of men or the slender posture of women, you can use this angle.

Fourteen, using the environment to render the picture atmosphere.

Blank space is actually a well-understood concept, which means blank space. Blanking clearly means leaving a certain blank space for the picture when composing a composition. Vividly speaking, the blank in the picture plays a similar role to the punctuation in the article. However, the blank space in photography is not necessarily blank space in practical sense, it can be a large area of the same color or the same type of scenery, such as sky, sea, mountains, grasslands, land and so on.

Blank space can make the picture more comfortable and natural visually. Photographers can use blank space to better control the rhythm and artistic conception of the picture, set off the artistic conception, leave more imagination space for the viewer, and let the viewer's viewpoint stay in the picture but the emotion is full of its extension.

In portrait photography, the main portrait should be arranged in the most attractive position in the picture, such as near the golden section. When composing a composition, leave a blank space appropriately to give the viewer room for imagination.

Fifteen, the line of sight of the characters is blank, extending the sense of space in the picture.

As mentioned above, in a photographic work, the main real image and the blank part are interdependent. The blank part can not only set off and explain the theme, but also supplement and strengthen the theme image. The blank space in front of the characters' sight can supplement the sight space of the main characters and seek the balance of the picture.

Sixteen, the use of accompaniment to help express character temperament.

Appropriate and ingenious use of adjoint can better express the artistic conception or story in the picture and strengthen the theme to be expressed. These props can be a bunch of flowers, a guitar, a toy, a pair of shoes or an umbrella. However, the props used should conform to the gender, age, personality, preferences and other characteristics of the subject, and only suitable props can play a role in assisting the subject to express the effect.

Seventeen, the vision shows people and the environment.

The foreground picture is characterized by large space, multi-level scenery, short subject image and many scenery, which can fully express the environment in a large range. The foreground of shooting is to show the overall momentum of the picture to a great extent, just like "taking the momentum away" mentioned in painting theory, so the photographer should take the big picture as the center and win with momentum. In portrait photography, the foreground covers the whole physical appearance of the subject, including the feet, and the background environment is very large. When shooting, the characters are combined with the background environment, and both can be properly expressed. But pay special attention to the collocation relationship between characters and backgrounds.

18. The middle scene shows the expressions and postures of the characters.

The portrait in the middle shot is an image above the knee, which not only shows the facial expression of the character, but also pays more attention to the hand movements of the character. Pay attention to the posture of the subject when shooting, which can further show the inner state of the subject. The use of the middle scene further expands the space area of the picture, which is beneficial to the performance of the characters' limbs and the composition is more diverse. When taking a portrait in the middle, you should also pay attention to the subject's expression.

19. The close-up shows the facial expressions of the characters.

Close-up portraits usually shoot images above the waist of the person, which can make readers have a strong impression on the person being photographed. It should be noted that it is best to use a medium telephoto lens to avoid possible perspective distortion, and at the same time, it can blur the background and beautify the picture. Close-ups are good for expressing people's facial expressions. When shooting, you can highlight the eyes of the subject, and the eyes are the windows of the soul. Eye contact is a way of communication and expression. Depicting infectious eyes can make the audience deeply understand the instantaneous expressions and emotions of the characters and resonate better.

Twenty, close-up scenery shows the body parts of the characters.

Close-up is one of the favorite shooting methods of many portrait photographers. Although it seems simple to take close-ups, there are many ways to choose composition and portrait parts. For example, the common close-up shooting method is to shoot people's faces, mainly showing eyes and lips. In addition, you can also focus on other parts of the portrait, such as hands, feet, legs, hips and other positions. Obviously, the close-up part will bring a different atmosphere to the picture. Nowadays, hand models, foot models, leg models and chest models often appear in commercial portrait advertisements. When shooting these models, the most common scene is close-up.