Most photographs are portraits. Since family and friends are such an important part of our lives, we want to recollect them at particular points in time. Yet, because we're dealing with living, breathing, and occasionally reluctant subjects, portrait shooting can be truly challenging. We've collected seven key tips to help you capture portraits that will stand the test of time.
Preparation is key |
Think portrait |
Flash alternatives |
Go natural |
Get down |
Lost in the background |
Listen to your subject
1. Preparation is key
Be prepared for your shoot. Make sure you stock up on batteries and memory cards so that you can avoid the annoyance of running out of either in midsession. Tell your subject how long the shoot will last. Subjects are likely to be more willing to pose if they know when they'll be finished.
Digital cameras are perfect for portraiture because they let you immediately see which of the several poses you've shot is the best. Your subject will usually maintain a high rate of motivation as they share the take. Pause for a break after you've shot for a while, and go over the results together. This way, you'll catch errors that can be easily corrected, such as bad backgrounds, unwanted reflections, or awkwardly hanging clothing. That's the beauty of digital.
2. Think portrait
Get to know your subject. This suggestion may seem obvious; you probably wouldn't be taking someone's picture if you didn't know her or him, right? But to get knockout portraits, it is important to take some time to establish a real rapport with your subjects; the way they feel at the time you take their pictures will ultimately be reflected in your images. If you just snap away, you'll get bland portraits.
So before you take the picture, ask your subjects some questions to get them into the kind of mood you want to portray, be it happy, sad, reflective, determined, or otherwise. Using this tactic, you'll end up with a true portrait instead of a simple snapshot.
3. Flash alternatives
Whenever possible, avoid using the flash. It throws a black shadow behind your subjects and can make them look two-dimensional and pale. The problem is that you can't see the negative impact of the flash before you shoot, and there's no way -- even in digital imaging programs -- to correct the curse of a straight-on flash.
If you are feeling crafty, though, a simple 100- or 200-watt light bulb in an inexpensive, 12-inch-wide aluminium photo reflector positioned off to one side usually does a better job than the onboard flash of a camera. Hold this apparatus high and at a 45-degree angle to your subject, and make sure that the shadow cast by your subject's nose falls just above his or her upper lip. You can also use a 10- to 20-watt, battery-powered video light to achieve the same effect.
4. Go natural
Natural outdoor lighting or indoor illumination through a window is perfect for portraits. Take your subject (along with a chair or stool, if you wish) to a location outside where the sun is not directly shining; position him or her in the shadow of a building, for example, or under a shady tree.
If you choose the latter option, though, be sure that spots of sunlight passing through the leaves do not dapple the person you're photographing. Bright, overcast days with the sun hidden behind clouds are also an excellent time for portraits because the light is shadowless and -wraps around" your subject. Squinting is eliminated, and you can take your time to capture the right expressions.
Digital cameras love these conditions because they don't have to deal with extremes of contrast, such as dark shadows and bright highlights. Your subjects will enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the shoot, and your photos are likely to reflect this.
5. Get down
As photographers, we often tend to be conventional when shooting people. Most shots are taken at eye level with our subjects looking directly at the camera. While this may work much of the time, great pictures can be lost if you don't experiment by changing your point of view.
Just because you have an aversion to squatting, that's not a good reason to dwarf children by photographing them from above, though it's not comfortable to hold that position for long.
A suggestion: Take along a lightweight, folding, canvas stool when you know you're going to photograph children. This enables you to lower your perspective so you can get down and shoot at their level. People can also be made to look more imposing if you shoot up at them. Portraits made in profile or even from the back (such as the famous shot of President Kennedy looking out the window of the White House), can also be quite dramatic.
6. Lost in the background
Distracting backgrounds detract from your subject. Oftentimes, people appear lost or minimised by a background that's busy with colour and movement. You could rely upon image-editing software to remedy such problems, or you could take a few key steps to avoid these situations in the first place. One option is to bring your own background with you; it doesn't have to be elaborate.
As a matter of fact, cutting-edge photographer Howard Schatz shot an entire book of portraits using a six-by-eight-foot piece of black cloth taped to the sides of buildings as his background. But if that sounds too cumbersome to you, just set your lens to its widest aperture and your zoom to extreme telephoto and watch as those cluttered backgrounds go out of focus.
Your subjects, however, will remain sharp and will stand out nicely. This technique is called selective focus and has been around since the beginning of photographic time.
7. Listen to your subject
A subject may challenge you by suggesting poses that you don't particularly like. A fine way to handle this is to compromise by allowing the person to work with you on selecting poses and settings that she or he would like to experiment with at the conclusion of the shoot. At times, these may even turn out to be some of your most intriguing and visually remarkable shots.
As a historic note, the late portrait photographer Mike Disfarmer rarely posed his subjects; he simply told them to arrange themselves, since he felt that their own interactions resulted in better pictures. The result? His portraits of small-town, Arkansas life in the 1940s are now legendary.
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johnny
25/03/2008 11:12 AM
boring
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