Matters needing attention in portrait shooting

Lead: There are many choices for portrait shooting. We didn't realize that when chatting with the subject, we had made choices about image positioning, subject distance, position, palette, focal length, lighting and other related aspects. Let's take a closer look!

1. composition

Compared with any other means you can use, composition and framing can highlight some small aspects of people in photos, such as beauty or a certain personal character.

A key question: How should you compose a composition? Richard Broken of the Netherlands wanted to aim the camera at Eva's beautiful eyes when he took a picture of her daughter, Eva, who is 0/0 years old. Eva's eyes reveal a kind of peaceful and Zen power, which is unusual for such a small child. So when Richard Brocken shot with his Nikon D50 and 50mm f/ 1.8 Nicole, he zoomed in as close as possible to capture Eva's right eye and cheekbones.

Broken said:? Because I have been filming my children, they are used to it. ? Even if he zoomed in only 18 inch from his daughter, Eva could keep calm.

? My biggest concern always focuses on the most important part of the portrait, that is, the eyes in this photo. Broken said. After several experiments, he found that turning photos into black-and-white mode could highlight his eyes better? This transparent window of the soul.

Take pictures of people who are not very close to you, or people who feel uncomfortable taking pictures, you can use a long lens, so that you can stand a little farther. But in that case, you have to cut it off to get the clearest portrait.

Because you are not very close to the subject, you'd better take a step back and take a bust or full-length picture. In this way, the focus of the image shifts from human skin and facial expression to body, posture and background. This method can reduce the pressure on your subject and make her look like she is in a fashion magazine? Perfect? )

If the shooting background is messy and distracting, it can be completely ignored. You can focus the lens completely on the person, dim the background light or shoot with a larger aperture to achieve defocusing effect.

Pay attention to the environment

It's a little easier for photographers to take pictures of the environment. The characteristics of the background in environmental portraits are almost as important as your subject.

Christopher Dibble, a photographer who lives in Los Angeles, shows his male portrait here. He devoted himself to finding a simple but unforgettable shooting background for the actors and models in his shots.

? My eyes are constantly looking for the shooting location and evaluating whether I have the potential as a shooting background. Christopher Dibble said. ? Once I find a good shooting location, I will take it with my mobile phone, attach the location and time, and then send an email to myself. I'm always looking for attractive light, or a location where I can avoid any confusion and interference. My ideal shooting location must have enough space to shoot people, and the size ratio of the human body must be meaningful in the surrounding environment. ?

Once the right shooting location was found, Dibble began to light up, highlighting its due characteristics.

Distribute light

Whether in the shooting background created by yourself or in the background found around you, lighting and shadows can create suitable emotions and sense of existence for the subject. At the same time, it can attract people to the physical characteristics of the characters. Proper lighting will make the fat man look thinner, while carefully arranged shadows can hide the flaws that make the subject feel uneasy.

? Don't worry about shadows. Dibble said. ? I want to create a little tension with lights in this photo of the hut, so I added a layer of orange film to the main light source to make the whole environment glow warm. I don't even want to shade the last picture. ? The picture is almost completely black, which makes the photo convey a mysterious, uneasy and even dangerous feeling, which is exactly the kind of compulsion and tension that Dibble wants.

Take a group photo

The best way to show your personal characteristics is to take photos with others. People who feel nervous and unnatural in front of the camera tend to be more relaxed and natural when taking photos with others. Those foil objects can often distract the protagonist's attention, thus alleviating the sense of pressure and making facial expressions more vivid and attractive.

You don't even have to leave a foil body in the photo. For example, if you plan to take photos of your grandparents, you can let them take photos with their grandchildren and then cut a part according to the situation.

Barbara Peacock, from Westford, Massachusetts, USA, is a professional photographer who once photographed sisters who ate snacks. He also admitted that taking a group photo is easier than taking a single photo. She said:? Brothers and sisters, it is best to shoot in pairs. Because some of their characteristics allow photographers to give full play to their advantages. ?

Individuals can easily integrate into the collective, thus achieving the effect of ignoring the camera. Relatively speaking, it is easier to get vivid facial expressions by taking photos with others.

Relax your topic.

When Anne Makaske planned to take a nice black and white photo for her grandmother, she thought her grandmother would be nervous. She said:? I took photos of her home from the beginning, photographed bonsai plants, then debugged the flash, checked the camera and so on. When I started filming her, she forgot that she was in the camera and didn't realize that she was the object I was going to shoot. ?

Makaske from Anan, the Netherlands, stressed that it is very important to be patient when relaxing the theme. Only when they are used to the camera can they show their true nature. In this way, you can capture a more natural posture without making people feel stiff.

6. Observe more and pose less

Body language is very important. Lydia panas, an art photographer, said: I usually don't tell my subjects what to do, because every time I ask someone to do something specific, they don't really want to do it, which leads to bad results. So I try to let them go with the flow. I observe how my object arranges his position. For example, who stands in front, or beside, and who stands in the theme. Then I'll see what happens ?

Panas attributed her success to her lack of guidance. When you give instructions to those subjects, they all feel at the mercy. ? I want to make my subject feel comfortable. If you give too many instructions, they will be confused. ?

Like Markaske, she thinks patience can win. She said:? Before I go to work, I will take time to get on well with all subjects. Dialogue between themes sometimes inspires me. This is an intuitive process, but it is exciting. ?

7. Clothing and props.

Usually, the choice of dress can determine the success or failure of a portrait photo. Give prominence to the main body and don't usurp the host's role. Panas, who often engages in outdoor photography, said: I will ask my subjects to wear dark or light clothes, but don't have any styling or jewelry. I hope the color of the clothes is in harmony with the background, usually the green and gray of nature. But a white shirt won't do. ?

She also likes to adjust the clothes for group photos to make herself distinctive, but overall harmonious. She said:? If some subjects wear casual clothes and more subjects wear formal clothes, it will affect the overall effect of the photo. ?

The two sisters in Barbara peacock's photo benefit from her eyes that are good at capturing colors. The clothes, props and background are clean and strong, which makes the whole work present a sunny and child-friendly world. Peacock said:? This house belongs to a friend of mine. Fortunately, the background there is rich and colorful. What I do is to locate the children so as to make good use of those colors. ?

Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the clothing and background environment of the subject can reflect the characteristics of the subject and will not have a negative impact on each other. If the influence is not good, we should consider changing the characters or backgrounds to make them harmonious.