Portraiture?

tevo · Mar 13, 2013

I would like to get into shooting portraits of people, and essentially capturing human emotion and expression as I see it. I have seen many great portraits, a lot of which has been posted by TPF users, and yet I don't have the slightest idea as to what portrait photography entails. For instance, I can walk onto a field and I have some degree of intuition as to what will happen during the game, what types of moments I am looking for, where I should position myself, etc. With portraiture, I struggle to pre-visualize poses, expressions and composition, as well as specific technical knowledge concerning exposure, DoF and lens choice.

Any tips / help / explanation would be greatly appreciated. Also, any inspirational portrait photographers / albums on the net would be awesome!

binga63 · Mar 13, 2013

thought I would throw you some links
as with everything it is subjective....you need to find what and who inspires you and then go your own way

Portrait Photography: 12 Creative Portraiture Photographers | WebUrbanist
Blog | Sue Bryce Portrait | Australian Portrait Photographer of the Year 2011 & 2012
Portraiture Photography By Famous Photographers | The Design Work
::Koukei Photography Studio::
Understanding Portrait Photography - 121Clicks.com

tirediron · Mar 13, 2013

Perhaps spend some time looking at other photographer's work and start with a style that you'd like to emulate?

runnah · Mar 13, 2013

In my vast expewrience, the lighting and taking of the actual picture is easy. getting the right pose and expression is the hard part.

KmH · Mar 13, 2013

Portraiture is about faces, light, and details.

As far as exposure, DoF, lens choice, - that all depends on the location of the shoot, the goal for the final image, how many subjects will be in the photograph, and how much of the subject(s) body will be in the image.

Consequently, you really need a suite of lenses, would use shallow, intermediate, and deep DoF, and will often want different exposure for the subject(s) and background in a single image.

imagemaker46 · Mar 13, 2013

Always watch the eyes.

CA_ · Mar 13, 2013

imagemaker46 said:
Always watch the eyes.

^^^ ultimately, this is the most important thing. There are many other important parts of good portrature (Rembrandt triangle, etc) but the eyes are ultimately going to make the difference between a captivating portrait or a 9.99 Kmart photo special.

jake337 · Mar 13, 2013

Remember there are no rules, only guidelines and tools to use as needed to achieve what you want.

Facial Analysis in Fine Portraiture- Corrective Techniques

The Rules Of Good Portraiture

The fabulous fill light...an article

Introduction to Portrait Lighting

Portrait Lighting Cheat Sheet Card | DIYPhotography.net

A Guide to Perfect Portrait Posing and More

Portrait Lighting - Portriat lighting set-ups

Portrait Lighting

Photographiend · Mar 13, 2013

I actually came here to start a thread about this book I just finished. :heart: it!

I picked it up at the library and read the whole thing in a few hours. It is just an unbelievable resource for information and ideas when thinking about portrait photography. I would pick up my own copy if the thing didn't cost $40. That said, I can keep it for 9 weeks before I have to take it back :mrgreen: and then I can check it out again. Although... now that I am looking it up, it appears I can get it for less on Amazon.

Here is the book I am taking about.

Backdrops and Backgrounds: A Portrait Photographer's Guide: Ryan Klos: 9781608955367: Amazon.com: Books

I had until now given very little thought to setting. I would just take the family out to a local park that I knew was well maintained, look for ideal lighting and go from there.

As for how to capture "those moments", I am still working on it myself. It seems I have a knack for missing them. I see them right before I snap the shot but by the time it is recorded it is gone. I have noticed with my littlest one, that if I have something to capture her interest I get more genuine expressions and a more natural look.

Yesterday I was playing around with the camera and I had brought a standing mirror into the room hoping that until my reflector comes I could use it to get more of the light on her in the shots. While that in itself was a huge fail due to an overall lack of lighting, she started interacting with herself in the mirror and I got a couple of cute shots albeit they were done with an on camera flash... not my favorite source of light to work with.

Big Mike · Mar 13, 2013

To me, (good) portrait photography combines several factors.

The first is light. Learn to look for, create or use light that will help to achieve your goals for the portrait. And you should have a goal or purpose when taking a portrait. For example, do you want dark and moody, or light and airy? Once you have a goal in mind, you can make decisions on lighting, pose, background etc.
A big part of the lighting is the ratio that you choose to use. In other words, how dark will the shadows be, compared to the lit/bright side of the face/subject.

The exposure, DOF, background/location choices will all play a part in the outcome, so they certainly require that you devote some conscious decision making to them. Sames goes for clothing & accessories for the subject. Keying the clothing to the background can be a subtle little thing, but it can make or break a portrait.

Posing is another key to achieving your goal. There are some really good 'classic' portrait posing rules/styles/techniques. I think that it's good to know these, but it's also good to know when to break those rules if it will help to achieve your goal. Posing can be closely tied to your lighting patterns/styles because a simple change in the pose/position can greatly change your lighting on the subject.

And of course, the expression or connection with the subject is what really makes a portrait stand out. You can be technically 'perfect', but if the subject isn't connecting with the viewer (either directly or indirectly) then the portrait may be a failure. A good expression and/or connection can trump just about anything else. A lot of photo-journalistic portraits are far from technically sound, but the right context and expression can make them very successful portraits.
This can be the easiest and the hardest part of it all. Some people just have that 'IT' when it comes to connecting with the camera and thus the viewer. Others may take lot of coaching (or patience) before they will feel comfortable in front of a lens. The best portrait photographers that I've personally encountered, are usually the type of person who could sit down with anyone and strike up a conversation. They are usually very outgoing and they can get a person to relax and open up. A portrait shoot may involve 20 minutes of chatting, followed by 30 seconds of shooting. But it's the end result that matters.
Too many photographers are worried about the technical details...and they are certainly important, but if they fail to allow their subjects to relax, they likely end up with poor results.
It's the 'people skills' that often make or break a portrait photographer. And if that's not your strong point, it's certainly something you can work on. That is one skill that many photographers fail to train themselves in. It may just be talking to more people, or putting yourself into situation that force you to interact with people in a more outgoing way...but the better you get at it, the better your portraits will likely be.

IByte · Mar 13, 2013

Big Mike said:
To me, (good) portrait photography combines several factors.

The first is light. Learn to look for, create or use light that will help to achieve your goals for the portrait. And you should have a goal or purpose when taking a portrait. For example, do you want dark and moody, or light and airy? Once you have a goal in mind, you can make decisions on lighting, pose, background etc.
A big part of the lighting is the ratio that you choose to use. In other words, how dark will the shadows be, compared to the lit/bright side of the face/subject.

The exposure, DOF, background/location choices will all play a part in the outcome, so they certainly require that you devote some conscious decision making to them. Sames goes for clothing & accessories for the subject. Keying the clothing to the background can be a subtle little thing, but it can make or break a portrait.

Posing is another key to achieving your goal. There are some really good 'classic' portrait posing rules/styles/techniques. I think that it's good to know these, but it's also good to know when to break those rules if it will help to achieve your goal. Posing can be closely tied to your lighting patterns/styles because a simple change in the pose/position can greatly change your lighting on the subject.

And of course, the expression or connection with the subject is what really makes a portrait stand out. You can be technically 'perfect', but if the subject isn't connecting with the viewer (either directly or indirectly) then the portrait may be a failure. A good expression and/or connection can trump just about anything else. A lot of photo-journalistic portraits are far from technically sound, but the right context and expression can make them very successful portraits.
This can be the easiest and the hardest part of it all. Some people just have that 'IT' when it comes to connecting with the camera and thus the viewer. Others may take lot of coaching (or patience) before they will feel comfortable in front of a lens. The best portrait photographers that I've personally encountered, are usually the type of person who could sit down with anyone and strike up a conversation. They are usually very outgoing and they can get a person to relax and open up. A portrait shoot may involve 20 minutes of chatting, followed by 30 seconds of shooting. But it's the end result that matters.
Too many photographers are worried about the technical details...and they are certainly important, but if they fail to allow their subjects to relax, they likely end up with poor results.
It's the 'people skills' that often make or break a portrait photographer. And if that's not your strong point, it's certainly something you can work on. That is one skill that many photographers fail to train themselves in. It may just be talking to more people, or putting yourself into situation that force you to interact with people in a more outgoing way...but the better you get at it, the better your portraits will likely be.