4 Tips for Portrait Photography

 

Engagement photograph of a couple looking at each other while standing on a railroad bridge.

Are you a photographer thinking about getting into portraits? Great, here are 4 tips to help you as you start this journey taking portraits.

BACKGROUND

  • Background is just as important as the person you’re taking photos of. If your background is too busy it will be a distraction, taking away from the focus of the photograph, which is the person. Choose something like a wall, landscape, or fence. Textures and colors can help add pop to the image with out taking away the focus of the person.
  • Sometimes in portrait photography such as a senior photo you can include an object in the background to provide interest or context. You can blur the background to keep the object recognizable but not distracting. You can blur the background using your aperture or do it in post editing.

See how the background of this photo is blurred but still adds interest and contrast to the image without distracting away from the couple.

An engagement portrait photograph of a couple standing on a railroad bridge staring at each other.

And in this photo the lines created by the fence aren’t distracting but instead help draw the viewers eye toward the person.

A senior portrait of a man standing in front of a fence in a field.

POSE

  • For starters make sure your client is comfortable. Make small talk with them. This helps give them confidence and keeps them calm throughout the shoot.
  • Come up with ideas for poses. Pinterest is a great place to do this. I’ve got a Pinterest board called Photography Posing Ideas, where I like to collect ideas for posing. Of course there will be plenty of ideas that pop into your head as you’re taking photos on location. The client might also have some poses that they particularly would like.
  • Use a variety of poses to provide the client with a variety of photographs. These can be usual poses and some unique ones. Also try taking photos from a different perspective such as high up.

See how this photo is closely cropped with their bodies cut out of frame. This is a unique pose because they aren’t just standing there holding their newborn baby.

A portrait photograph of a pair of parents looking down at their newborn baby laying on the bed.

This photo is more standard but is still interesting with the textured wall as a background, the person isn’t standing in the direct center of the photograph, and the coloring of the photo. All of these aspects help add interest to what would otherwise be a boring portrait.

A portrait photograph of a bride on her wedding day holding her bouquet.

LIGHTING

  • Natural daylight is the most attractive light source for portrait photography. However, you want it to be the right time of day. An overcast day provides a lovely soft light that is flattering. Direct sunlight is very harsh and you really don’t want to be shooting during the middle of the day because it creates strong, hard shadows on the clients face. And it’s just plain HOT! Sweating in photos is never attractive. In such conditions it’s best to find some shade to position your client.
  • It’s also helpful to be familiar with your area. Parks, tourist attractions, etc. This way you’ll already have an idea of some great spots to shoot if a client asks for your advice.
  • You can use natural daylight indoors too. For this, put your client near a window, and have them facing slightly towards the light. You’ll get shadows on parts of client, which can add depth to the image. If the shadows are too dark try bouncing some of the window light back onto the shadowy areas using a reflector or fill light from a flash.

This photo was taken during the middle of the day. You can tell by the harsh shadows and highlights in the leaves. We found a nice large shaded area created by the trees that provided us with the perfect adjustment to the harsh light. The shadows on the ground also help provide some depth and interest to the photo.

A portrait photograph of a man and his dog in a field on a sunny day.

This adorable photo was taken late in the afternoon. The light was perfect and I wanted to capture the light coming through the trees. It gave me this beautiful sun ray over the baby. Most of the time you want to avoid such things but sometimes they can add beautiful effects to photographs.

Portrait photograph of a baby in a basket, sitting on a porch, with woods in the background and the sun shinning through.

FOCUS ON THE EYES

  • After all Shakespeare said “The eyes are the windows to your soul.”
  • Portraits always look best if the eyes are sharp in focus. So, when shooting , especially with a shallow depth of field, make sure you set your focus point carefully.
  • Most cameras offer the ability to magnify the photo in the viewfinder which can be used for checking focus before shooting and make sure the eyes are in focus after a shot has been taken.

I hope these 4 simple tips will help you develop into a great portrait photographer. Being a photographer offers you so many opportunities to be creative. Use your creativeness while choosing locations, poses, perspectives, and editing. You’ll be happy you did.