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Portraiture

 




So here's another post about what I used to photograph, this one's about portraiture. I was trained in "classic" portrait photography. Studio photography was all about the main light, the fill light and the hair light. Photographers needed to know the effects of light and how to control it. Poses consisted of a full, three quarter and profile views. This was the basics, what you had to know, what you should know to do your job. You need to know the rules before can successfully break them. Note that the examples that I show here are not so static and are more relaxed examples.

In my opinion, the main thing to learn about portraiture is how you deal with the subject of the photograph; successful photographers know how to get the best out of the people that they’re shooting, all in the short period of time that they have available.

Initially that was my problem, when I first started shooting portraits I was never too comfortable one-on-one in what was basically a contrived situation. Even when people came in for a portrait, you couldn’t just say smile, snap the photo and think that all is well (although some do). If the subject was uncomfortable, it showed; if they were unhappy, you had to make them happy (note that I’m talking about commercial portraits, people are paying you to produce a great picture of them and none that I’ve met ever wanted an “unhappy” image of them). So you become the director and sometimes the clown, you learn to “break the ice” and get the image. 

So aside from the technical part of the shoot you have to learn about people and the best way to learn is to watch and listen to them, when people talk and you pay attention you’ll get a quick glimpse of what makes them beautiful, what makes them special. Concentrate on capturing that and if you’ve done your homework you’ll come away with a truly beautiful and unique image.

Check out my images attached to this post and let me know if you think I’ve done what I’ve asked you to do. 


DCF







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