5 Tips for Better Portrait Photos
January 13, 2009 by Eastmon Admin
Filed under Beginners Tips, Portrait Photography
If we were all honest everyone would admit to wanting a flattering portrait photo of themselves, not from a vanity point of view, but simply from the same way our mind sees us when we look at ourselves in the mirror.
Getting that picture means that we must take control of the portrait photo session. It’s important to become a picture director, not just a picture taker. A picture director takes charge of portraits, they set the scene and mood to create the best portraits.
Get the light just right
Light to a photographer is like paint to an artist, the lighting is vital!
Try and shoot your portraits without bright sunlight causing heavy shadows across the face or the subject squinting into the sun, even light is the best to start with.
Outdoors on an overcast day is ideal for even light and the best quality portraits. Underneath the shade of a tree is another great location with even lighting.
Capture in comfort
Not many people are naturally comfortable in front of a camera, some of their anxiety may be reduced depending upon your relationship and rapport you have with them.
Spend time making the person relaxed and comfortable before taking any portrait photos. Use this time to study your subject and observe their expressions.
Once your subject is relaxed it then allows for natural expressions and avoids forced, squinting smiles. If your camera has a continuous shooting mode, use it and delete all the bad shots. It’s always better to shoot too much, than risk not getting the right shot.
Control and remove onlookers
Nothing is more frustrating than the well meaning onlooker, you know them they’re there yelling “Smile” and “Sit up straight”.
Control or remove onlookers! Onlookers will make the person self conscious and less able to concentrate on your directions making the process painful.
Get some angle
Most of us have seen, or had taken of us those formal dress up shots where we stood like tin soldiers and smiled at the camera.
It’s rare that we would talk to anyone in that pose as we are used to looking and talking to people at different angles. Try not to have the subject facing directly towards you.
Have them swing their shoulders away and turn their head towards the camera. This is often made easier if you get their feet and shoulders pointing in the same direction and then turn their head towards the camera.
Position the camera at about, or just slightly higher than eye level of your subject. Too high means you will be looking down on the top of their head and too low tends to look up their nose.
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