28 Aug 09 9 ways to improve your portraits

1 Shoot in natural light when possible.

Natural light is beautiful to shoot in for more then 1 reason. We have from nature only one light source, the sun, and feel that portraits taken with one light source, natural or studio, more pleasing then when we use multiple light sources light flashes and so on. The beauty, and difficulty, with natural light is that is changes, it is never the same and as a photography you must take advantage of this. Look at how the light models the face, how it creates shadows, and start thinking how you can use it.

 

2 Natural light over reflector, reflector over flash

This is the best advice I ever got and stand by it. Your first light source is natural light, use it! If the shadows are to deep or the light is harsh and the contrast high then use a reflector to lighten the darker shadows and only if you can solve it with a reflector use and , of camera, flash for the best results.

 

3 Use diffusion

Harsh midday sunlight is the worse light to photograph in. It shows every line and general makes you subject look older. Clouds on the other hand acts as a giant soft box and fold the light nicely around the face and hide those lines with soft shadows. If you are forced to shoot in full sunlight try to find some shadow to put your subject in. The first tree in a forest is perfect. The crown of the tree with its leave will filter the sunlight but you have enough light to shot with some speed. If you go deeper in the forest the reflecting light falls away. If this isn’t possible and you have no shadow available shot against the sun and use a reflector or flash to lighten the face which is now in the shadow.

 

4 Shoot with a low aperture

To let your subject stand-out against the background use a low aperture (F2.8 – F4). This created a shallow dept-of-field and you subject become a natural focal point of the image.

 

5 Use longer lenses

To enhance the shallow dept-of-field effect start using longer lenses in your photo shoots. I am using two lenses for my portrait work: My 90mm Macro F2.8 which is beautiful sharp even at F2.8 and creates a very nice dept-of-field and my Nikon zoom 80-200mm F2.8. The last one I use mostly at the 200mm setting in combination with F2.8 which creates beautiful portraits. You need some space to step back from your model and the directing of the poses is a bit more difficult but worth the effort.

 

6 Angles

Instead of shooting from eye-level start taking images from different angles, use a stepladder, lie on the ground, do whatever it takes to get something different. Not only will it set your portrait aside from the “point-and-shoot” approach it will make you discover that you can do more.

 

7 Direct your subject

Most beginning photographers find this the hardest bit of portrait photography, I know I thought it was a hard thing to do but if you leave it to the sitter you will get mostly the same boring picture. So you need to direct them for several reasons. You want the light to fall on their face so it brings the best out of it BUT not only their face, their body. Is the subject very slim, more filled and so. The way you pose them is the way it goes on the photo and the flattering you can do this the more sales you will get in the end.

 

8 Posing sheets

Create your own posing sheet with your favourite poses. If you struggle with ideas then there are many posing guides on the market as you can find in my blog. They are reasonable priced and very handy to create your own preferable sheet. I have 5 of them: female, male, child, couple and group and this works for me every time. The biggest advantage is that if you have a problem in telling your subject how to sit, stand or lie you can show them (I will write another article on how to use them next month).

 

9 Practise, Practise, Practise

Nothing is this world will improve your portrait photography as must as take pictures. If portrait photography is what you want to do then start taking a picture a day and if possible take it every day a bit different.

Happy shooting

 

Tags: model, natural light, photography, portrait, posing, posing guides, Theo van Stratum