What are the factors for portrait photography?

Portrait photography takes depicting and expressing the specific appearance and demeanor of the person being photographed as its primary creative task. Although some portrait photography works also contain certain plots, it still focuses on expressing the appearance of the person being photographed. Mainly, and a considerable number of portrait photography works only describe the image of the subject without a specific plot. The following are the shooting factors I have compiled for you, I hope it can help you.

Shooting direction

Everyone has this life experience: the same person, observing from different angles, will not get exactly the same visual impression, and some angles will look more different. Beautiful, more charming. The same is true when taking portraits. We must strive to find the most beautiful and moving angle of the subject. A small change in the shooting angle can have a significant impact on the image of the person being assisted. The choice of shooting direction is a change in the left and right position of the camera with the subject as the center. The shooting directions are generally divided into frontal portraits, seven-side portraits, three-side portraits, and side portraits. Frontal portraits are suitable for those with regular facial features, well-proportioned and beautiful faces. If your face is too fat, too wide, or too thin. Generally speaking, people whose sides are uneven, or whose eyes are different in size, or whose nose or mouth are shaped incorrectly, should not be photographed from the front.

Seven-part portrait

Seven-part portrait means that the subject's face is slightly turned to one side, but the front of the subject's face can still be seen from the direction of the camera. Most of it. If divided according to the proportion of the front and side of the subject's face, the front of the face should account for most of the face, while the side only accounts for a small part. This kind of seven-part portrait not only still shows the front face of the subject, but also appears flexible and changeable, and is easy to achieve better results. There is another characteristic of choosing seven-pointed face photography: it is not like the contour lines on both sides of the subject's face in the frontal portrait, which are equally prominent. Instead, the contour lines of the narrower side are the most distinct, and the contour lines of the wider side are the clearest. The outlines of the lines take a back seat and don't appear so prominent. During the shooting, if the contour lines on both sides of the face of some subjects are not very symmetrical, we can turn their face to the side with the better-looking contours, so that the slightly defective side is in a less prominent part, and try to express as much as possible. Good appearance of the subject. However, for people with too high cheekbones, it is not suitable to use the three-quarter plane shooting, because it will make the too high cheekbones more exposed.

Third-plane portrait

A three-plane portrait means that the subject is turned a little more sideways than the seven-plane shooting angle. Although the front of the subject's face can still be seen from the direction of the camera, the proportion of the front is not as large as that of the side. Compared with seven-faceted portraits, in three-faceted portraits, the contours of the narrower side of the face are more distinct and important; moreover, the height of the bridge of the nose is more obvious, and the contours of the wider side of the face are visually more prominent. It seems less prominent. Therefore, if the contour lines on both sides of the face of some subjects are not very symmetrical, we can turn them to the side with a better-looking contour when shooting, so that the slightly defective side is in a less prominent part. For people whose cheekbones are too high, it is not suitable to use the three-quarter plane to shoot, because it, like the seven-quarter plane, will make the too-high cheekbones more exposed. When taking a three-dimensional portrait, the tip of the subject's nose should not touch or exceed the outline of the face. If the tip of the nose touches or exceeds the outline of the face, it is basically considered a profile portrait.

Side portrait

Side portrait refers to a portrait taken with the subject facing the side of the camera, forming an angle of approximately 90 degrees with the optical axis of the camera lens. When taken from this direction, the The characteristic of the shape is to focus on the side image of the subject, especially the contour features of the subject's face when viewed from the side, including the side contours of the forehead, nose, mouth, and chin. Of course, if you take a half-length or full-length portrait, the side profile of the body is also included. However, when shooting from the side, the subject's body does not necessarily have to form a 90-degree angle with the optical axis of the camera lens. Instead, the face can be facing the side, but the body can be facing diagonally sideways or frontally. This is still a profile portrait.

Since the subject’s facial profile is very distinct in side portraits, only people with very good-looking facial profile are suitable for this kind of shooting. If the subject's forehead is too large or too low, or the bridge of the nose is too high or too concave, the mouth shape is incorrect, or the chin is too pointed or too short, it is not suitable to shoot from the side. Be sure to pay special attention to this point when choosing a shooting angle.

Shooting height

If the camera shoots upward from a lower position, it can make the subject's image appear more majestic; if the camera shoots the subject's head upward, it will make the chin The cheeks and cheeks appear larger and wider, the figure appears fatter, and the forehead becomes narrower and smaller. If the camera shoots downward from a position higher than the subject's eyes, the subject's figure will appear shorter; if the head portrait is shot downward, the forehead will be exaggerated and the chin will appear narrower and shorter. Under normal circumstances, when taking portraits, the position of the camera should not be too high or too low, because when the camera lens is taken from a higher or lower angle, the perspective distortion caused by the optical lens is more severe than when we look up or down. Looking down from above creates a much stronger effect, which is where seeing with the human eye and shooting with a lens are at odds. Therefore, when taking portraits, you should pay special attention to the choice of high and low angles.

Under normal circumstances, when taking half-length portraits, the camera is best positioned at the same height as the subject's chest, or parallel to the subject; when taking full-length portraits, the camera is best positioned slightly lower than the subject's waist height. In this way, the image of the person being assisted appears more normal, making people look more slender. Special attention should be paid to the fact that when shooting close-up portraits or head portraits, the camera is generally suitable for the height of the subject's eyes, so that the effect is more natural and there is no obvious perspective distortion. Of course, you can also use a slightly higher or lower shooting angle to achieve different modeling effects, but you must have the proper sense of proportion to avoid distorting the image of the character.

If you want to make the character's face slimmer, you can raise the camera position appropriately for overhead shots, so that the character's face will be more pleasing to the eye and the eyes will be more charming. You need to pay attention to controlling the camera lens deformation

< p> In individual cases, you can also use the choice of shooting height to slightly modify the image of the subject. For example, a person with slender legs can use a slightly upward shooting angle to make him look a little fatter; a person with fat cheeks can use a slightly lower shooting angle to make him look a little thinner. However, this correction is limited.

Other factors

At the same time, we should also pay attention to the butterfly light and Rembrandt lighting method of portrait photography; the tone and tone of portrait photography, and the impact of tone on vision. The tones of portrait photography consist of high-key portraits, low-key portraits, general-tone portraits, soft-tone portraits, and hard-tone portraits. The tonal designs of portrait photography include warm-tone design, cold-tone design, mid-tone design, contrasting tone design, and harmonious tone design, etc. ; Covering up the flaws in the character’s appearance; posture, clothing, background and props are also very important factors!