What are the skills for taking portraits and taking photos together?

first, don't leave too much head space. Although this is a simple question, it is often ignored. Leaving too much space above people's heads will give people a feeling of being crowded and not stretching, so don't leave too much space above people's heads. But how much is appropriate, experts have this experience: the eyes of the subject are 1/3 above the scene frame. In other words, the human head must be placed in the upper 1/3 part of the scene frame, so that the problem of "too much head space" can be avoided.

There is another composition method, which does not leave "too much" space above the head, but leaves no space at all, or even cuts off a part above the head (it can also be cut later), which is very useful when shooting people horizontally. Let the head of the subject fill the whole scene frame, and the compact composition can produce a very striking effect. This composition technique is very popular at present and is widely used in many top fashion, beauty and portrait photography. However, you should pay attention that the hair, shoulders and arms of the subject can be cut, but never cut the chin, otherwise, such a portrait looks uncomfortable.

second, shooting horizontally and vertically. It makes sense for the camera to be designed as a horizontal support. The shutter button is located on the right shoulder, which is just where the finger can be placed naturally, which is very beneficial for scenery shooting. However, professional portrait photography is usually taken in the vertical direction (the direction of the person), so if you want to get a professional portrait of the person, you should generally put the camera vertically and shoot in the direction of the person. If you shoot a lot of people, you should be equipped with a battery handle, which has two advantages. First, you can shoot for a longer time without replacing the battery. Second, it is very important to ensure that you feel comfortable when shooting vertically. Comfortable, firm and convenient feel is a necessary condition for taking high-quality photos.

There are some exceptions, that is, when you don't leave too much head space and shoot the side of the character horizontally in the first article, because the subject faces the edge of the scene frame, if you shoot vertically, the frame the portrait faces will be too close, and you will feel oppressive visually. Therefore, shooting the side of the character horizontally will give the subject more visual breathing space, which will make him look more comfortable.

Third, outdoor figure photography. People who shoot outdoors generally don't go to direct sunlight, especially in summer when the light is very strong. However, when you have to shoot under such conditions, you should also make the subject's back to the sun, which is often called the "sun on the shoulder" rule. This will leave a good edge light effect (contour light) on the shoulders and hair of the subject. Then use the flash to give the subject's face a little (low brightness) enough light, and you can get a perfect photo that blends with the surrounding natural light.

In addition, when shooting outdoors, you must find a cool place. The light reflected by natural light on the subject in the cool place is often ideal (the light near the edge of the cool place is the best), but when shooting in the cool place, you should be careful of the terrible "light spot", that is, the sunlight passes through the trees to form uneven light spots on the subject, which will also destroy the whole photo. If there is no shade, you need to have a large transparent soft light cover. Ask a friend to hold the soft light cover between the sun and the subject, so that you can also get soft and beautiful natural light.

fourth, use wide-angle and telephoto lenses. Traditionally, portrait photography generally uses a special lens with a focal length of 8-12 mm. It seems illegal to use a wide-angle or telephoto lens. In fact, you can really get close to the subject by shooting with a wide-angle lens, but the scenery on the edge of the scene frame looks a little "wide", but these scenes show the shooting environment and can receive different effects. Using telephoto lens has more obvious advantages of "lens compression", which is very suitable for portrait shooting. We can often see fashion or celebrity portraits appearing on TV or magazines. You must notice the distance between the photographer and the subject, and these photos often have very professional quality and the effect looks surprisingly good. This is the credit of telephoto lens. In addition, when taking group photos with many people, the compression function of telephoto lens can also eliminate some bad effects caused by perspective deformation, so that the subject looks more comfortable and soft.

fifth, the light of indoor figure photography. When people look at photos, they are first attracted by the brightest scenery in the photos, so they should project the brightest light to your desired position. In indoor figure photography, there is no doubt that the face of the subject is the most eye-catching, so the brightest light should be on the face, and then gradually dim down along the body, thus increasing the interest, vividness and three-dimensional sense. Of course, the gradual darkening is not without details, but it is not as bright as the face.

as for the location of indoor light, the light from the north window without direct light is generally the most suitable. In fact, some professional photographers insist on taking portraits only by natural window light. The window disperses the incoming light. The bigger the window, the softer and more dispersed the light, and the better the effect. Let the subject and his shoulder side face the window, so that the light will pass through the subject and there will be a soft shadow on one side of his face. The subject should be about 1.8 meters away from the window, and the light will gently linger around the subject. Your camera should be placed opposite the subject, with your shoulders close to the window, forming a triangle with the subject.

sixth, don't shoot the shoulder of the subject head-on. Compared with the head, the shoulder is wide and flat in a limited scene frame. If the shoulder side of the subject faces the camera, it will make people look slimmer. By reducing the width of the shoulder and focusing more attention on the head, the state of the subject will be more gratifying. When the subject is sitting in a chair to take pictures, in addition to the slight side of the shoulder, the whole body of the subject should lean forward slightly away from the edge of the chair, so as to ensure that the subject will not be in a lazy state, which will help to improve their spirit and take a better and more natural portrait.

When taking group photos of life, we should also pay attention to avoid linear arrangement, and don't let everyone stand in simple and boring rows. Just like measuring people's shoulders, if you want the subjects to form several mini-collections in groups of 3-4 people, you will find that these sparse and well-arranged combinations are full of intimacy and vitality. If you make some simple adjustments, you can get an interesting group photo of life.

Seventh, keep the subject in good condition. When shooting people, the mental state of the subject is very important. Photographers should make their subjects full of confidence in themselves, full of energy, and stand in front of the camera in a happy mood, which is a great enjoyment, so as to help them take better pictures of people. But how to keep this state? A simple way is to let them talk all the time. Just talk about anything, what you are doing, weather, environment, clothes, stocks, etc. Anything that can arouse their interest can be talked about, just don't be cold. If everything is quiet, the subject will start to worry and be anxious, and will completely lose his state in a minute or two. At this time, your shooting is basically a failure, because no one wants to see a photo of his fidgety, anxious or even painful expression.

Another thing is also very important, that is, never count off when taking portraits. If you count 1, 2 and 3 before pressing the shutter button, it almost "guarantees" that your portrait photos can't have natural expressions. Counting photos is something anyone can do. If you want to have a special effect-a natural and sincere smile and expression, you must not use the old-fashioned methods of 1, 2 and 3, but talk with the subjects, stimulate them to laugh and laugh, then capture the moment and take pictures constantly by taking "test photos", so that you can get the most natural and unpretentious photos of the day.

eighth, create a simple and clean background. The ideal background of portrait photography is "less is more". If you shoot in a natural environment, you must remove some scenes in the background if you want to get professional effects. Make the background as simple and tidy as possible. If it is impossible, try to remove the factors that deviate from the theme. To treat the whole photo as a whole, choose or create a background to ensure that the theme of the photo is prominent.

if shooting outdoors, in order to attract attention to the subject and form a visual separation between the subject and the background, you need to create a smaller depth of field, adjust the camera to aperture priority mode, and then set the camera to the minimum aperture or close to the minimum aperture (such as F/2.8 or F/3.5), so that the background can be defocused and all the focus is on the subject. This effect is that professional portrait photographers shoot outdoors.

Ninth, a quick way to deal with facial challenges. 1. If the subject is bald, shoot from a lower angle, and don't use things like hair lighting. 2. If the subject is wrinkled, try to illuminate them directly, because the side light will emphasize the shadow and make the wrinkles more obvious. 3. If the subject's ears are large, shoot from the oblique side of the subject, showing only one ear. 4. If the subject has a big nose, let him shoot directly at the camera from a lower angle, so that the nose will not be emphasized. 5. If the subject has a double chin, let him face the camera and extend his head slightly towards the camera, thus stretching and tightening the chin skin. 6. If the subject is round or fat, shoot 3/4 of the subject's face from the side, so it won't look too round. 7. If the subject has a shadow (pouch) under his eyes, put a silver or white reflector in front of his chest, so that the reflected light can eliminate the shadow under his eyes.