By: Mhon NavarroShooting people is not as simple as what it sounds like. Creating a glamorous portrait needs understanding on basic camera settings, following principles and having a good lighting set-up. As a photographer, I’m going to share some techniques that I learned from other photographers I have met which I find very useful in bringing out the best of my portraits.
1. Focus on the eyes Over the years, photographers are arguing whether where to focus when shooting portraits. Some say it must be on the cheek, the hairline or on the tip of the nose. Fortunately, they have come to one conclusion. In shooting portraits, you must and always focus on your subject’s eyes. It’s the same reason that we look at someone’s eyes before looking at their cheek, hairline, and nose. 2. Getting Great Lights Outdoors Lights outdoors are great for shooting portraits but be careful because it may also bring trouble to you, and to your subject. Having too much light hitting your subject will result in unflattering shadows on her face (not to mention that your subject will usually be sweating or squinting). So how do I shoot portraits at two o’clock in the afternoon? Simple, I move my subject to a shaded part of the location where there is no direct light coming from the sun. In that way, it results in a flattering and soft light on my subject’s face. What if there is no shade part in my location? I always bring my reflector with a diffuser on it. It serves as a barrier between the harsh bounce of light and my subject. It is perfect to bring a reflector with a diffuser every time you shoot portraits. 3. Getting Great Lights Indoors Shooting indoors is a bit tricky to portrait photographers. The challenge here is how to properly expose the face of your subject despite of having less amount of light. Professional portrait photographers use studio strobes to light their subject. Strobe lights are a little expensive. Luckily, you can still create great and interesting portraits without buying expensive studio strobes. How? Make use of the natural light that we had since the beginning of time, the sun. Pro photographers use natural light in creating more realistic or more dramatic mood when shooting portraits than using strobes. Do this by positioning your subject near and not directly from where the natural light is coming (remember, you still want to control the amount of light hitting your subject to avoid over exposure portraits!). Try using sheers (a thin curtains that are almost see-through) which serve as your diffuser in controlling the amount of light hitting your subject’s face. 4. Best Lens for Portrait Photography I use of Canon’s 50mm for my portraits for its bokeh effect from my subject’s background. I love this lens for it helps me a lot in shooting low-light situations without using strobes. But what is the best lens for portrait photography? Most pros shoot portraits with a short zoom lens, 85-100mm focal lengths are one their favorites. Lens that have 85-100mm range are often called portrait lenses. This lens let you shoot from a good working distance giving you and your subject enough space while letting you still fill the frame. So, get yourself a zoom lens that covers the 85-100mm range, and you are good to shoot! 5. Positioning Your Subject in the Frame When you shoot portraits, especially candid portraits or editorial shots, there is a rule that many pros use about where to position the subject’s eye in the frame – position them 1/3 the way down from the top of the frame. It gives your portraits more visual interest, and it is easy to do since you just compose the shot of your subject’s eyes 1/3 of the way down from the top. 6. Great Outdoor Portraits There is a background rule in shooting portrait outdoors and that is to keep it simple. The simpler the better. Your portrait is stronger. Position your subject where the least possible amount of activity is going on behind them. Use the smallest aperture your camera can give you to throw the background out of focus. Aperture like f/4 or lower will do the trick. When it comes to portrait photography, less is more. 7. Getting Great Sunset Portraits The sky is so gorgeous so no wonder why everyone like taking portraits at sunset. But there is a common problem most of us get and that is either our subject comes out as a silhouette because the sunset is behind the subject or you will fire up your built-in flash and your subject now looks washed out. Yet, there is still a way you could take good portraits without washing out your subject. Hold your shutter button halfway down and take an exposure reading from the sky and while holding the shutter button, recompose your shot by aiming at your subject, but now turn on the flash to help you reveal your subject. Now your subject gets fill flash, but the sky behind still looks great. This is an old trick, but still, it works so well. What I like in portrait photography is a lot of decision will be made by yourself like what focal length to use, how high or low you want your aperture to be and much more. So find your sweet spot where you think its best and suited you the most. I hope these techniques help you make people look their very best in your portraits!
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