Out of many subjects you can capture, portraits are an amazing subject to focus on. Through this, you will capture the emotions, character, and beauty of a person. It’ll even be better once you know what the proper ways are of taking good portraits.
Portrait photography goes way beyond just clicking pictures of people. What makes a great photograph is combining the right technique with an artist’s expression. So, I’m sharing here to you helpful tips and tricks to successfully capture portraits that evoke feelings in the viewers and captivates their attention.
- Give attention to backgrounds
It may seem not so significant at all since you’re focusing on people, but backgrounds play a vital role in a portrait. Make sure to have a background that is not interfering with the subject. The greatest tip here is to have a simpler and less cluttered background.
Once you’ve found a good background, remember that it does not have to be prominent. Make it blurred or dimmed by focusing on the subject or person. You can accomplish this by using a zoom lens and shooting from a short distance or a wide aperture manual setting.
- Use props for effect
Portraits don’t necessarily mean that you’ll only have a simple background and the subject within the frame. There’s also another way to enhance them, and that is by incorporating other elements such as props.
Adding props to your portrait photography does not only add a dash of color and excitement, but it also adds impact to your shots. Just make sure to use them creatively and do not overdo it. Remember, you still need to focus more on your subject. Also, props will help you develop your signature style by experimenting with shapes, textures, and colors of props.
- Shoot a series of shots
With your digital camera right now and big space for photos, don’t limit yourself and take many shots. I suggest you use the ‘burst’ or ‘continuous shooting’ mode of your camera to have a series of shots that capture the different poses of your subject in motion. Shoot as many as you can with varying angles, poses, and expressions from your subject. This is a great technique!
Using this tip will not only give you the chance to shortlist some great portraits, but it will also make your model more comfortable; she will get used to your shooting, and it will bring out their true personality. Thus, your portraits will come out looking more natural.
- Get the angle and pose right
Helping your subject figure out the right poses to portray them in the most flattering way is always a new journey since each of your subjects differs from one another. But it is an important part of taking portraits, too – as it’ll complement them more while keeping in mind the lighting and other elements.
Try out various combinations of poses and angles to find the best options for your shoot. Possibilities are endless, so experiment with every pose you can do. Then, after finding the right pose for your subject, you can always make subtle changes to make the consecutive shots even better.
Conclusion
Although there are excellent tips you can do, there must be one aspect of portrait photography that you shouldn’t forget – it is that there is no one perfect way to capture a portrayal. It will always vary from picture to picture and from subject to subject. As a photographer, try your best to merge art and technique to create arresting visuals capturing human emotions and expressions. And with that, I hope these tips have given you some ideas and insights.