9 Things You Can Do Today To Take A Better Portrait Photo
Even if you’ve never taken a portrait photo before, there are a few things you can do today to up the quality of your portrait photo.
I’ve shot hundreds of portraits and worked with everyone from professional models to people who had never taken a photo in their life. There are a few basic things that I try to do on a typical shoot to make sure the photos stand out. I use the same techniques that I use on my Nike or Foot Action shoots as I do for my personal clients.
TABLE OF CONTENT
1) Don't shoot in direct sunlight
First and foremost if you’re going to be shooting outdoors, you’re going to want to avoid having direct sunlight hitting the subject’s face. When the sun hits your face directly, it can cause some very dark and unattractive shadows. I always try to avoid shooting outdoors midday when the sun is directly above my subject’s head because it can be a hassle to get the lighting right.
If I’m in a situation where I have to shoot outdoors, one trick I tend to do is position the subject’s head in front of the sun to block it out some. By doing this, I create a ring light of sorts that wraps around the subject face. By using this technique, I’ve been able to go out into some pretty scary shoot situations and come out with some amazing shots.
2) Diffuse harsh light
If you are shooting outdoors, you want to have some sort of diffuser to soften the light from the sun on the subject’s face. Clouds do this when they float in front of the sun but you don’t want to rely on clouds alone because a) there might not be any clouds out and b) clouds aren’t always an even diffuser so light might pop in and out.
If possible, try to have some type of diffuser whether it’s a reflector, a window or whatever you can use. This will allow you to have better control of your light and can use it to soften up the subject’s look how you please.
3) Avoid wide-angle lenses
Be mindful of the focal length of your camera’s lens. Depending on which lens use, your final portrait has different outcomes. For point of references, the “typical” portrait lens is a 50mm or an 85mm. When you start to shoot with a focal point of 35mm or lower, it can start to stretch out the subject’s face and distort their natural facial features.
Check out this gif below. This is the same subject shot from the same angle with a different lens. You can see clearly how the lens affects his face.
4. Be mindful of your surroundings
When taking portrait shots, be sure you’re clear on what the focus of the photo is. Be sure to avoid distracting objects in the background. Sometimes it’s easy to not notice things like a sign or a trash can when taking a photo. You don’t want to have weird things like a light pole popping out from behind the subject’s head.
“I can fix it in post.”
Things like that can often be fixed in Photoshop in post production but my personal philosophy is, “fix what I can now, so I don’t have to fix it later”.
I vividly remember being on set on one of my earlier shoots and seeing a trash can in the back of the shot. I could have easily moved around some but instead, I said “I’ll just fix it in Photoshop”. This took much longer than I anticipated and added hours of additional editing work for me. Don’t make the same mistakes I have. If you see something, address it early so it’s not a pain later.
5. Relax Your Subject
Unless you’re a professionally trained model, having that camera with that huge lens in your face can make any one nervous. That’s why it’s important to establish some type of relationship between the photographer and subject prior.
For example, before I work on a campaign with any client, we have a phone or video conference call. This is just to go over some basic information and establish a connection. I try to make sure everyone is comfortable before, during and after being on set.
During shoots, to help relax the client I bring my bluetooth speaker and let them connect to play whatever music they want. People love listening to music so I let them get into their comfort zone naturally by listening to their favorite artist.
Another thing I do to help reassure the subject is to make sure to show them some of the photos as we’re shooting. This allows them to get a chance to see what they look like and change or fix something they don’t like. By allowing them to double check to make sure they look their best, causing their confidence to go up. This added confidence can be seen in the final photo.
6. Use color for mood
Physiologically, certain colors correspond to different moods and feelings. For example, red is associated with being more fierce or powerful while blue is often used to represent a more calm and cooling feeling.
By being mindful of small things like that, you can drastically change the overall mood of a photo such as position the subject in front of a certain background or wear a specific article of clothing.
Do your research on the color theory to see how you can use it in your photos.
7. Mindful of the angle
Similar to knowing which lens is being used to capture the photo, keep the angle in mind as well. By shooting at different angles, different moods and perspectives can be displayed.
For example, when shooting a friend’s headshot I’m more likely to shoot at an even eye level because that image comes out more casual and relax.
But when shooting a fashion editorial portrait, I’d probably shoot at a little lower angle so the subject looks slightly larger in the shot. This will add a slightly more “powerful” feel to the final shot.
8. Know when to use a low f-stop
By using a lower f-stop number, you are essentially opening up your lens and adding more bokeh to your final image. This is a cool way to add separate to your photo but be mindful of how and when you use it. In some cases it may be cool to blur the background, for example if you taking a photo in Times Square of just one person and want to fade out the people in the background some.
But if I’m taking a group shot with multiple people in the frame, you don’t want to have too low of a f-stop or some people may end up out of focus.
9. Shoot raw files
The last piece of advice to take better portraits today is to shoot your files in raw format whenever possible. Basically by shooting in raw you’re capturing a lot more information color wise. This is very useful when going in to edit photos in post production because you have control of a lot more details such as shadows and highlights.
Final Thoughts
In this post, I’ve included just a few of the things that you should take into consideration while trying to get the best portrait possible.
I wanted you to know some of the common “rules” of a good portrait so when you were ready to break them, you can do it artistically. Experiment, try out new techniques and but more importantly, just try to grow within your craft!
Want to talk about a photography project? Shoot me a message.