Portrait photography skills and shooting methods

The purpose of portrait photography is not only to pursue the similarity with the appearance of the subject, but also to reflect some aspects of his personality, so that people can know more or less about the people in the photo when they see it. The easiest way is to shoot when people don't notice the camera and have no time to make artificial expressions, as mentioned in the introduction of snapshot technology. Another way is to include the environment around your subject in the photo.

In some formal occasions, such as when only you and your subject are around, it is more difficult to capture the expression of the subject, because most people feel unnatural when posing for portraits. So you need to be not only a photographer, but also a communicator, so that photographers can feel relaxed. In this way, we can take their most unique side and finally get natural and true photos.

The works of the famous French photographer Bruno Dayan.

Required equipment

Camera: Any type of camera can be used to shoot portraits. The most important factor is that you can operate your camera quickly without thinking, so as not to miss any vivid expressions and be fleeting.

Lens: A lens with a focal length of 85 ~135mm (for 35mm cameras) is considered to be the best choice for taking portraits. The main reason is that the medium focus lens can slightly compress the perspective, thus making the portrait face full. Moreover, using this telephoto lens allows you to shoot in a relatively limited distance, and the head and shoulders of the object you want to shoot can fill the whole picture. When shooting with a larger aperture (such as f/4), the depth of field will be smaller, so that the details of the background will be blurred, so that the object you want to shoot can become the main body of the shooting picture.

Ps: tripod is very useful because it can give the subject a reference point and you don't have to stay behind the camera all the time to shoot.

Realization method

If you want to really show the personality of the subject in the photos you take, you must make the person you take feel completely relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera. This can be achieved by the following methods:

First, talk to your topic. Communicating about things with the same interests can make you less nervous. After a few minutes, they will forget the existence of the camera, and you can capture any interesting expressions of them at will.

The works of the famous French photographer Bruno Dayan.

Secondly, never make your subject laugh. Only when you smile from the heart can you know the real smile. There is only one way to do this, and that is to make your theme really feel that something is really funny-for example, you can tell a joke or a humorous story. If you carefully appreciate the works of a successful portrait photographer, you will find that the expressions of the characters they shoot are more thoughtful and serious. This expression is more expressive.

Also, your subject's reaction to the camera mainly depends on their own inner feelings, so if you want to take a serious portrait, please exchange some serious topics with your subject, or have some conversations that you think can produce expressions that meet your requirements. Maybe the tasks you want to shoot have their own independent views on politics or environment, or they are going through a difficult period in their lives. The more you know about the person you want to shoot, the more you can control the shooting scene and the final result you want to shoot.

Third, plan everything in advance to make your shooting process short and beautiful. Choose the shooting location, design the image you want to shoot in your mind in advance, set up the camera and go straight to work. For photographers, posing for portraits will soon become boring. So if you can't take good photos in the first 20 minutes, then you have lost the chance to shoot a successful work.

If you are shooting in an indoor photography studio, try to keep the lighting simple and avoid complicated metering. A single light source plus a soft light box is an ideal choice for shooting male portraits. When the light source is placed in the direction of 45 or 90 between the object and the camera, it can produce ideal illumination, and the effect is rough, thus shooting the facial features with carving effect and highlighting the skin details. If you are shooting a woman or girl, you need to use soft lenses and use light sources as much as possible to avoid stiff shadows. Place light sources and soft light boxes on both sides of the camera, and the lighting will be ideal.

The works of the famous French photographer Bruno Dayan.

Studio is a more formal environment for taking portrait photos, so photographers are also required to be more careful. In the black-and-white photo below, the subject is the photographer's friend, so any lack of relaxation in front of the camera is quickly overcome by their mutual friendship and respect. The subject in the photo is illuminated by a photographic lamp with a soft light box continuously placed on the right, and the photographer uses two other lamps to illuminate the white paper as the background.

As an alternative, you can let your theme stand by the window and use the light from the window as the light source.

Outside, the soft light in the bright and thin clouds is very suitable for taking portraits, because the contrast is very small at this time and will not leave an ugly shadow on the face of the characters. If you must shoot in sunny weather, you can let the subject stand in the shadow, so that the light will be softer and will not leave a shadow on the subject's face. Or you can turn the subject's back to the sun, and then reflect the light to the subject's face with a mirror in front of the subject.

The most effective photos are often the simplest, because you have the least worry about the camera, and you can focus more on the person being photographed. If you can remember this, then you won't make too many mistakes when shooting.

The works of the famous French photographer Bruno Dayan.

special technology

Pressing the shutter to take a photo is the simplest and least important part of taking a portrait photo. It's important to communicate with the people you want to shoot and make them feel relaxed. Only in this way can we take natural and inspiring photos.

Even if you are as nervous as the person you want to shoot, you should give people the impression that you are confident and can control the situation. If your partner finds that you don't know what to do, your partner will never feel relaxed.

The best expression of a character is always fleeting, so always be ready to capture it.

In order to create a successful portrait photo, you may need to take many photos.