How to shoot emotional portraits

Emotion is closely related to the exertion of artistic creativity. A good emotional state can give full play to creativity, which can not only improve the efficiency and creative quality of portrait photography, but also better express art in works. So do you know how to take emotional portraits? Let's have a look!

The artistic expression of portrait photography works is not only related to photographic equipment and skills, but also related to shooting location, atmosphere and color application. It is more important to shoot the emotional expression of models and photographers and the harmony and trust between the two sides. In other words, it is necessary to effectively integrate and apply the above factors, especially the exertion of emotions, so that portrait works can well express simple emotions and deeper emotional demands, convey the connotation of the theme, and improve the artistic expression of works.

Sometimes I want to shoot indoor portraits to practice my hands, but I think renting a studio to practice is still very expensive. It's not as complicated as you think. As long as there is a white wall at home, it is not difficult to shoot good works, let alone practice.

First, black and white+background, layout shooting atmosphere

Even if shooting in a simple environment, we should do a good job of preparation and planning in the early stage, and pay attention to two steps to successfully complete the shooting. If only the white wall is used as the background, the shot will be a bit monotonous. At this time, in order to fill the background, we decided to build a simple background with two props. Watch your shooting range, lay a background larger than the shooting range for your picture, and leave some margin for shooting, otherwise you will shoot impurities outside the background.

Use non-reflective and soft black and white chiffon as the background cloth, showing a soft background effect. In the process of fixing the background, the wrinkle effect can be made properly, so the length of the background cloth is about 3 meters. When we shoot, we use black and white, 3 meters each, and match the background with each other, so that the background has a feeling of ups and downs.

1, ground chiffon effect: Because each floor is different, in order to unify the ground and background, chiffon is also laid on the ground in the area occupied by the model, which makes the work look more integrated. If you don't have chiffon at home, you can actually find black clothes to spread.

2. Position of the model and the background: There should be a distance of about half an arm between the model and the background to blur the background and create a sense of space when shooting. Don't let the model cling to the background.

3. Angle of soft umbrella: Because there are many models sitting in this shoot, the soft umbrella is slightly inclined downward, and the angle with the horizontal plane is 120 degrees. The height of the lamp holder is adjusted according to the height of the model after sitting down, which is about 60 cm high.

4. Background laying area: In order not to shoot the wall outside the set, the edge height of the background cloth should be laid 40-50 cm above the model's head; Because the background cloth needs a drooping feeling to make the picture full, the width can be about 2 meters under certain drooping conditions.

Second, black and white pictures highlight emotions.

According to the theme of this shooting, most of the walls in the house are white without any color. In order to prevent the monotonous work, we might as well choose black and white to shoot. Without the interference of color, black and white portraits can better highlight the emotions of characters through composition, expression and posture.

In the shooting menu of Canon EOS 5D Mark III, you can directly shoot portraits in black and white tones by entering the photo style option bar and selecting monochrome. Compared with the black-and-white tone in the later stage, the use of black-and-white tone in the early stage allows the photographer to control the atmosphere of the whole picture and the mood of the characters more stably.

You can shoot black-and-white effects by selecting monochrome in the menu, and you can also adjust details such as sharpness and contrast in monochrome settings.

Third, the correct use of flash.

The pose of the model reflects the emotion. In this shooting, it is more important to coordinate the posture and flash, adjust the posture and flash, and let the work express emotion more completely.

The flash selects manual mode.

Because the shooting was done in a windowless room, the function of the flash is to fully illuminate the characters, which is simply to shoot portraits indoors. If the flash mode is set to M manual mode, it is actually easier to operate because the light output can be controlled by itself. When shooting, the power output of the flash is set to116, and the position is fixed at an angle of 45 degrees in front of the model.

The cooperation between shutter speed and flash.

Indoor shooting often lacks light and requires the use of flash. At this time, it is recommended to use lamp holders and soft umbrellas to shoot indoor portraits, which can not only make the flash light soft, but also shape the three-dimensional sense of the characters. At this time, we must pay attention to the cooperation between the shutter speed of the camera and the flash speed. The flash synchronization speed of Canon EOS 5D Mark III is 1/200 seconds. If the shutter speed is faster than 1/200 seconds, there will be some underexposure in the picture, so it is recommended to keep the shutter speed slower than 1/200 seconds. If you feel overexposed, you can adjust the aperture and flash output.

Right: Error | Left: Correct

Fourth, pose to highlight the mood of the model.

For the shooting of emotional portraits, facial expressions and eye expressions are actually more important. When posing, the focus of communication with models should be the expression of expressions, especially the eyes. Therefore, in order to highlight emotional expression, it is not recommended to have complex postures on the body, and it is best not to cover the five senses with your hands, otherwise it will affect the expression of facial expressions. Always keep the model upright, don't hunch over and curl up, and face the flash.

Wrong picture: the posture of the hand blocking the lips affects the expression of the eyes, and blocking the chin makes the outline somewhat deformed.

Right: Don't have too many physical movements, and better express your emotions.

Tip: Beautiful models reveal the secrets of grasping emotions.

The emotions expressed in this theme are some sad and confused emotions. After the photographer communicated with the model, she quickly entered the state. When the camera was aimed at her, she grasped her emotions well. So how did she do it? When shooting, we asked the model Zhang Xian.

When I heard the photographer tell me that I need to express a state of confusion, my eyes staring at the camera should be out of focus, just like the state of eyes when people are in a daze. If you are nearsighted, you are out of focus when you take off your glasses to see the world.

Although this trick is shared by models, the photographer can also tell you the model you want to shoot, so that she can get this skill point of grasping emotions.

Fifth, the foreground+perspective creates a different sense of picture.

In order to add more scenes to the portrait taken in front of a wall, we try to shoot from different perspectives and change our perspectives to show more creativity.

Manufacturing prospect of gauze and mineral water

It is often the use of foreground that sublimates the emotional portrait, and the appropriate foreground will highlight the atmosphere of the whole picture. In this shooting, we chose to put the tulle in front of the camera to create a hazy feeling. At this time, we should pay attention to controlling the position of the tulle in front of the camera, and move the tulle while observing in the viewfinder to avoid the tulle covering the whole picture and highlighting the facial expression of the model. When moving the tulle, pay attention to the smaller movement range. A little movement is often a large change in the viewfinder, so you should have patience to control the amount of tulle in the picture at this time.

If there is no tulle at home, in fact, mineral water bottles are also possible. Compared with tulle, when the lens is blocked by mineral water bottle, the picture will have a dazzling gradient effect. It should be noted that in order to make the shooting effect more transparent, the mineral water bottle is filled with water when shooting and appears in the picture close to the lens.

Sixth, find the right posture

It is also a good choice to shoot from another perspective. You can use the floor or bed in front of the selected wall to make the model lie down and shoot from the top. It is also recommended to use the foreground mentioned above when shooting. Gauze allows the model to hold down the lower part and the photographer to put the upper part in front of the camera, so that there will be different levels of transparency when shooting, creating some deep sense of space and obscurity, so that emotions can be released more in the picture presentation.