How to take care of an expressive portrait?

There are so many people in the world, but only one face. Yes, everyone's face is unique. Even though they have the same physiological structure, they still look different. So, how can we take a portrait photo with strong rendering when taking pictures?

Every face is a unique existence.

Unique face

The human face is a fascinating whole work of art. Although all faces have the same physiological structure, they look different. It can be said that it is a unique original work. In fact, the face is the most personalized part of the human body, and it is no accident that a person's personality characteristics can be displayed on it.

The different shapes, sizes, and spacings of various elements of the face are enough to create a very distinctive face for everyone. Even identical twins are slightly different in these respects. In addition, the texture and color of hair and skin are different, and even after vicissitudes, this difference still exists. At the same time, after centuries of generations, the fixed experience of a certain cultural circle has some unique facial physiological characteristics, which makes this kind of cultural body or regional body obviously different from other bodies.

Of course, everyone's ability to distinguish various faces is different, and the acquisition and improvement of this ability also requires a lot of practice to a great extent. Being in our own cultural circle, we can easily recognize each other by distinguishing faces of different shapes. But when we are in a strange cultural circle, this kind of discrimination will be very difficult. For example, it is more difficult for Europeans to recognize Asian faces, and vice versa.

2, the composition and proportion of the face

proportion

"Face" refers to the front part of the head that is not covered by hair. If a person is unfortunately bald, even if people consolingly call his shiny top of the head a space to "expand his expression face", these upper scalp areas actually do not belong to the category of human face. In various references, there are different opinions about whether the ear belongs to the face. In contrast, the area from the cheeks to the ears is still considered a part of the face, even if it is covered with long hair or beard.

The observer will unconsciously divide the face into three parts from top to bottom in the vertical direction. A single large forehead constitutes the upper area, the middle area is mainly occupied by eyes and nose, and the mouth and chin together constitute the lower area. If these three parts are equal in height, this face presents an ideal perfect face shape. However, reality is far from ideal, and the proportion of face, middle and lower parts in reality does not follow this contour. If the proportion of the three parts is seriously out of balance, this face will not bring beauty and attraction to people.

Hair constitutes the fourth field. Located above the face, the height is close to three areas of the face. In this way, the eyes are right in the middle of the head-pay attention to the whole head, not the face. Generally speaking, the ratio of face width to face height is 2: 3-the greater the difference from this average, the less beautiful the face looks.

The eye position in the horizontal direction also has a perfect standard ratio. If the distance between the pupils of the eyes is exactly half the width of the face, that is, the left and right eyes are located on the central axis of the left and right faces respectively, then the face will look very harmonious and beautiful. If the pupil distance between the eyes is obviously too narrow or too wide, it will lose its aesthetic feeling.

3. Different left and right faces

Left and right face

A person's left and right faces are different, but this difference is obvious in some people's faces, but not in others' faces, and two identical faces do not exist at all. Through a small game, we can get a glimpse of this difference: please take a picture of the model from the front and cut the picture from the middle under the lighting effects with the same left and right faces; Next, put the two halves of the photo in front of the mirror and get two spliced photos through mirror imaging. So we have three pictures in hand: the first one is the original, the second one is two mosaic photos of the left face and the third one is two mosaic photos of the right face. Thus, the difference between the left and right faces is clear at a glance.

Observe the specific facial elements from top to bottom: from the radian of eyes and eyelids, the differences between the left and right sides have been shown; The left and right sides of cheekbones, nose, lips and chin are not exactly the same; In addition, the overall width of the left and right faces is also different.

In addition to congenital gene determination, the physiological mechanism that the left and right faces are controlled by different regions of the brain is also the reason for this difference. A person's left face (from his own point of view rather than that of the opposite observer) is controlled by his right brain (which produces and processes emotions, dreams and creativity). Under the influence of this right brain, which is in charge of emotion and art, the left face of human beings is softer, more fragile, more naive and easier to express their true feelings than the right face. On the contrary, people's right hemisphere is controlled by the rational left hemisphere (language, logic and analytical ability are all located in this brain area), so generally speaking, the right hemisphere is more cheerful and active, but sometimes it also shows a deeper sense of caution, perseverance and seriousness.

Different left and right faces

The left and right hemispheres are controlled by the left and right hemispheres responsible for different functions, so they also have different uses and operating mechanisms. This will become more and more obvious on the face as time goes by. From the left side of the face, which is easier to express emotions and controlled by the subconscious, people can read a person's true feelings and understand his emotions.

On the contrary, the right side of the face controlled by reason shows that more information is expected to be accepted by the other side. In the social process, it is meaningful to pay attention to the other person's right face. Because, if we always know each other's true feelings and thoughts when interacting with each other, it is likely to lead to much more interpersonal conflicts than now.

Step 4 capture the most touching side

mobile

As a photographer, you can make full use of the difference between the left and right faces and consciously focus on showing the popular or personalized side of the other side. If we focus on the face on the right, the model in the photo will appear more reserved, indifferent and self-controlled, and of course it may also appear more friendly, active and friendly. On the contrary, if you focus on the left face of the model, then he will appear emotional, true and direct, and of course he may also appear more tired, autistic and hostile. By using the corresponding angle and light, you can easily highlight the features that one side of the face focuses on.

In this way, you can guide the portrait shooting process and let the model show it according to your shooting concept through specific methods.

However, if you only pay attention to the model's appearance and hope that he looks exceptionally beautiful in the camera, then you can look for what the other person calls "chocolate noodles"-picturesque and moving faces can be presented like sweet chocolate, bringing people pleasant enjoyment. Through countless attempts, we have come to a conclusion: both models and viewers agree that in most cases, the left face looks more beautiful and moving. Therefore, the left face is called "sweet chocolate noodles". Even though participants watched a set of specular reflection images, they still thought the left face was more attractive. Some people's understanding of their appearance stays in their own image in the mirror, so sometimes it is difficult to recognize and accept themselves in photos. The reason for this is that mirror imaging and photo imaging are upside down, so the self in the photo looks inconsistent with the self in the impression. Under very special circumstances, you can flip the photo horizontally to get a new photo, which will be accepted by the other party. But generally speaking, this method is considered taboo in portrait photography and should be avoided as much as possible.

5. What makes a face look beautiful?

Beautiful and charming

Generally speaking, the aesthetics of face has a strong subjective color and personal preference. But there is still a lot of scientific research, hoping to find some specific criteria to judge whether a face is beautiful or not. There are some enlightening attempts, from which people find that there are some objective standards for the evaluation of beauty. In other words, these standards are not influenced by personal aesthetic preferences, but also cross cultural boundaries and are universally applicable.

Most of these experiments are based on choosing photos of people, and then asking many people to evaluate their "attractiveness". In front of the subject, there are photos of real people, "average face" (a face composed of many people's faces) and later digitally modified facial photos. From the experimental results, people summed up five factors that can produce above-average attraction.

Symmetrical facial morphology. This symmetry not only means that the height of the upper and lower parts of the face should be similar in the vertical direction, but also means that the left and right faces should be as close as possible. People with such symmetrical faces will be considered particularly beautiful and charming. This aesthetic even applies to primitive tribes and newborns.

Normal facial features. It was previously found that the closer a face is to the "average face" synthesized by all faces, the more attractive it is. Now people understand the more exact reason: when a face has no extreme facial features-such as eyes too small, nose too big, eyebrows too thick, lips too thin or chin too inside-it will be considered "beautiful".

chin

Smooth, pure and slightly bronzed skin. This is a positive factor. In the process of synthesizing or transforming multiple faces into an "average face", the skin will become particularly smooth and pure-this will add extra attraction to this face.

Baby face features. What people call "baby face" is also a positive factor, which can make faces vivid and beautiful. Big round eyes, big forehead, small nose, delicate chin and round cheeks constitute the main features of a baby face. However, this feature of baby face should not be overemphasized. Only by combining some facial features that symbolize sexy maturity, such as towering cheekbones, plump lips and thick hair, can the charm of the whole face be enhanced. In this combination, the more prominent baby face features can especially increase the attractiveness of female faces. In contrast, if a male face wants to be positively attractive, its baby face features must be much weaker.

smile

Emotional expression of positive sunshine. Positive facial expressions, such as implicit smile or bright laughter, can bring pleasant sensory enjoyment to the viewer, thus adding attraction to himself.

The above five factors that affect the attractiveness of faces are common because a symmetrical and "average" face means a person's genetic health, which is exactly one of the most important criteria for people to choose a life partner. For us, this standard seems to have become an innate aesthetic tendency, which is innate and extensive.

However, in addition, personal preferences also affect the judgment of beauty. Different preferences lead to different standards. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In addition, it should be noted that the motive of figure photography is not always to express the beauty of appearance, and photographers should also consider other aspects.

6. Personality characteristics and image expression

Image expression

Characters in advertisements often show people with completely symmetrical faces. But most people's faces are actually asymmetrical. Furthermore, the greater the difference between the left and right faces, the farther the proportion of faces deviates from the average, and the more unique the owner of this face is, the easier it is to identify.

Although these asymmetrical faces are angular and inconsistent with the conventional aesthetics, it is often this asymmetry that contains unique tension and charm, which is precisely the condition for creating an expressive personality portrait, which can convey more things than "beauty". This personal portrait can encourage photo viewers to try to figure out a person's personality characteristics and explore his life experience.

A person's face is always changing, which is why personality portraits are so expressive. A healthy or unhealthy lifestyle, the ups and downs of fate, or every happy smile from the heart will leave its own unique mark on the face. With the passage of time, we read a person's inner world, personality characteristics and vision for life more and more clearly from his face. The famous dramatist Bernard Shaw once commented on this phenomenon: from the age of 30, everyone is responsible for his appearance.

It is this personal life experience, regardless of emotions, that is particularly attractive to people, a social animal. In this regard, the face that can express personality characteristics can be regarded as the object of shooting. From this, people can (and should) recognize these traces presented by years and full of life accumulation on their faces.

7. Appropriate focal length

focal distance

In fact, the true facial proportion is not the same as what we usually see with the naked eye. When we chat with a person and look at his face, our focus is very focused. At this time, the eyes are at a small angle of about 20, and attention is highly focused on the eyes, nose and mouth closely related to obtaining information. Therefore, we seldom consider other head edge areas. In this case, we see each other's faces narrower than they really are.

Using a lens with a focal length of 85 ~ 135 mm in Quan Huafu mode, the imaging effect is very similar to the human visual effect described above. This lens focal length can make the head look slender and narrow in a face portrait or bust, which is very suitable for standard portrait photography.

On the contrary, the head shot with a short focal length lens will appear biased, thus losing its aesthetic feeling. This includes lenses with a focal length of 50-70 mm. If a wide-angle lens with a focal length of less than 35mm is used, the face under the lens will be severely distorted locally and the aesthetic feeling will be completely lost. The nose close to the camera will look big, while the ears a few centimeters away will look small. This imaging effect should only be used in exaggerated comic photography-of course, this must be approved by your model in advance.

But even telephoto is not really suitable for facial photography. A telephoto of 150mm or more will filter out the spatial dimension of the face and make it look flat. This two-dimensional plane doesn't conform to the way we look at things, so the photos presented are unnatural. However, compared with the wide-angle lens, the imaging defects caused by using this lens are not so obvious, so that sometimes it is mistaken that the 200mm telephoto lens is suitable for taking portraits.

It should be added that the above focal lengths are all Quan Huafu specifications. In fact, it is the imaging angle of the camera (related to the size of the sensor) rather than the focal length that affects the composition of the photo. In view of this, you should pay attention to the cropping coefficient or frame coefficient of each camera. The camera focal length of APS-C sensor should be 55 ~ 90 mm, and that of 4/3 standard sensor should be 40 ~ 65 mm ..