What role does lighting play in portrait photography?

The concept and characteristics of portrait photography: the so-called portrait photography refers to the works that depict and express the appearance and expression of the subject in the form of photography, and is the image photo of the subject himself. A long time ago, people described their image in various ways and needs. The earliest portraits appeared in paintings, especially in the early19th century. At that time, oil painting portraits were very fashionable, and their creation became more and more mature, resulting in many excellent portraits. Shortly after the invention of photography, portraits began to enter the field of photography. Of course, due to the limitation of technical conditions at that time, portrait shooting was only in the initial stage. With the continuous progress of photography technology and the development of people's artistic concepts, portrait photography has undergone great changes today. Nowadays, with the birth of electronic flash device, high-speed autofocus lens and new photosensitive materials, a photographer can complete some realistic and natural portrait masterpieces of various subjects in one day, which greatly enriches the photographer's creative possibilities. An excellent portrait photography is the sum of many successful factors: expression, posture, composition, lighting, exposure and production, which are all components of a whole. Portrait photography is different from ordinary portrait photography: portrait photography takes the description and expression of the specific appearance and expression of the subject as its primary creative task. Although some portrait photography works also contain certain plots, they still focus on the appearance of the recipients. Moreover, quite a few portrait photography works only illustrate the image of the subject, without specific plot. Figure photography focuses on the events and activities that the subject participates in, and its main task is to show the specific plot, rather than showing the appearance and behavior of the subject with vivid images. The important difference between them is whether they describe the appearance of the characters in detail. Whether it's a single person or a group of people, whether it's a snapshot in a scene or a pose in a photo studio, whether it's a plot or not, as long as it's a photo that mainly shows the specific appearance and mental state of the subject, it belongs to the category of portrait photography. Those photographic works that mainly show the activities and plots of the characters and reflect a certain theme of life, but the appearance of the subject is not very prominent, whether it is close-up or whole body, can only belong to the category of character photography. Of course, in a broad sense, portrait photography is about people and also belongs to character photography. Portrait photography takes the description and description of the appearance and manner of the subject as its performance task, and the characters should have distinctive looks. Can be divided into three categories: photography indoor portrait, indoor specific environment portrait, outdoor portrait. Portrait photography needs both form and spirit. Composition of portrait photography: 1, close-up portrait means that the picture only includes the head of the subject (or most of the head has eyes), and its main purpose is to express the five senses of the subject. At this time, because the facial image of the subject occupies the whole picture, the visual impression to the audience is particularly strong, and the requirements for the selection of shooting angle, the use of light, the mastery of expression and the expression of texture are more stringent. In particular, photographers should carefully study all artistic means related to photographic modeling.

Whether it is a 35 mm camera or a 120 camera, it is difficult and incorrect to take close-ups with standard lenses. Because the close-up of the head must be very close to the subject, the distance from the nose to the camera is shorter than the distance from the forehead, chin and ears to the camera when shooting a portrait at close range, and the nose appears very large in the photo, which is easy to distort the facial image of the subject. At the same time, if the subject bows his head slightly, his forehead will look big and his chin will look short; Looking up slightly, the chin will look long and the forehead will look small. So it's best to shoot with a medium-long focal length lens. In that case, the distance between the camera and the subject can be a little farther to avoid perspective deformation.

2. Close-up Close-up portraits include images of the head and chest of the recipients, which mainly show the facial features of the characters. The background environment only accounts for a very small part of the picture and only plays a role in setting off the characters. Close-up portraits can also make the image of the subject give a strong impression on the audience. At the same time, close-range portraits can also contain a little background in the picture than close-ups, which can often play a role in explaining the environment and beautifying the picture. Of course, it is best to take a close-up shot with a medium-long focal length lens.

When shooting close-range portraits, we should also carefully choose the shooting angle, "the direction of light projection, the hardness of light properties, pay attention to the posture of the subject, and master the appropriate shooting moment." 3. Bust usually goes from the head of the subject to the waist, or above the knee below the waist. In addition to facial features, they usually include hand movements. Bust has more space than close-up or close-up portrait, so it can show more background environment and make the composition more changeable. At the same time, because the picture contains the hand of the subject, it can help to express the inner state of the subject with the help of hand movements. Experienced portrait photographers pay great attention to the posture and movements of the subject's hands.

Because the bust can be shot at or below the waist of the person, the posture change of the subject is much richer, which brings great convenience to the composition of the picture and enables us to shoot the subject more vividly.

4. The full-length portrait includes the whole figure and appearance of the subject, and at the same time accommodates a considerable environment, so that the image of the character and the characteristics of the background environment are combined with each other to get proper performance.

When shooting a full-length portrait, we should pay special attention to the combination of characters and backgrounds, as well as the handling of the subject's posture. Choose the best shooting direction: everyone has the same person, from different angles, get different visual impressions, and some angles are more beautiful and charming life experiences. The same is true when shooting portraits. We should try to find the most beautiful and moving angle of the subject. The slight change of shooting angle will have a great influence on the performance of the recipient's image. The choice of shooting direction is the change of the left and right position of the camera with the subject as the center. The shooting direction is generally divided into frontal portrait, heptahedral portrait, three-sided portrait and side portrait. The frontal portrait is suitable for people with regular facial features and symmetrical and beautiful faces. If the face is too fat, too wide and too thin. Generally speaking, people with uneven sides, or people with different eyes and crooked noses and mouths should not shoot from the front.

Seven-sided portrait means that the face of the subject turns slightly to one side, but most of the front face of the subject can still be seen from the direction of the camera. If divided according to the proportion of the front and side of the subject's face, the seven-face image should be dominated by the front and only a small part by the side. This seven-faced portrait can not only show the positive appearance of the subject, but also be flexible and easy to achieve good results. Another feature of choosing seven-sided photography is that, unlike frontal portraits, the contour lines on both sides of the subject's face are equally prominent, but the contour lines of the narrower face are the most vivid, while the contour lines of the wider face are relegated to a secondary position and will not appear so prominent. In shooting, if the contour lines on both sides of some subjects' faces are not very symmetrical, we can turn their faces to the side with beautiful contours, so that the slightly defective side is in a less prominent position and try to show the appearance of the subjects. However, for people with high cheekbones, it is not appropriate to use seven-point beat, because it will make the high cheekbones more exposed.

Three-sided portrait means that the shooting angle of the subject is a little more sideways than that of the seven-sided portrait. Although the front of the subject's face can still be seen from the direction of the camera, the proportion of the front is not as large as that of the side. Compared with the seven-sided portrait, in the three-sided portrait, the outline of the narrower side is more vivid and important; Moreover, the height of the bridge of the nose is more obvious, and the wider contour lines on the face side are less prominent visually. Therefore, if the contours on both sides of some subjects' faces are not very symmetrical, we can turn them to the beautiful side of the contour when shooting, so that the slightly flawed side is in a less prominent position. For people with too high cheekbones, it is not suitable to use three-sided shooting, because it will make the too high cheekbones more exposed, just like seven sides. When shooting three-sided portraits, the tip of the subject's nose should not touch or exceed the contour of the face. If the tip of the nose touches or exceeds the contour of the face, it is basically a profile portrait.

Side portrait refers to the portrait in which the subject faces the camera and forms an angle of about 90 degrees with the optical axis of the camera lens. Shooting from this direction, its modeling feature lies in focusing on the side image of the subject, especially the contour features of the subject's face when viewed from the side, including the contours of forehead, nose, mouth and chin. Of course, if you take a bust or a full-length portrait, it also includes the side of your body. However, when shooting from the side, the body of the subject does not have to make a 90-degree angle with the optical axis of the camera lens, and the face faces the side, but the body can face the oblique side or the front. This still belongs to the profile portrait.

Because in silhouette portrait, the profile of the subject's face is very sharp, so only people with very beautiful profile are suitable for shooting like this. If the forehead of the subject is too big or too low, or the nose is too high or too concave, the mouth is not straight, and the chin is too sharp or too short, it is not suitable for shooting from the side. Pay special attention to this when choosing the shooting angle. Choose shooting height: If the camera tilts upward from a lower position, the image of the subject will appear more majestic; If you shoot the subject's head upside down, it will make the chin and cheeks look bigger and wider, the characters look fatter, and the forehead becomes narrower and smaller. If the camera shoots down from a position higher than the subject's eyes, the recipient's figure will appear shorter; If you take an avatar, your forehead will be exaggerated and your chin will appear narrower and shorter. In general, when shooting portraits, the position of the camera should not be too high or too low, because when the camera lens shoots from a higher or lower angle, the perspective deformation phenomenon produced by the optical lens is much stronger than that produced by people looking up from a lower place or looking down from a higher place, which is the inconsistency between human eye observation and lens shooting. Therefore, when taking portraits, we should pay special attention to the choice of high and low angles. Generally speaking, when shooting a bust, the camera should be at the height of the subject's chest. To shoot a full-length portrait, the camera should be at the waist height of the subject. In this way, the image of the recipients is more normal. It is particularly important to note that when shooting close-range portraits or head portraits, the camera is generally suitable for the height of the subject's eyes, so the shooting effect is natural and there is no obvious perspective deformation. Of course, you can also use a slightly oblique or slightly oblique shooting angle to achieve different modeling effects, but you should master the appropriate discretion to avoid distorting the characters.

In some cases, you can also use the choice of shooting height to slightly correct the image of the subject. For example, a slender person who takes a slightly inclined shooting angle can make him look a little fatter; People with a little chubby cheeks can look thinner by slightly leaning down. However, this amendment is limited. Other important factors: at the same time, we should pay attention to the lighting of portrait photography (butterfly light, Rembrandt lighting method); Tone and color of portrait photography, the influence of tone on vision, the tone composition of portrait photography (high-profile portrait, low-profile portrait, general-tone portrait, soft-tone portrait and hard-tone portrait), and the tone design of portrait photography (warm tone design, cool tone design, intermediate tone design, contrast tone design, harmonious tone design, etc.). ); Cover up the appearance defects of the characters; Posture, clothing, background and props are also very important factors!