What is Portrait Photography? Read the Tutorial and Face the Challenges with Sheer Confidence
When I started doing photography, only for the sake of my hobby, I thought; it is nothing, just clicking the pictures! Well, today I am just smiling over such silly ideas of mine. Photography is a broad concept and it is like a sea. You go inside and you realize how deep you can go. Can you believe there are around 60 types of photography? Yes, clicking a set of 60 photos would make you think, wow, how creative are you? But that’s the myth. You should go on and on and try to fulfill your passion to the fullest. You, as an artist have tremendous potential within you.
With the series on types of photography, I am just reviving the artist within you, who is conceptually clear about every nook of photography. Today, I am going to explain you about Portrait Photography!
What is Portrait Photography?
Portrait photography is the photograph of the person or group of people, in which the subjects are highlighted and held important with the help of effective poses, amazing lighting, backdrops and the scene around. It is mainly about the subject’s face and hence the biggest challenge the photographer faces is capturing facial features of the subject and along with that capturing the emotions, personality and identity of the subject.
What are the characteristics of portrait photography?
I am making it clear once again. In portrait photography, the emphasis is mainly over the face. Means, if the background is blurred and if the body parts are blurred, the photo would look fine because the face and facial features are very clear here!
The question might come in the mind of a budding photographer that, can a candid photo be considered as a portrait? Well, the answer is, portrait photography is to be rehearsed before the actual shot is taken. Hence, a candid cannot be considered as a portrait because in candid the subject doesn’t know that photograph is being taken. But, a candid can appear like a portrait in the natural state! However, portrait photography needs the subject to rehearse in regards to the expression and the pose.
In this type of photography, there are a few things that should be pre-decided including the client’s dress, props around as needed for the photography, the background scene, lighting and the angle in which photograph will be taken.
Cameras that is best for portrait photography
Well, there are a few cameras which are good for portrait photography. But a photographer with good talent and good experimentation skills would come up with a perfect portrait even with a decent camera gear. However, here I would list down a few cameras which are supposed to be good for portrait photography. However, I will list down a few camera brands and models right here:
- Sony A9 camera
- Nikon D810
- Nikon D7200
- Nikon D850 full frame
- Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
- Leica S2
- Fujifilm X-A5
- Olympus E-M10 III
- Panasonic GX850
- Canon EOS Rebel T6i
Well, there are many DSLRs which would help you to become the best portrait photographer but you should move ahead with the perfect approach. So, what makes a camera great for portrait photography?
What makes a camera perfect for portrait photography?
When you are taking your step forward towards portrait photography there would be whole lot of possibilities that would open up as in you may get clients of different genre. You may have to take portrait image of a musician, sportsman or a beautiful model or a politician and so on. Before you take plunge to think of anything else, what would matter the most here is the quality and resolution of the image.
You will also have to study the factors such as shutter speed, ISO, aperture and image stabilization. Likewise, the lenses should be selected for your camera, pretty well. All the features that your camera has should be able to support the best portrait photograph ever.
Take portraits like the world’s best portrait photographer!
There are many good portrait photographers in the world. But I am personally quite inspired with Steve McCurry. If you look at the portrait photography that he has come up with, you will feel that his works are just awesome! Just look into the images as given below:
There’s something really magical about his photography. The above examples are of the best portrait photography. Steve McCurry has taken the images with Nikon D 810 camera.
Are you inspired by these images? Well, let me share more images with you which will help you to know ideally how the subject should be covered when it comes to portrait photography.
I hope, looking into the above images you are now quite clear that what is expected from a portrait photographer!
Now, I will share with you some important tips to enhance your portrait photography techniques.
Best 5 tips for enhancing portrait photography
1. Emphasis should be on the face and of course the eyes
Eyes can tell you a thousand stories. So, when you are trying to get into the perfect mood of portrait photography I would suggest that the point of focus should be the eyes of the subject. But, as a photographer, you will have to play with the source of light so as to fetch the best click. It is seen that low powered flash would work well so as to get that perfect emotion catch.
2. Think out of the box to get the close up
In order to get a perfect close up there would be need to make the subject or the client feel comfortable first. Why should they pose for you the way you say? Why should they smile the way you want? All these things will be possible only when you are friendly to them and only when they trust you. When I have to take photographs of my clients, I tell them the plot first. I also ask them what do they expect from the photography session and in the meanwhile I also tell them how ideally things should be.
It is important that sometimes, the photographers should think more creatively and out of the box and finally, you will get the exact shot that you wanted for a perfect portrait.
3. Posing plays an important role in portrait photography
Some people feel that posing may look artificial. But mind well, in portrait photography posing imparts direction to the subject. Like, when one has to stand ideally in front of camera without any purpose, this won’t bring in the desired emotion. But while posing these are some common things to be kept in mind.
- Flat feet won’t look good and bending the knees a bit will look great while posing.
- Rather than keeping the foot flat, it is better to keep one out or may be forward.
- Limbs should not face the camera as the subject looks shorter in that.
- Cropping the shots at the joints is conceptually wrong.
You should understand that right pose gives the right picture and a successful one!
4. Lighting plays a key role in portrait photography
The subject should be well lit and if you follow this tip, you will surely get awesome results. Using the natural source of sun light would be the best way to enhance the lighting part in the image. Well lit subject would look great and the after effects of the image will also be good. If your studio doesn’t get sunlight then you can use the external lights. But make sure that the lights are enough and not extra!
5. Use the right photography accessories like tripod and lens
If you are using a good tripod then the photos will be good and non-shaky. Digitek DTR 550LW Tripod is a reliable one for firm holding of the DSLR. Also, by choosing the best lenses for portrait photography, the results would be great. In portrait photography prime lens play a key role. If you are using these lenses then there is no question of choosing the focal length as it would be same. But if you have chosen zoom lenses then check which focal length would be ideal by checking the lens barrel. For zoom lens portrait photography, focal length of 50mm is ideal and can give perfect results.
I would also like to explain you in brief that ideally what DSLR camera settings would work well for a portrait.
DSLR camera settings for portrait photography
- Choose the perfect lens that would enhance the image.
- The tripod that you use should be firm and non-shaky.
- The drive mode should be single shot.
- For portrait photography low ISO of 100-400 would be fine.
- You should set autofocus to single point and use back button focus.
- If the subject is single then the aperture should be between f2 and f4( provided back ground is out of concentration).For groups the ideal aperture will be f5.6 to f8.
- Shutter speed should be 1/200th if you are holding the camera in the hands. If you are using the tripod then the shutter speed should be 1/15th.
- For white balance, you can select custom balance.
- Shooting should be done in manual mode and not the auto mode.
- If you are using remote trigger button then it would be the best as it would avoid shaking. If you are photographing kids then make sure that you use remote trigger for sure!
- For portrait photography if you want, you can break the rule of thirds!
Conclusion
So guys! I am sure I have covered almost all the nooks of portrait photography. The field of creativity is quite subjective. So, I mentioned all the points that are best in my knowledge. But I am sure, you will learn better and learn more once you start experimenting with things! People who feel that portrait photography is difficult, should understand that challenges make task interesting. So, what’s the meaning of life without the endless challenges? Have a nice day. Do share your views here, we would love to hear from you.
