The importance of eyes in portrait photography

Lead: Many people like to take portraits, but they don't know that people's five senses play a huge role in portrait shooting. Let's follow me to understand the importance of eyes in portrait shooting.

The importance of eyes in portrait photography

For every portrait, if the face can be clearly recognized and occupies a large enough photo space, then the eyes are the most important area of this photo. The reason is that the eyes are one of the most communicative and expressive elements of human face. When talking with others, we can get most information from the other person's eyes: we can examine whether what the other person just said is a fact or a lie, and we can also read emotions and extra information-unspoken overtones. So, as the saying goes? Eyes are the windows to the soul? This sentence is not unreasonable. When we look at a portrait, we can't help but focus on the person's eyes first, hoping that the imaging of this area will be clear enough so that we can see all the details. So you should focus on the model's eyes as accurately as possible when taking pictures. If you focus on the nose, ears or just eyelashes, the photos you get will be considered defective or faulty by people intentionally or unintentionally.

In addition, for a bipolar expression eye, just shooting the whole picture will be very nervous. The eyes expressed in this way are enough to support the whole picture and guide the viewer to imagine other parts of the face by himself.

Which eye do you pay attention to?

When you shoot a face from the front, the distance between the left eye and the right eye to the plane where the camera sensor is located is the same, so their clarity in the photo will be the same. But if you shoot the model obliquely from the front, you have to face a choice: which eye should you focus on, the left eye or the right eye?

Most photo viewers believe that the whole photo will be more familiar and harmonious if the eyes in the front position are clearly imaged. On the one hand, when we look at photos, we are generally accustomed to the clear composition mode near and fuzzy in the distance; On the other hand, when dealing with people in real life, we will also focus on the eye closer to us. Therefore, for almost all people like photos, the eyes in front should be highlighted.

If you deliberately focus on the further back, this imaging effect, which is contrary to the usual way of looking at things, will make the photo viewers feel confused and at a loss. Their eyes wander between the left and right eyes of the model in the photo, and they will spend more time looking at this photo than usual. Although in this way, the audience pays more attention to this kind of photo, but subconsciously they also have negative feelings about it. Because such a composition form is usually considered to be wrong or defective, at least it will make people feel uncomfortable and unaccustomed.

By the way, this distribution principle of left and right eye clarity applies to all aperture values. Even in the case of large aperture value (large depth of field), focused eyes can get more attention. Under the condition of small aperture value and small depth of field, this effect will be many times stronger.

Precise focusing

Unfortunately, it is not easy to focus on the eyes accurately. The strength of the camera autofocus function determines the difficulty and effect of completing this task. Especially in the case of weak natural light or dim modeling light in the studio, it is difficult for the ordinary automatic focus measurement function of the camera to achieve better shooting results. In addition, not all cameras have a powerful cross focus sensor.

Although the autofocus point (or focus area) located in the center has the most powerful focusing function, it can hardly be used to focus the eyes, or it can only be used under very specific conditions. When you put the central autofocus point on the eye, although the camera can measure its distance to this point on the subject, the eye is in the center of the imaging area. For the sake of composition, you usually adjust the viewing area in this case, and the camera will tilt slightly unconsciously during this process. Because the focal length of the camera has been fixed and stored in this case, the focal plane (parallel to the camera sensor) originally at the eye position will move back slightly. If your subject is far away, this slight tilt and movement will not have much influence on the imaging effect. However, if you take a close-up shot such as a face close-up, the negative effect will be highlighted: the focus will suddenly shift to the temples or even the ears, and the eyes that should be focused will look blurred, and the whole photo will immediately appear problematic. Therefore, to avoid this situation in the process of photography, you can't tilt the camera up and down, you can only translate the camera up and down parallel to the human face.

Instead, you can choose an off-center autofocus point and aim it at your eyes to ensure that this part of the image is always clear. It may take some time to choose the corresponding focus for each shot, but if you are posing for portraits and want to take similar photos in succession, then this time investment is very worthwhile. In addition, even if you want to put your eyes outside the autofocus point, you should try to choose the autofocus point closest to your eyes to minimize the focal plane deviation caused by camera tilt.

If your camera has the corresponding automatic control function, then you can also give it the task of focusing. For example, the special face tracking autofocus mode will be much more accurate than the generalized tracking autofocus mode.

Although it is more difficult and takes longer to use manual focusing in the process of shooting dynamic objects such as faces, it is not impossible. High-brightness viewfinder and high-speed lens can make accurate manual focusing easier. The digital viewfinder of some cameras also has a special function, which can focus the areas with obvious contrast in photos through color effects, thus highlighting the image elements that will be sharply imaged.

When using the same set of body and lens, if you always find that although you have consciously focused, the focus can never be accurately positioned on the model's eyes, then it may be the camera system. Focus position in front? Or? The focus position is back? problem This problem may occur in both manual focusing and autofocus. In this case, you need to adjust the camera yourself or entrust a professional manufacturer.

Should models look straight into the camera?

If the model looks directly at the camera during shooting, the model in the photo seems to look directly at the viewer when watching the photo. In this sense, your photos establish a close connection between the viewer and the model, which makes the former almost inevitable. Just like in real life, if we are directly stared at by someone, then we will subconsciously feel that he poses a potential threat to us, so we can concentrate on this person and be vigilant.

Just like in the real world, the photo viewer will immediately feel that he is being paid attention to, and thus be directly drawn into this relationship of mutual concern-responding to the model's gaze, but he can't keep this eye contact for long. It's like a game in which children stare at each other, except that the model's eyes are always fixed on the photo, so the model must win this round of competition. So, if you let the model look directly at the lens (or see something that doesn't exist through the lens), the resulting photo effect will attract the viewer's great attention-but it won't stay long.

However, if your model doesn't look straight at the camera, but looks up, down or sideways, the situation has changed again. At this time, there is no direct and inevitable relationship between the model and the photo viewer in the photo; On the contrary, it will make viewers feel as if they are invited to quietly appreciate the model's face. He can avoid the eyes of the model, not be disturbed by it, take his time to carefully examine all the details of the photo, and deeply explore the model's expression. Being able to pay attention to a person's face for a long time can awaken people's curiosity about strangers-in a sense, this curiosity is hidden in the hearts of all social animals, which can almost be called voyeurism. Especially when the characters in the photos are very interesting and seem to be full of stories, his implicit eyes avoiding the camera will attract the audience to read the photos carefully for a long time and be willing to take a look again from time to time in the future.