Many people might not know what are portraits in photography is, well you are in the write place to learn 10 tips for taking a portrait correctly
Portrait photography is a unique kind of many different types of photography, as we know that photography is one of the arts that is constantly developing, whether at the level of image quality or photographic methods.
Portrait photography is defined as a type of image that focuses on the features of a person, but more than that, as the focus is on portraying the personality of the same person.
It is a type of photography that conveys the person’s spontaneous feelings during filming, and the subject photographed does not necessarily have to be a person (human), it may be an animal, for example.
In other words, portraiture is a way of capturing a picture of a subject’s character and making it reflect a certain feeling in an unintended way.
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It’s a really cool kind of photography
But many of us believe that activating the Portrait mode on the iPhone, for example, and then clicking the Shoot button, means that we can shoot professional portraits with that ease.
But in fact, what the experts and professionals in the field of photography have said will make you reconsider your portraits.
So how do we do professional Portrait Photography?
Do not worry, we have collected a lot of information that will help you in shooting a professional portrait, which will require some exercises and attempts to reach great results.
Also read: Learn Macro Photography Mode with these steps and tips
10 tips for making a real portrait focus
1 Subject is the main component of a portrait, so it is very important to focus on it.
Making the subject comfortable with you is one of the secrets of successful portraiture, as you will be able to understand him more clearly and his personality by communicating with him before the photo session.
This is done by giving him some time to get him to know more about your style in portraiture photography, as this will help you convey the basic idea of the portrait, such as explaining to him, for example, that a portraiture is a type of emotional image that aims to convey the feelings of the subject in a spontaneous photograph.
This will undoubtedly create a kind of flexibility between the two of you when communicating with him during the filming.
2 Portrait photography is done in the right location
The filming location is another, no less important party.
Therefore, the location must be chosen in the correct way to shoot the portraiture, as it will have a great impact on the image, as the shooting location differs between the studio or the outdoor.
Personally, I like the idea of photographing portraits or shooting in general outdoors, as this gives better results for the photos.
But that will impose some challenges on you that you will need to overcome by planning in advance of the site in which the filming process will take place, and that by taking into account the weather, the change of lighting and the progress of the day.
Therefore, it is better to choose the morning or short afternoon, when the sunlight is widespread and warm, which will help you overcome the problem of annoying shadows.
The opposite of studio photography, which only requires you to distribute the lighting in a balanced way.
3 Create correct portrait shooting poses
Giving your subject the correct positioning is an advanced step towards obtaining amazing results.
This step will require you to do a few tries as you will experiment with various poses, different and different lighting, and change the angle of shooting to find the most expressive and consistent pose.
After you find the best position, try other options on the camera and some touches on the subject (hairstyle, hand position, facial expressions …).
This, in addition to keeping some pictures on your phone or a photo album, to display and suggest to your customer, this will open the way for ideas related to Portrait shooting modes that will facilitate the process of communication between you and the customer.
4 Capture emotions and expressions
This is what is meant by “portrait photography” mainly.
Portrait pictures are the transfer of feelings and emotions (confidence, sadness, happiness…) spontaneously and honestly, away from artificiality.
Therefore, forcing the person (the subject) to represent these feelings will not help. The person may find some difficulty while drawing a true and complete smile in a short time, but taking some time will be better to reach what you want.
5 Learning to use the camera for “portrait photography”
The technical aspect is undoubtedly necessary for capturing professional photos.
Using a professional DSLR camera is the best solution to achieve amazing results with minimal effort, but this does not prevent us from saying that learning to use it is very necessary.
Many of us have a high-class camera, but it has not yet reached a professional level to take distinctive photos. Try looking on YouTube for videos to explain the settings that should be used while photographing a portrait.
6 Choose a suitable portrait background
The background may not be the part you want the photo to focus on, but it should complement the subject.
One of the conditions for portraits is to darken the background, of course, because the most important element in the image is the subject (the person, for example), but in the end it is part of the image so you must get a suitable background for your photos, this will undoubtedly increase the elegance of the image.
7 Lighting
If you are experienced in photography, you know the role of lighting in photography.
Lighting is the golden rule of photography, changing the direction of the light changes the whole image. Standing in front of the light source makes the target dark, while changing the light source and its direction to one side gives the target another shape with one side lit and another dark and so on ..
Always try to make the source of light and its direction in your favor, play with lighting as you wish to reach a result that you may not imagine until after trying it.
8 Portrait angles
There is always an infinite number of angles for great portrait photography.
As is the case with lighting, angles have a great impact on images, as most portraits focus more at eye level, and this achieves excellent results.
But trying different angles to do this will be better, try photographing the target from the bottom and from the top or from one side, this will add to the target other things you were not expecting.
You may encounter a fat or thin person, you can cover this with the angle of photography, for example photographing a person from above will cover his short stature easily.
Move around the target and notice the changes that occur to it, you will see different and amazing results without a doubt.
9 Photography effects
Using some photography effects will be the final touch to your portraits.
This usually comes at the end of photography. You can rely on Photoshop to modify images and correct some defects.
In many cases, you will find that there are defects that are difficult for you to discover during photography, so modification of images through Photoshop will be an ideal solution for that, and you can also add some effects that will give your pictures aesthetic and consistency that you did not get with the camera.
It is imperative that you master the use of such programs, as the Udemy platform has some courses that will benefit you.
10 Single scene continuous shooting
Continuous shooting won’t cost you any extra effort.
Taking multiple photos for one scene would be great to get in the end a set of photos that will give you the freedom to choose the best picture and why not a group of photos to create a composite image that depicts the stages of forming a smile, for example.
This will create some kind of movement and drama on the portraits.
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