Portrait photography composition essay

Light is always something that photographers pay attention to. A true photographer pays attention to and uses light. Below are the essays on portrait photography composition that I compiled for your reference.

Essay on portrait photography composition (1)

There are many types of photography composition. Under normal circumstances, photographers like to place the subject in the middle of the picture or in the golden section, so that the subject is clearly presented in front of us. If a photo does not have a good composition, it will often not be attractive, let alone express the content to its fullest. When entering the free kingdom of art, photography plays an extremely important role like painting and composition. Excellent composition can make the picture clear and detailed, giving people a sense of beauty. A photo, if it does not have a good composition, is often fascinating and cannot fully express the content.

However, there is no fixed formula for composition, and sometimes finding a different approach may lead to unexpected results. Photography creation is inseparable from composition. Photography composition is the same as painting composition. Only reasonable composition can better reflect the characteristics of the picture. A photograph with perfect composition often gives people a sense of beauty. Our daily photography must also follow certain rules to attract others more. Each composition has its own benefits and advantages.

Composition characteristics

1. Balanced composition. Giving people a sense of satisfaction, the picture structure is perfect, the arrangement is clever, corresponding and balanced. Often used in moonlit nights, water surfaces, night scenes, news and other themes.

2. Symmetrical composition. It has the characteristics of balance, stability and relativeness. Disadvantages: rigid, lack of variety. Often used to express symmetrical objects, buildings, and objects of special style.

3. Variable composition. The scenery is deliberately arranged in a certain corner or side, which can give people thinking and imagination, and leave room for further judgment. Full of charm and interest. Commonly used in landscape scenes, sports, artistic photography, humorous photos, etc.

4. Diagonal composition. Arranging the main body on the diagonal can effectively utilize the length of the diagonal line of the picture, and at the same time, it can also make the accompanying body have a direct relationship with the main body. It is dynamic and lively, easily produces the tendency of lines to converge, attracts people's attention, and achieves the effect of highlighting the subject (for example, a spotlight illuminates the subject).

5. X-shaped composition. Lines and tones are laid out in an X shape, which has a strong sense of touch and helps guide people's eyes from the surroundings to the center, or the scenery has the characteristic of gradually enlarging from the center to the surroundings. Commonly used in construction, bridges, highways, fields and other themes.

6. Compact composition. The subject of the scene is enlarged in a close-up manner so that it partially fills the picture, with the characteristics of being compact, delicate, and microscopic. It is often used for portraits, photomicrography, or to express local details. The facial expressions of the characters can often achieve a realistic and unforgettable state.

7. Triangular composition. The three visual centers are the main positions of the scenery, and sometimes the scenery is arranged in a geometric formation with three points forming one side, forming a stable triangle. This triangle can be an equilateral triangle, an oblique triangle, or an inverted triangle. Among them, the oblique triangle is more commonly used and more flexible. Triangular composition has the characteristics of stability, balance and flexibility.

8. S-shaped composition. The scenery on the picture is in the form of an S-shaped curve composition, which has the characteristics of extension and change, giving people a sense of rhythm and creating a sense of grace, elegance, and coordination. When you need to express your subject in a curved form, you should first think of using an S-shaped composition. Commonly used in rivers, streams, winding paths, paths, etc.

9. Nine-square grid composition: Place the subject or important scenery at the intersection of the nine-square grid. The four intersection points of the ?? character are the best positions for the subject. It is generally believed that the intersection on the upper right is the most ideal, followed by the intersection on the lower right. But it’s not set in stone. This composition format is more in line with people's visual habits, making the subject naturally become the visual center, highlighting the subject, and making the picture more balanced.

10. Sketch-style composition. Through close-up photography and other means, and based on thoughts, a composition method is used to turn the original small scenery into a humorous picture full of interest and profound meaning. It has the characteristics of free imagination and eclecticism. There is no certain structure to this composition.

11. Centripetal composition. The subject is in the center, and the surrounding scenery is concentrated toward the center of the composition, which can strongly guide people's eyes to the center of the subject and play a gathering role. It has the distinctive feature of highlighting the subject, but sometimes it can also produce a feeling of oppression of the center and a feeling of being cramped and heavy.

12. Vertical composition. It can fully show the height and depth of the scenery. It is often used to express towering trees in forests, steep rocks, cascading waterfalls, skyscrapers, and other scenes composed of vertical straight lines.

13. Bisection composition. Divide the left and right or top and bottom parts of the picture into two parts with a ratio of 2:1, forming left and right echoes or up and down echoes, and the space for expression is relatively wide. One part of the picture is the subject, and the other half is the companion. It is often used to express figures, sports, landscapes, architecture and other subjects.

Character exterior composition skills

Screen position refers to the position of the subject (character) in the picture. This seemingly simple question has important significance in actual shooting.

First of all, since we cannot change the position of the scene when actually shooting the scene, sometimes the shooting angle is unique to the scene. At this time, the characters in the picture play a role in balancing the picture; secondly, The photographer determines the position of the characters in the picture while also expressing his understanding of the picture and giving it meaning.

When talking about the picture position, you must first decide whether to use a horizontal or vertical picture when shooting. When the direction of the frame is the same as that of the subject (the direction of the subject refers to whether the subject is upright or lying down), for example, when the character is standing and the portrait is taken, the performance of the picture is mainly to highlight the character; when the direction of the frame is opposite to that of the subject For example, when a character is standing and holding a banner, the picture is mainly about the person in the scene, that is, the relationship between the person and the scene. Of course, this refers to the situation when the proportion of the area occupied by the characters in the picture is relatively reasonable.

According to the traditional view, there are six commonly used picture positions: the center line position, the golden section position, the three-point line position, the diagonal position of the picture, the edge position of the picture, and the corner position of the picture. The choice of where to place the subject mainly depends on the characteristics of the scene or the posture or eyes of the subject.

Center position:

When the scene itself is symmetrical or has no sense of direction, and the posture of the subject has no obvious directionality, the center position is generally used.

Golden section position:

When the scene itself is symmetrical or has no sense of direction and the posture of the subject has obvious directionality, the golden section position is generally used. (The position of the golden section can simply be understood as the position between the midline and the three-point line).

Position of the third line:

When the scene itself is not balanced, the subject should be placed at the corresponding position of the third line in the picture for the sake of the overall balance of the picture.

The edge position of the picture:

The edge position of the picture refers to the position from the third line in the picture to the edge of the picture. It can be seen that in the aforementioned picture position, the subject's position in the picture is within the range framed by the four thirds lines in the picture. Positions beyond this range are regarded as the edges of the screen. When the subject is placed at the edge of the frame, the performance of the middle ground in the frame is maximized. It is often used in popular travel wedding photography. But the edge position in the upper part of the picture is rarely used.

Corner positions of the screen:

In the screen divided by the "Nine Palaces", the four positions of the upper left, lower left, upper right, and lower right are called the corners of the screen.

Notes on photography composition

1. The picture is too full. Some beginner photographers like to make the subject stand upright and fill the picture when taking pictures. This is not conducive to the post-production process of the photo. Crop. At the same time, it will also make the work look rigid and rigid.

2. When taking pictures of side portraits or objects with forward momentum when hitting the south wall with your head, there is no certain space left in front of the subject of the picture, giving people the feeling of hitting your head against the south wall. The picture appears dull and depressing.

3. The background of the additional objects was improperly selected, resulting in phenomena such as chimneys growing on the shoulders and big tree branches emerging from the heads, which destroyed the original image of the characters.

4. When framing the interesting center, there was a lack of spirit of being reluctant to part with others. They tried to take everything from one area to another, and tried to be all-inclusive. Instead, the picture was without priorities, small clues, loose structure, and disorganized. Phenomenon.

5. Imbalance: The coordination of the tone structure and color structure of the picture is not taken into account when composing the picture, resulting in imbalance of the color and tone of the picture, affecting the photo effect.

6. When the subject is photographed with a tall background, Gu Jing ignores them and blindly raises the camera. As a result, the entire subject is captured, but often only the head of the subject is left on the screen. , falls at the bottom of the screen, very ugly.

7. When taking a group photo of a group of people, the positions of the characters are not arranged well, and there is no tendency to move closer to the core. The situation in the picture is split, which is inconsistent with the theme of the work.

Essay on Portrait Photography Composition (2)

Abstract: Color design in portrait photography composition mainly refers to how the photographer uses the characteristics of color photosensitive materials, the effect of light illumination, and the subject to be photographed. The color layout of characters and environments, and the performance of various photography filters are used to create ideal color effects. It includes the emotional color expressed by the photographer, the typical image color of the person being photographed, and the theme color rendered by the content of the work.

Keywords: portrait photography; color design

1. Let the colors in the picture enrich your emotions

Marx once said: The feeling of color is The most popular feeling in general beauty. ?This is what people often call ?emotional color?.

The emotion of color is often reflected through the "ideas" that the artist wants to express.

As the saying goes, "emotional color" actually refers to the emotions expressed by artists using color. Colors can express emotions, not only due to human physiological and psychological factors, but also mostly due to people's habitual associations with colors. For example: red is like the rising sun and fire, giving people a huge sense of warmth and strength. Red is a very active color. On a large picture, just a small patch of red can bring life to the photo. Green is a symbol of life, and blue symbolizes calmness, coolness, and profoundness, giving people the feeling of retreating and shrinking inward.

For example, the subject is an innocent girl. In order to express her liveliness, purity and endless pursuit, we can use very pure, bright and bright colors (or use colors with strong contrast). Of course, the colors are mainly warm colors. If we want to express the lightness and joy of the subject, we can embellish it with colors of low brightness in the color group with higher brightness. If we want to express the subject's strong sense of melancholy, depression, and depression, we can use low brightness. , low purity colors for color design.

2. Keep colors in sharp contrast

The generation of color atmosphere comes from the contrast of colors. Without contrast, there is no distinction between light and dark. The difference between beauty and darkness, the difference between cold and warm. If you want the colors in your photos to be in sharp contrast, you can design colors from the following aspects.

1. Use the brightness of color to enhance contrast. The same color displays different brightness against backgrounds of different brightnesses. For example, bright colors will appear brighter against dark colors, while bright colors will appear lighter against bright colors. Therefore, to make bright colors appear brighter, choose dark colors to set them off; to make dark colors appear darker, choose bright colors to set them off.

2. Use differences in hue to create contrast. People often arrange the various hues of colors into a color wheel table in order on the spectrum. It's called the hue circle. Colors that are close together on the hue circle have weak contrast, while colors that are far apart have strong contrast. Generally speaking, the colors within 60 on the hue circle are called similar colors. The colors are relatively weak, and the colors within 120 are weak contrast. To make the color contrast strong, the desirable gap is between 120 and 180 colors. They will produce strong contrast. color contrast.

3. Use the purity of color to create contrast. When two colors of different purity meet, the color with higher purity will appear brighter, while the color with lower purity will appear duller. In terms of color arrangement, if you deliberately use low-purity scenery to set off the high-purity main color, you can also make the picture colorful and elegant.

4. Use the area of ??color to create contrast. The concentration and dispersion of various colored areas in the photo have different effects. If the main color is concentrated in area, the contrast between it and the background color will be strong; if it is scattered into small pieces, the contrast between it and the background color will be weakened. To make the main color vivid, the area of ??the main color can be relatively concentrated. When the areas of the various colors in the painting are very different, make the area of ??one color have an absolute advantage, and let the area of ??the other (or several colors) dominate. ) color area occupies a small part, often producing strong color contrast, making the artistic expression of the work stronger.

5. Use the warm and cold colors to create contrast. The contrast between cold and warm colors can form color contrast, enrich the picture effect, reduce the brightness contrast, and enhance the contrast between cold and warm.

3. Use the unity and difference of colors to create color effects

In the color design of portrait photography, people often use "color harmony and unity" to appreciate and evaluate portrait works. scale. Photographers often use uniform colors to pursue the harmony and unity of paintings. In portrait photography, the appearance of portraits of people in red clothes, red hats, and red backgrounds has given people a refreshing feeling. The color unity formed by this kind of "red" (also includes "yellow", "green", etc.) is a single color unity, or the unity of similar colors. A unified color will naturally Harmonious.

In portrait photography, properly combining two or more colors with strong contrast can produce bright contrast and a vivid unified color effect. I have seen such a photograph. The author used the high blue sky and the vast sea as the background to set off a young girl wearing a yellow silk scarf. The passionate sea breeze was blowing her hair and silk scarf, as if Floating like dancing, it has both the vitality of youth and the tenderness of the sea. The entire picture uses a large area of ??blue and dazzling golden blocks to form a sharp contrast. The yellow and blue here are complementary colors and are juxtaposed together. Forming a strong color contrast. This work uses the contrast of complementary colors to complete the composition of the picture. It appropriately uses bright and saturated yellow to complement the blue sky and sea, making the girl with her head raised more youthful and energetic. The whole picture has a unique charm. From this, we can say : Opposite colors with strong contrast form a unity - after that, the degree of harmony is far more appealing and charming than the unity composed of a single color.

For portrait photography composition, color design is a form, and its most fundamental function is to serve the character image and express the theme of the work. The literary master Gorky said: "All beautiful things are very simple, simplicity is beauty." ?Color is beautiful, but it should be simple. As a portrait photographer, you should make full use of simple colors to beautify people's lives.

Essay on Portrait Photography Composition (3)

With the rapid development of mobile phones and tablets, each of us undoubtedly has a "camera" in our hands. These cameras You don’t need to know aperture, shutter speed and ISO, you just need to be able to press the shutter button and you can shoot. But there's one thing that a camera can never help you with, and that's the composition of your photo. When it comes to composition, many people will think of various composition rules, such as the rule of thirds, the S-curve method, etc. These are a large list of composition rules inherited from world-famous paintings, which are flooded on the Internet and in various books. However, these rules can only confuse people because the success or failure of a photo has little to do with these rules. But the only rule that all photographers agree on is that all rules are destined to be broken?!

So, how can we improve our composition ability? In photography practice, many photographers will consciously fail to do so. Consciously use some methods to draw the reader's attention to the subject. The purpose of doing so is to highlight the key points. These methods are obviously much simpler and more practical than the so-called composition rules. Mastering them can quickly improve your composition skills.

Highlight the subject through motion

The lens can convey motion. When an object or person is moving, you can use "conventional" methods to "freeze" it on the screen. superior. Under normal circumstances, this kind of "freezing" action is not very good-looking. At this point, you might be able to blur it. Blur is one of the most effective ways to convey motion, which can highlight the subject.

There are actually two ways to take blurry photos: one is to have a clear subject and a blurred background; the other is to blur both the subject and the background. The famous war correspondent Robert Capa took the photos of the Normandy landings in World War II, conveying the tense war atmosphere through the complete blurring of the soldiers and the background. Of course, you can also make the moving subject sharp and the background blurry. There are two ways to produce this effect: one is to use a slow shutter speed to chase the object, let the lens move with the object, and press the shutter during the movement; the other is to use the rear curtain opening function of the flash to freeze the subject and blur the background. .

Make the subject big enough

A common mistake that beginners often make is that when taking pictures, they often make the subject too small, so that the subject is submerged in other scenery. When this happens, you should move forward, then forward, and stand as close as possible. Only if you stand close enough will the subject stand out.

American photographer Joe McNally tells us a story in his book. A young photographer went to take pictures of a captain. After taking pictures for a day, she came back and looked at the photos. In all her photos, the captain was only the size of a green bean. Joe McNally told her: Tomorrow you will be with the captain all day long, and you will use this wide-angle end. You must stand within one meter of the captain to shoot. ?As a result, the photographer came back the next day and the situation was much better.

Using a wide angle to make the subject large enough is a technique used by most photojournalists. One advantage of shooting like this is that it allows the subject's image to dominate the frame, and shooting at a close range with a wide angle can show the true atmosphere of the scene.

Build a frame for the subject

When you are far away from the subject and the subject cannot dominate the frame due to its relatively small size (or if it is far away and you want to To express a sense of distance), you can’t get closer at this time, so what should you do? Set up a frame for the subject! This is another very common technique to attract attention.

For large objects in the distance outdoors, such as mountains, monuments, and buildings, a common framing method is to incorporate tree branches into the frame. Non-dominant branches give the picture a sense of space and distance. This technique is often used in travel photography and architectural photography.

Of course, you can also use this method in portrait photography. Set up a picture frame for the subject. This picture frame can be a window or two pillars; it can be a section of fence in the yard, or it can be two figures next to the subject. In our daily life, this kind of creative picture frame is everywhere. When the theme is relatively monotonous, we can all consider this method: build a picture frame for it. However, this frame-like composition is just a "gimmick". It is used to change the taste and enhance the attractiveness of the picture. It should not be abused in reality. Remember, its purpose is not to make people look more at the frame and less at the subject.

Let the lines converge towards the subject

In the world we live in, there are always various lines. They will all meet in or out of your sight. Okay, so let's take these lines and place your subject where the lines are going to meet. In this way, when people look at these lines, their eyes will eventually be directed to the subject. On the street, the road and the buildings on both sides of the street will eventually gather at one point in the field of view. At this intersection point, why can't you place your subject? Indoors, the lines of the corner and the table may meet, and they You can also come and serve our subjects.

Anyone who uses a wide-angle lens knows that a wide-angle lens will enhance the convergence effect of lines, expand the real space in the foreground, reduce the relative size of the human body in the picture, and enhance the sense of distance and loneliness.

Place the subject in a bright place

Light is always what photographers pay attention to. A true photographer pays attention to and uses light. And light has a direction, and it also has softness and hardness. On cloudy days, outdoor light is soft and lacks directionality. In the sun, the light is very directional and it will produce shadows.

Whenever we look at the viewfinder, we must first look at the light. Where does it come from? Is it hard light or soft light? Does it illuminate something we don’t want it to illuminate? ?Does it fall on the subject, especially the subject we want to highlight? We must carefully experience the effect of light and its properties at this moment. Using light to highlight important points is one of photography's most powerful tools.