What is documentary portrait photography?

Documentary portrait photography is a kind of photography that uses documentary photography to shoot portraits, and it is the intersection of documentary photography and portrait photography.

Documentary photography is essentially a record of people's social life and production activities, so documentary portraits belong to both portrait photography and news photography.

Ordinary portrait photography pays attention to artistry and appreciation, while documentary portrait photography pays more attention to ideology and sociality, so the latter has stronger ideology and appeal and higher historical value.

Therefore, documentary portraits should record people's fate in history, and such works are very valuable at that time or later.

To do this, we must first have a sense of social responsibility and care about people and things that the people care about, instead of practicing fraud and grandstanding; Secondly, we should be sharp-minded, make quick judgments and reactions to people and things that happen around us at any time, and record them with a camera so that we can see them from our eyes to our hands. This is a process of tempering.

It can be seen that the expression of documentary portrait photography is similar to that of report photography.

Here's how to shoot a documentary portrait:

First, the choice of equipment.

Documentary portrait photography is generally a snapshot, which requires capturing typical moments of people and revealing the essence of people and things in an emergency.

It has the characteristics of short shooting distance, large depth of field and fast shooting requirements.

Therefore, standard or wide-angle lenses are often used, and generally a wide-angle zoom lens of 24-85mm can be selected.

Usually, spotlights should be used when shooting. Of course, when shooting in dim indoor light, you can sometimes use a flash, but only if you have to.

Because documentary portrait photography mostly uses live snapshots, it is best to choose fast films such as ISO200 or ISO400.

Second, focus quickly.

Generally speaking, a moving person can focus by area or synchronize with the person being photographed to maintain a fixed focal length.

But if the subject's position is static or it is predicted that they will definitely appear in a certain position, focus on the fixed point.

The characters in documentary photography are free men and are not dominated by photographers. Therefore, fast focusing is the basic technology of documentary portrait photography.

Third, capture quickly.

You can't interfere with the subject, you can only use the photographer's superb snapshot or * * * technology to capture the best plot moment of the subject.

In addition, under the condition of not disturbing the subject, shoot as close as possible to the subject, and the picture has more visual impact.

Fourth, a single photo and a group photo are suitable.

Documentary portrait photography can be represented by a photo with its own image and theme, such as Li Xiaobin's * * *; You can also use a set of photos to express a theme idea from different angles, such as Project Hope in Jie Hailong.

The former can be shot anytime and anywhere, while the group photo needs to be shot continuously with a specific person (or group of people) and a specific place as the center. Make a shooting plan before shooting: for example, which lens to shoot, which lens to use as the theme photo, what content to describe in words, and discover and supplement new materials at any time during shooting, so that the information capacity is greater and the readability is stronger.