HOW TO CAPTURE BETTER PORTRAITS

Capturing a Portrait is not only capture a face of anyone or anything.Just clicking shutter never produce a photography .How you take the photos,when,in which lighting condition and more over how interesting the face is..etc..all these create a Portrait .

What I am going to look at it how to take a classic portrait shot.

Before you go on to try more elaborate or way-out methods of photographing people at least manage to try and perfect the classic portrait.

There are lots of hints and tips for this one, so let’s get going....

1. HOLD YOUR CAMERA VERTICAL NOT HORIZONTAL

For getting the classic portrait shot you can hold your camera vertically. This suits the image much better and avoids you having to crop off large amounts of wasteful image to the left and right of the subject’s head.But its not the obvious rule that you have to follow it must,its just a tip.When you become able to imply it ,then you can try to break the rules.Breaking rules is easy when you know the rules.

2.MAKE SURE THAT THE SUBJECT IS NOT UP AGAINST A WALL

Keep the background if it adds something to an image. If it doesn’t then get rid of it. The problem with a lot of digital cameras nowadays, especially the smaller compact ones, is that they have tremendous depth of field. That is, a heck of a lot is in focus. If your subject is near to their background the chances are that it will be sharp too, which is very distracting. So keep them at least eight feet away from their background.

3.SHOOT AT THEIR EYE LEVEL

You can put a chair in place for the sitter and then set your camera up on a tripod or hold it so that you are at their eye level. This gives the best perspective.

4.DON'T USE A WIDE-ANGLE LENS

This is the worst possible setting for a portrait. For a start you have to get way to close to the person you are photographing to fill the frame. Secondly, you then get terrible distortion – like looking into the back of a spoon.

The solution is to go back until you are about six feet away from the person and then zoom in to fill the frame. This will give more flattering perspective and help to make the background more blurred. It will also help to get rid of distracting elements in the background.

5.GET YOUR SITTER TO SIT AT AN ANGLE OF 45 DEGREES TO YOU

Get them to sit at an angle of 45 degrees to you and then turn their heads to look square on to the camera. The result will be much better.If you shoot the person head on it will look like a police mug shot. 

 

6.DON'T USE DIRECT FLASH

Direct flash (or flash on camera) will give severe shadows and flare off the sitter’s nose, forehead and chin. Better to use bounce flash if you have a external flashgun and bounce the light off the ceiling. This can work well if you have a white (or light colored) ceiling that is about eight feet high. Don’t attempt it if you are in a hall or somewhere where the ceiling is 20-30 feet high – it won’t work.

7.USE AVAILABLE LIGHT

If you have no external flash by which you can bounce the light or the ceiling is not perfect for the bounce turn off the flash. Now you can mount the camera on a tripod and use the available light (if in a bright room) or use light coming through a window. Don’t use direct sunlight as it is too harsh – light on a cloudy day or light from a north-facing window is best. To avoid harsh shadows you can use a reflector to bounce some light back. You can buy commercial reflectors, or you can make your own from a large piece of cardboard covered in aluminium foil. The secret is to get it quite close to your subject’s face, but not so close that it appears in the shot. At a push you can use a large sheet of white paper or a white bin liner – try it it works! Please note you must use a tripod – the shutter speed will be quite slow and you will probably get camera shake if you don’t.

8.MAKE SURE YOU "FILL THE FRAME"
Don’t place the sitter’s head in the middle of the frame. Make sure you use the whole frame and position their head towards the top.Its not obvious to fill the frame you only have to use the subject ,you can use the environment in your composition but it must be look perfect and the empty spaces must be used perfectly.

9.LOOK WITH YOUR EYE FIRST
As a portrait is itself an essay,so take a look at your subject first. Are you happy with what you can see? Is the lighting correct on the elements you want to capture? Are you able to say the message or the story of the face with the composition? Make sure the scene is composed in the way you want to capture it and everything is in place.

These are the sure-fire ways of taking a first class classic portrait shot. But I must say again these are not rules ,these are tips .The most important thing is whether you can give the message /tell the story/present the beauty you want to present perfectly or not.

BEST WISHES !