5 Tips for Portrait Photography Composition

From portrait painting to portrait photography, their creation has been pushed forward in the process of continuous exploration by artists. The biggest difference between the composition of portrait photography (painting) and photography subjects such as landscapes, animals, plants, and architecture is that during shooting, the photographer can arrange and adjust the subject matter--the people--to make the picture more beautiful. Presenting the most perfect state. Now let me introduce to you the five major tips for portrait photography composition. I hope it will be helpful to everyone!

The five major tips for portrait photography composition: Choose a background as simple as possible to highlight the characters

When taking a great portrait photo, your first consideration should be to find a suitable environment for shooting. The principle of selecting the environment should comply with the principle of subtraction in photography, that is, the characteristics of the environment should be as simple and simple as possible. Only simplified background elements can highlight the main characters. You must remember that portrait photography is not about taking commemorative photos. Sceneries that look bright, colorful, and have strange shapes are not suitable backgrounds for portrait photography.

It is relatively easy to control the background in the studio, and a simple monochrome background is a common choice. But you should avoid being too monotonous at this time. For high-profile portraits, you can add background lights to control the changes in light and shade, and light and shadow. For low-key photography, a rendered background cloth is also a good choice.

On the contrary, a simple sea, open grassland or woods with uniform colors will serve as a better foil. After finding a suitable environment, the next step is to blur the background to highlight the clear characters, that is, use the aperture value to control the depth of field. For simple backgrounds such as the sky and the sea, the aperture can be slightly smaller at f/8 or f/11 to make them clearer; for slightly cluttered woods, etc., you can use f/4 or f/2.8 to make them clearer. Be more blurry. These are classic techniques for concise images.

TIPS:

In the composition, pay more attention to the distant horizon and try not to pass the character’s neck, otherwise it will easily cause the feeling of cutting the throat. If you want to blur a building on the horizon, the best way is to be farther away from it. This will not only reduce the proportion of the picture it occupies, but also make it easier to blur it out.

Five major composition techniques for portrait photography: coordination between characters and environmental background

Shooting environmental portraits requires more creativity and composition from the photographer than simple portrait photography. Consider more. At this time, it is not only necessary to consider the shape and lighting of the characters, but also the environmental characteristics and lighting effects, and organically combine the two to harmonize and complement each other.

If the home environment is a bit cluttered, you can use a long focal length lens, a large aperture and a shallow depth of field to blur out the scenery in front and behind as much as possible, especially for scenes with many knickknacks in front of the dining table. Using the backlight of the window to shoot and increase the exposure can create a high-key background effect and avoid the influence of dark scenes in the home on the picture.

This is a set of family portrait photos taken by the photographer. The author chose the living room as the shooting location. This is usually the largest and most spacious room in the home, allowing the photographer to freely frame the scene. The author put a lot of effort into framing the scene. The character is sitting on a corner of the sofa, the mid-ground is a part of the porcelain vase and table lamp, and the blurred stairs in the background form texture, adding to the sense of change in the picture. Home portrait photography, due to the influence of space, is mostly based on busts. Therefore, it tests the photographer's modeling ability. The expression and orientation of the face, the posture of the body, and the movements of the hands should all be exquisite, otherwise it is easy to fail. .

For indoor portraits, the photographer needs to arrange the characters in a place where the lighting is suitable and the background is coordinated and not cluttered. The dining table, sofa in front of the living room window, and the bedside in the living room are all good choices. Here you can usually get closer to natural light and be less cluttered. Of course, before shooting, it is best to tidy up the messy knick-knacks to make the overall environment clean and tidy. Some of the practices of home photographers are worth learning from: Helping the owner tidy up the house before shooting can greatly improve the effect of the picture.

TIPS:

When shooting indoor portraits, you should try to use natural light to create a soft light effect. If you want to brighten some dark corners in the room, try to use a soft box.

Let the character’s face face the light from the window. You can use the wide light source of the window to form a soft and bright eye light in the character’s eyes, which has an excellent effect.

Five tips for portrait photography composition: increasing the blurred foreground

Photographers with a little basic knowledge usually know that it is more beneficial to use a long focal length lens (above 150mm) to shoot portraits. Blur the background to highlight the characters. A more creative approach is to use a medium-to-long focal length (85mm~135mm) lens to shoot, and deliberately increase the foreground in front of the lens.

When shooting with the help of blurred foreground, you can first step away from the character and observe what colors and shapes match the scenery that can be used as the foreground. When choosing the foreground, it is best to focus on natural scenery, such as grass, flowers, branches and leaves, etc. They are relatively light and have a certain degree of light transmittance. However, the lines of man-made objects are stiff and the colors are dull. Even if they are blurred, the effect is too standard.

When the author was shooting, he actually used the blurred foreground as a picture frame, using its masking effect to highlight the characters who occupy a small proportion of the picture. This creative method can be said to kill two birds with one stone, euphemistically emphasizing the subject and increasing the depth of the picture.

The technique of blurring the foreground is helpful to improve the effect of too dull composition of environmental portraits. When the author took this picture of a daily family environment, he used the characters' daily living environment as the background, and used a wall with a photo of the owner as the foreground. He used the effect of a large aperture and shallow depth of field to blur the foreground to a certain extent. A creative shooting technique was formed: the colorful and warm-toned environment is the normal state of daily life, while the walls and photos in the foreground are black and white pictures. Color and black and white, clarity and blur form a strong contrast. If the characters' movements and expressions were more distinct, the work would be more successful.

This method not only combines the blurred background technique, but also uses the blurred foreground technique to increase the overall depth of the picture and highlight the clear characters with dual means. In practical shooting, you can choose some leaves or flowers as the foreground, arrange it on the edge or side of the picture, and try to get as close to it as possible to keep a distance of about 20~30cm. In this way, the effect of small foreground depth is used to form a brightly colored fog effect, and the blurring effect is much stronger than the blurring of the background. This shooting technique is widely used in the creation of portraits, portraits and documentary portraits.

TIPS:

The choice of focus point is very important when shooting. It is best to use the edge focus point covering the character to complete the focusing operation. Otherwise, the camera's fully automatic focus will give priority to the closest flowers, grass or leaves.

Don’t worry about the edges of leaves or flowers in the foreground blocking the characters. Under the blur effect of the large aperture, the sharp edges will create a blooming effect, which is more artistic.

Five tips for composition in portrait photography: Let the character’s eyes look directly at the camera

The eyes in portrait photography are a creative focus that requires special attention in creation. A photographic portrait of a person whose eyes are looking directly out of the frame will make the audience stop. In the exchange of eyes, the audience can understand the inner feelings of the character. This reflects the importance of the eyes in the painting.

The character’s body is facing the camera, and his eyes are also looking directly at the camera. This is a strong impact effect, especially when the character’s expression is serious, it gives people a feeling of rejection and resistance. Show the character's bold and cool style. Traditional Chinese women have weak personalities, so photos of this style are not common.

During the shooting, professional models can easily look directly into the camera and reveal different emotional characteristics through their eyes. But when an ordinary person takes a portrait, it is difficult for an ordinary person to show any emotion to the cold machine of the camera, and she may even feel a sense of fear.

It’s better to learn the techniques of traditional photo studios: fix the camera on a tripod, use a wireless remote control to press the shutter, and the photographer faces the photographer directly, and guides the subject’s eyes to look into the camera through words and gestures, usually like this The warm communication will make the subjects relax, and their eyes and body posture will become much more natural.

TIPS:

Be sure to remind the model not to turn her body when turning her head, and keep her face as close to the front shoulder as possible before shooting the camera, which is the most beautiful. modeling. Of course, observe carefully when the model turns her head. When you reach the best angle, be sure to stop and keep the model's movements for a few seconds to quickly complete the shooting.

Five tips for portrait photography composition: Leave enough space for the extension of your gaze

If you are photographing someone you are not familiar with, even a professional model, look directly at the camera at the beginning Sometimes, there will be some tension and restraint, and these expressions will be revealed in the works, causing defects. Therefore, it is better to start by asking the model to look away from the camera to relieve her nervousness. By letting the model look away from the camera, you can deliberately slow down the shooting pace, allowing her to relax for a while and immerse herself in her own thoughts. At this time, you can capture her shy and reserved beauty.

When shooting women who look downward and lower their heads implicitly, it is easy to create the effect of lowering their eyebrows and lowering their eyes. Therefore, when shooting, you should remind the person to raise their eyes to keep their eyes wide open. Using a reflector near the character's waist can form a gaze light in the pupil and enhance the gaze effect.

The gaze direction outside the camera can be divided into three types: level gaze, upward gaze, and downward gaze direction. The upward gaze direction is a metaphor for hope and yearning. The gaze direction brings a state of concentration and thinking. The lower part has the meaning of shyness. No matter which direction is used, the photographer needs to allow more space for the eye to extend on the picture when composing the picture.

TIPS:

When shooting high-profile works with backlighting in front of the window, not only should the exposure be appropriately increased, but also fill-in light must be provided from the front of the character, otherwise the outline of the character facing the light will be blurred. disappear. The posture of the arms of the character in front of the table is particular: keep the elbows as close as possible to form a V shape, which can make the upper body lines of the character more beautiful.

Five tips for portrait photography composition: Upward shooting perspective shows tall figure.

When shooting portraits, different shooting heights will affect the visual experience of the characters in the picture.

Normally, the photographer takes the picture in an upright position, that is, the eyes of the photographer and the subject are at the same height. This is in line with our usual appreciation habits, so the characters in the picture conform to normal physical characteristics.

Usually the head-to-body ratio of a person is 1: 6 to 1: 7, while the head-to-body ratio of a professional clothing model can reach 1: 8. The larger the head-to-body ratio, the taller and more delicate the figure will be. . Therefore, the author asked the model to stand on a small high platform, take the shooting height at the same level as her calves, and deliberately use an upward shooting angle to shoot. Under the effect of perspective deformation from near to far, the character's head becomes smaller in proportion because it is far away from the camera, and the body looks particularly slender. This is also the angle from which models on the catwalk are photographed, so this is why when we see photos of models in fashion magazines, their legs are extra long.

But for different shooting objects and shooting ideas, we might as well try different shooting heights and tilting angles when shooting. For example, when photographing children, you need to squat down and shoot at a height that is eye-level with the child. Only then will the child's body proportions be normal and the common "big-headed doll" effect will not appear. And shoot the model from a lower height. , will exaggerate the length of the model's legs and reduce the proportion of the head, resulting in a beautiful visual effect of a slender figure and an enlarged head-to-body ratio.