If your portrait photographs are lacking that wow factor there are several easy techniques you can implement that should yield an instant improvement. When we take portraits it is very easy to simply place your subject in the middle of the frame, put the flash on and shoot.
Using the above method will often get you an accurate photographic representation of you subject but it will leave your portraits lacking that something extra that separates the ordinary from the excellent. Below are 5 great ideas that will help you think differently about the portraits that you take in the future.
1. Crop Your Portraits Tightly
If you leaf through any magazine or newspaper you will soon see how often photographers use tightly cropped head shots to increase the impact of their shots. A common mistake usually made by inexperienced photographers is to frame their portrait shots so the subjects head is in the middle of the composition with space all around.Try to break this up by cropping your shots tightly forcing the viewer to look only at the subject and not get distracted by backgrounds.
2. Change Your Perspective
It is almost natural for all photographers to try to shoot portraits with the camera held at the eye level of the subject. However by changing the angle that you shoot from you can dramatically change the impact of your picture.
Shoot From Above Your Subject
The picture above was shot from above while standing and looking down on the subject. This gives the subject a more vulnerable feel than if I had shot at eye level. Conversely if you shoot from below a subject then they will usually project a sense of power into the photograph.
3. Where Possible Use Natural Lighting
If possible you should aim to use natural lighting in your portraits. If you are shooting indoors this will mean getting your portrait subject to pose close to a window or skylight.
If you do decide to use artificial lighting whatever you do don’t use your cameras built in flash (if it has one). Built in flashes tend to give off very harsh light that will make your subject appear very bright. If you need to use flash use an external flash and never point it directly at the subject. By pointing it to the side you can bounce the light off a wall and onto your subject, creating shadows that will add more visual interest to the portrait.
4. Don’t Say Cheese!
Look at the portraits on this page. Only one of them is of the subject smiling. A frown, smirk scary stare will often convey much more emotion to the viewer of a photograph than a forced smile. The emotions that people give off can change dramatically even when only a few facial muscles are moved. Everyone has what I call their “say cheese face” which doesn’t usually result in an interesting portrait.
When you are shooting your portraits always try to snap a few shots when the model is not expecting it. The below shot was taken ‘in between’ shots while the model was least expecting it.
No Cheese!
5. Embrace Monochrome
Black and white photographs tend to increase the amount of ‘moodiness’ in a shot. By removing the colour from a scene you remove potential distractions from the scene leaving more emphasis on the portraits subject and their expressions.
Have you got any other portrait photography tips? If so we’d love to hear them so please leave a comment using the form below.
Enjoy this article? If so please subscribe to Digital SLR Guru to receive free updates!
Loading ...
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Great Post! I once heard a photographer say;
“The subject should never smile at the camera, They can smile at someone else but not the camera”
I live by that rule because that way any smile is natural and not false.
Another one is “instead of saying ‘cheese’ say ‘breathe’ and watch how they relax and their expression as they do so”
http://futurephoto.weebly.com/