Portrait photography is an art, and one that took people like Elvis Dzebic years to master. Even with all the education in the world, and the best camera, you may still find this particular element very hard to get to grips with. Luckily, there are a couple of tips and tricks that may help you to at least find your own efforts will improve.
Tips and Tricks for Portrait Photography
- Think about your exposure. In fact, having the right exposure, which is relative to the amount of light, is the most crucial element of taking good portraits.
- Consider your aperture. This is particularly important in close up portrait photography. Try to go for F/2.8 to F/5.6, which focuses on the object and blurs the background. If you want to control the depth of field, you can use aperture priority mode, so long as your DSLR has that setting.
- Your shutter speed is also hugely important. This is how you will make a picture come to life. It isn’t just about the quickest shutter speed, but rather finding the one that is right for your lens, for your focal length, and for you the stabilization on your camera.
- Use a wide angle long lens. Unfortunately, if you do really want to get involved in portrait photography, you will need to invest in some high quality tools as well, and particularly in a wide angle long lens. 70-200m is really the best one, although the 50mm is also a must-have. For professionals aiming to get a vintage look and net flare characteristics on their shots and their cinematography style, a Super Baltar rental equipment is worth considering
- Learn about photo composition. This will stop the image from degrading. Zoom in and make sure that your subject fills virtually the full frame, and that it is focused. You can move it to the frame’s side if you want, which gives you a wider aperture. But that is a more specialized trick, so practice with that a little bit.
- Get a reflector, which is another one of the pieces of equipment you will have to purchase. This will give you the light you need to create a professional portrait picture. The more reflectors you have, the better your image will look.
- Switch your flash on if you are shooting at night. Usually, the flash should be off at all times, but if you’re shooting outside and it is dark, the ambient light will simply not be sufficient. Do make sure that the flash gives a side light, which will create a beautiful yet natural shadow, leaving the subject very elegant.
- Attempt to take pictures at an angle. Never take a portrait from eye level, going either above or below instead. This flatters the subject tremendously. You will, however, have to take lots of pictures to find out which angle you are most comfortable with, and which angle makes your subject looks best.
With these eight tips, you should see the quality of your portrait photographs increase tremendously. Be ready to practice lots, as practice makes perfect.