How to take outdoor portrait photos?

Outdoor portrait photography is also a favorite subject for photographers, with various forms, such as classmates, couples and family members traveling and shooting scenic spots; It can also be a specially arranged portrait shoot. If you want to get an outstanding outdoor portrait with charm and both form and spirit, you should focus on the following aspects in shooting.

Choose a suitable shooting location.

Many photographers always can't grasp the position of the main character. The common mistake is to shoot the character so small that they can't even recognize who the main character is. Therefore, when taking photos similar to the protagonist in places of interest or scenic spots, we should try to put the protagonist close to the camera and put it on the left or right side of the picture to highlight the protagonist and not block the scenery behind him.

Shooting opportunity

The timing of outdoor portrait photography varies from season to season, but no matter spring, summer, autumn and winter, don't use the dome light to shoot portraits at noon, because the dome light will produce a strong shadow on the face of the characters. The following are the best times to shoot outdoor people in sunny sunshine every season:

Spring: 7: 30-10: 0015: 30-18: 00.

Summer: 6: 30-9: 0016: 30-19: 00.

Autumn: 7: 30-10: 0015: 30-18: 00.

Winter: 8: 30-11:00+04: 30-17: 00.

As can be seen from the above list, the shooting time of spring, summer, autumn and winter is in the early morning and afternoon, because the light is softer and the color temperature is reasonable at this time. If you shoot at the beginning and end of each season, you can take long pictures of people, trees and shrubs, and at the same time, because of the low color temperature, it will bring deep warmth to people and scenery, making the picture interesting.

Selection of light

Outdoor portrait photography should correctly grasp the use of light. Side light and backlight will give people and scenery a sense of hierarchy and three-dimensionality, and the perspective effect of the picture is good. In particular, backlight will give people a wonderful sense of outline, and also emphasize the texture of hair and clothes, bringing a crystal clear visual experience. You can shoot wonderful outdoor portraits without sunshine. Cloudy weather lighting, called scattered light, is always balanced no matter where the subject faces. Because the contrast of the whole picture is small, we should pay attention to: first, the matching of clothing and background color (complementary color), second, making full use of the function of the lens to blur the background, and third, using the foreground. This kind of shooting can separate the subject from other classics and foreground, which has a layered feeling.

Selection of shooting equipment

If you are shooting portraits of people in scenic spots, you should choose standard lens and wide-angle lens, because the depth of field is wide, which can take into account the clarity of people and background. Set the aperture as small as possible. When shooting with a wide-angle lens, be careful not to get too close to the lens to avoid deformation of the characters.

If you are shooting portraits dominated by people, it is appropriate to use 80mm-200mm lens. Because of the small depth of field, this kind of lens can continue the messy background, thus highlighting the portrait of the character. The aperture can be set as large as possible.