Super practical 17 steps teach you how to take good portrait photography.

First, more skills to make the role present the best state.

It's more difficult than you think to get professional effects in people photography for a simple reason: professional photographers hire pleasant models, and as you know, models are models for only one reason-forgetting to eat and sleep. Of course, I'm kidding. They become models because they are very photogenic. So, what makes our work more difficult is that we are not surrounded by charming models. We usually shoot for friends, or for many people whose looks are between Mr. Bean and jabba the hutt. That's why as a character photographer, his job is more challenging than that of an experienced professional photographer-I want to get magical effects from people who are not models. This is why we are often disappointed with our pictures of people (of course, it's not our fault). In this chapter, we will see two effective methods, which can help us get better and more professional photos every time.

(1) How to make friends with good-looking people (this is very helpful if you are rich).

(2) Learn to control the lighting and the posture of the subject. The key is to use dramatic lighting. When I say "dramatic lighting", I really mean no light. The less bright these non-model subjects are, the better the final photos will be. In fact, you can consider silhouette or long-distance night shooting, that is, shooting at a distance of 100~200 yards from the subject-this distance is very beautiful for anyone (which is also the reason why the distance produces beauty). Anyway, this chapter will tell you how to shoot people, and provide a list of places where people who wear jeans that are more expensive than Luxembourg GNP and have a good expression often go.

Second, don't leave too much head space.

When ordinary people take snapshots, they always leave too much space above the head of the subject (as shown above). This is a common mistake made by most amateurs, but fortunately it is very easy to correct. But don't do this-don't leave too much space. If you remember the figure composition skills in the first book (the subject's eyes are above the scene 1/3), then you can avoid the problem of "too much head space".

Third, the direction of the characters.

Most pictures are taken horizontally (landscape photography), which can also create the most perfect feeling, because the camera is designed like this-horizontal support, which is why the shutter button is at the top right, which is exactly where the finger can be placed naturally.

But professional portrait photography is usually taken in the vertical direction (which is why it is called "portrait direction", but this term is often used when computers print pictures-you will see a landscape (horizontal) or portrait (vertical) button). So, if you want to get a more professional portrait of a person, put the camera vertically and shoot in the direction of the person (of course, there are always exceptions like other rules, which will be discussed later in this chapter).

Fourth, shoot people? Be sure to have a battery handle

If you shoot a lot of people, you will spend a lot of time flipping the camera up and down, and soon you will get tired of pressing the shutter button at the top of the camera.

At this point, you need a vertical battery handle. In addition to allowing you to use two batteries, you can also shoot for a longer time without replacing the batteries. Another advantage is that most battery handles include vertical shutter buttons and knobs for setting aperture and shutter speed, so that vertical shooting feels as comfortable as horizontal shooting. In addition to these benefits, most photographers I know think it makes the whole camera more comfortable and firm in the hand, even when shooting horizontally (the feel of the camera is very important). The better news is that these battery handles can be used in most SLR cameras. Compared with their advantages, the battery handle is cheaper than expected (generally above RMB in 700 yuan).

Verb (abbreviation of verb) pseudo-rule-"the sun on the shoulder"

You may have heard of the rule that the sun is on the shoulder, which means that when shooting people outdoors, you should turn your back to the sun (above your shoulder) so that the subject's face is illuminated. This is a perfect rule for taking snapshots, but it is the worst for taking group photos (except for the case of "tall people standing behind").

If you want to make outdoor portrait photography professional, don't let the sun shine directly on your face (although most people do), which will make everyone squint, unable to open their eyes and face the camera. To make matters worse, there are dazzling, direct and annoying lights on their faces.

If the subject's back to the sun (not your back to the sun), there will be a good edge light effect around them (outline hair), and then use the flash slightly (keep the brightness of the flash low) to let their faces have enough light, so that they can blend in with the surrounding natural light.

Just be sure when ordering battery handles: not all battery handles have vertical shutter keys, so be sure that the battery handles you ordered have this function.

Sixth, enlarge the wide-angle lens

This concept refers to shooting with a wide-angle lens in the field-because it has always been respected-don't shoot with a wide-angle lens, because they will be distorted and look strange, so I haven't considered this method for many years.

But he is the top photographer in the world, and the excellent joe McNally completely subverts this myth and completely changes the way I shoot environmental portraits-shooting with a wide-angle lens and zooming in. When shooting with a wide-angle lens, you can really get close to the subject (you can enlarge it), and they will not be distorted, but the scenery at the edge of the picture looks a little "wide", but the scenery at the edge of the picture shows the shooting environment. I was skeptical about this method until Joe challenged me to read People magazine. Most photos are taken with close-up wide-angle lenses. I was shocked, not only in People magazine, but almost everywhere-from magazines to billboards, to print advertisements and the Internet. Professional photographers enlarge wide-angle lenses, so can you!

Seven, horizontal shooting profile.

Now that we have learned the rules of portrait portrait, let's break this rule (this is the most interesting thing in photography rules-if you learn these rules, you may break them, which is cool! However, it is unwise to break the rules carelessly, because it is due to lack of understanding. Anyway, the place to deliberately break this rule is when we shoot the main side. The reasons are as follows: Because the subject faces the edge of the scene frame, if shooting vertically, it looks like being confined in a frame, which is very uncomfortable visually. Therefore, breaking the law of vertical shooting and shooting the profile of the character horizontally will give the subject a visual breathing space and make the subject in the scene frame look more comfortable.

Eight, take a better portrait with telephoto.

Have you ever watched high-end photo shooting on TV (maybe fashion shooting or celebrity shooting) and noticed the distance between the photographer and the subject? This is because they take advantage of the "lens compression" provided by the lens with longer focal length, which is very suitable for portrait shooting. The above photo tells us the whole secret completely-the left picture was shot with a 50mm lens, and the right picture was shot with a 70-200mm lens with a focal length of190 mm.

Even though all the cameras have the same settings and lighting (they are shot only a few seconds apart), her effect in the photo on the right looks more pleasant. This is why you will see many professional photographers taking portraits with a wide focal length. In other words, they try to shoot with the telephoto end of the lens. Therefore, if they shoot with a lens of 28- 135mm, the shooting effect is the best in the range of 100mm- 135mm, and the portrait effect is the most satisfactory at this time.

Nine, outdoor portrait shooting needs a soft mask.

When shooting portraits, the light is very harsh and unsatisfactory, so the worse effect can be determined by coin-casting: the camera has a built-in flash or direct light.

Fortunately, as you know in the digital photography manual, if you shoot portraits outdoors and there is a shade nearby, you can shoot in the shade. But what if we shoot on the beach or in the desert, or other nearby places without shade? Then you need to have one of the following equipment-33-inch Lastolite TriGrip 1 soft light cover (as I mentioned in the flash part, it disperses the glare of the external flash, so it has a dual task here). Ask a friend to hold a soft mask between the sun and the subject (as shown above), and you can get soft and beautiful natural light immediately. Its price is around RMB in 480 yuan. When you leave the studio, you will love this portable life buoy.

X. Choose a better background for portrait shooting.

The key to obtaining the ideal background of portrait photography is "less is more". If shooting in an environment (such as someone's home or office, etc.). ), in order to obtain professional effects, it is not to carefully improve the background-but to remove some scenery in the background. You need to use as little background as possible to disperse the theme factors. If it is impossible, try to get rid of some off-topic factors, as I did in the picture on the right. Don't ignore it-in order to create a truly ideal role environment, it can't just be a prospect. The whole photo should be viewed as a whole. By choosing (or creating) a simple and clean background, the possibility of victory will soar.

Eleven, innovative writing skills

Most of the photos you see are either taken horizontally or vertically, so the shooting angle should be more innovative, yes, innovative! Now there is a very popular method of portrait photography: changing the camera angle will make the subject face a certain corner. This method can't be simpler-just turn the camera a little to the right or left and you can shoot. You may need to try several times to get the subject in the position you want, but this effect (which has existed for many years) will be more popular.

Eleven, cut off their heads.

This is the next step in portrait photography, "Never let the subject's head leave too much space". In this composition technique, you need to trim the top of the subject. You will be surprised to read this. Filling the subject's head with scene frames is a very popular professional skill.

Such a compact composition has formed a very eye-catching effect. As shown in the above picture, it has caught your attention now, and you will find that this composition technique is ubiquitous and has become the mainstream method of many top fashion, beauty cosmetics and portrait photography. Note: although it is good to cut the top of the main body, or the edge of the arm, shoulders, hair, etc. You shouldn't cut your chin. In fact, everyone is used to seeing the top cut, which will look natural, but it will be very uncomfortable to see the picture of the chin cut. )

Twelve, it is easier to take group photos outdoors.

Lighting a group photo is undoubtedly a challenge. Everyone has the same amount of light, which is why when taking a group of photos, the subject is usually left outside to get better results. It is easier to use outdoor lights to illuminate the whole subject, especially when the subject is in the shadow (not deep in the shadow, just at the edge of the shadow, but no light spot is projected onto the subject through the gap between branches, windows or buildings). If you are lucky enough to take a group photo in cloudy weather, your job is very simple-just let the subjects go outdoors, and the cloudy sky will solve the lighting problem for you, so you can focus on how they pose. By the way, to take a professional photo, the photographer will never say, "Now the tall people are standing in the last row." )

Thirteen, collective posing skills

Next time you take a group photo, don't let everyone stand in a row (you know it doesn't look good), try to gather them around some scenery-some subjects will naturally arrange their own positions. For example, try to make people pose on or around the bed, or on or around chairs, posts, cars, tables or anything that can bring them together as a whole, so that they will not stand in a straight line.

Fourteen, life photo skills

Want to take a more attractive photo of life? Then let the subjects show a compact pyramid (triangle), but when I say compact, I mean they are all touching each other-their arms are leaning against each other, their heads are leaning together, one is at the top of the scene frame, one is at the bottom of the pyramid (as shown in the picture below), and the others are closely in the middle.

In this way, you will find that their bodies are not in a straight line-their positions are staggered, but they are all close together, which makes the photos look more dynamic and interesting. I haven't tried this method of taking photos with many people, but if you have an interesting life photo, this is the most powerful explanation for this method.

15. Never illuminate the whole object evenly.

When people look at photos, they will be attracted by the brightest scenery in the photos first, so you only want the brightest light to be projected where you want it, right? That's right. So, if you shoot a portrait, do you want people to pay attention to the subject's face or crossed arms? Of course. But most people use the same light to illuminate the whole character, and the light on both sides of the subject's hands is almost the same as the light on his face.

If you want to guide the viewer to focus on the position you want, and then illuminate the subject, the brightest light is on the subject's face, and then gradually darkens along the body. This will increase the interest and vividness, and you will find that the visual focus is usually at the high end of the characters. By the way, this is another example of feathering light. Let the edge of the light be the face of the subject, and the light outside the face darkens perfectly and quickly (but not too dark-it should still be bright and detailed, but not as bright as the face).

Sixteen, want to get a better portrait? Never count off!

If you want this person's shooting posture to look good, count 1, 2, 3 and then press the shutter. This almost guarantees that your portrait photos can't have natural expressions. As a photographer, your job is to find the natural expression moment of a character and capture it in time. Anyone can stand there, count to 1, 2, 3, and then press the shutter button at the fourth sound. If you do this, anyone else can take your photos. If you want some special effects, a more natural expression-sincere smile or expression, then abandon the old-fashioned practice of 1, 2,3 and talk to your subject instead. Inspire them, let them start talking and laughing, even let them pass the time, and then capture this moment when the time is right. In this way, their photos are not only bright and natural, but you will also make their photos natural.

Window light, especially the north window light source anywhere, is one of the most beautiful light sources to shoot portraits (in fact, some professional photographers insist on shooting all portraits only with natural window light). The window scattered the incoming light. The bigger the window, the softer and more dispersed the light. So, if you have some good window light, where should the main body be, and the light will be the most beautiful? You should make the subject and his shoulders face the window (so that the light passes through the subject and there will be a soft shadow on one side of his face).

Then, let the subject be away from the window 1.8m, and let the light be soft and linger around the subject (if the distance is closer, the soft light will change quickly). Moreover, let the subject be slightly behind the window, so that you can touch the edge of the window light instead of direct sunlight. This kind of edge light is very soft and will give you the perfect and magical light that many professional photographers dream of.

Seventeen, six quick ways to deal with facial challenges

By posing and lighting the subject, many typical facial problems (such as big nose, round face, wrinkles and big ears) can be hidden or reduced. Here are six quick ways to help you take the best look at your subject's facial expression.

(1) If the subject is bald, shoot from a low angle, and don't use hair to illuminate things like that.

(2) If the subject has wrinkles, try to illuminate them directly, because the side light will emphasize the shadows and make the wrinkles more obvious.

(3) If the subject's ears are big, let them pose, only one ear is exposed, and then illuminate, so that one ear will appear on the shadow side of the face (so basically only one ear appears and the other ear is hidden in the shadow).

(4) If the subject has a big white nose (this is just a technical term), then let them turn their heads and face the camera directly, let their chin lift slightly, and then shoot from a lower angle, so that the nose will not be emphasized.

(5) If the subjects have double chins, let them look directly at the camera and then put their heads slightly in front of the camera. This will stretch and tighten the skin of the chin. And if you directly illuminate them (put the lamp directly above the photographer's position), it will increase the shadow under the chin and hide the double chin.

(6) If the object is a round face or a fat face, you can laugh at them and make them lose a few pounds. Then when their eyes are full of tears, you will have the most natural expression of their day. Of course, you can also make their faces face left or right, and only shoot 3/4 of their faces, so that their faces will not look so round, although in fact they are of course round.