How to take a documentary portrait photo?

Documentary portrait photography works often appear in various business brochures, magazines or newspapers, which are both narrative and interesting, but not as serious as news photography and as perfect as shed portraits.

For professional photographers, it is not too difficult to take such photos and they are basically taken indoors, and the atmosphere is relaxed. People in this environment will behave more naturally. Secondly, this kind of photo does not require high photographic equipment. As long as you have patience, even a set of lenses can be fully qualified. So as an ordinary photographer, how should we take a group of portrait photos with documentary style?

1. gain the trust of the other party, and everyone admits that it is relative.

Basically, this is the first thing to do before all shooting work starts, which is related to whether the follow-up work can go smoothly. You can take some realistic work scenes as a warm-up, try not to disturb other people's work, and don't stay in one place all the time, otherwise the subject will feel unnatural.

Use props

Prop is a wonderful thing, which can mobilize the atmosphere without a lot and reflect the characteristics of the characters well. A good prop can make the theme of a photo more concrete, make the plain scene vivid and add more interest, such as a hat, a plate or even a wrench.

3. Black and white photos

Photography technology has developed for hundreds of years, but today black-and-white photos still have their unique attraction, and they are also the first choice for documentary themes. They are also suitable for portraits and human art, with good body effects and good later stage. In short, a simple monochrome contrast between light and shade is a very good form of expression.

pose

Documentary photos can actually pose, but don't be too deliberate. Try to chat with the subject for a while before pressing the shutter, and adjust the physical distance from them by the way. When the time is right, tell them "I want to take a picture of you and give me a smiling face/gesture". At this time, you should immediately pick up the camera and press the shutter, continuous shooting. You should know that they are not private models, and there is not much time. If the background is too messy, you can turn up the aperture and blur the background.

Use a wide-angle lens

The advantage of wide-angle lens is that it can explain more environmental content to viewers, especially in limited indoor space, which is undoubtedly a great weapon.

Looking for a suitable light source

If shooting indoors, try to use natural light, windows or reflectors for only one purpose, that is, to make the light on the face of the person more natural. If the light is dim, you can also use the golden reflector to make up the light.

7. Give priority to aperture.

Indoor light is complex, and manual mode can provide more adjustment space, but there are many variables in the shooting scene and the picture is fleeting. This not only tests the photographer's predictive ability, but also requires the camera to enter the working state immediately. Therefore, the aperture priority mode that affects the depth of field has become the first choice.

8. Improve sensitivity

Indoor light is generally weak, so improving the sensitivity can make up for the lack of shutter speed, and the final photo may have some noise, but it is worth it compared with the waste film caused by hand shaking.

9. shoot with a small aperture selectively

Under normal circumstances, large aperture and shallow depth of field can highlight portraits, but it is another matter to put them indoors with poor lighting conditions. Once the light is insufficient, the variables will increase, and it is common to pull the bellows or even lose focus. In this case, "shooting" is far more important than "how to shoot". Narrowing the aperture and increasing the depth of field can keep most scenes in focus without worrying about taking out-of-focus or even out-of-focus photos.