Author Intro: Michael Rae is a blogger/photographer for Creative Wedding Photography, a company that offers one of the finest wedding photography in Stockport, Cheshire and Manchester.

So you’ve finally got that big wedding photography assignment you’ve been waiting for. The excitement is building up and you are getting all set to go and take some amazing pictures. This could be the one big event that you can add to your portfolio.

However, there’s always one question that holds you back. What are the ideal lenses you need to carry to take spectacular wedding photos?

One thing you need to keep in mind is that there is no “perfect wedding kit”. In fact, every photographer has his or her own set of lens that they carry for wedding photography.

Wedding photography is a special combination of different types of photography; architectural photography, portrait photography, fashion photography, macro photography and family photography to name just a few. All of these fall in the area of wedding photography.

Still, there are some of the ideal lenses which any and most of the wedding photographers use. Some of the most popular lenses are from Canon and Nikon. Check them out here.

70-200mm f/2.8L Zoom Lens

This is one of the most popular lenses for wedding photography. The Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens would do great if you are using a Canon SLR camera. In case you are using a Nikon camera then 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor Lens can be used.

Both these lenses are great for those beautiful blur photographs at f2.8. These lenses will enable you to get real close for the special moments without any disruption. The lens are also perfect for candid shots; from tears to laughs at the wedding ceremony.

50mm f/1.4 Lens

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 is ideal for the situation when the lights go dim. The lens allows you to beautifully capture the background and makes you less dependent on the flash. The lens also allows you to create a soft, natural look, for example pictures of the couple, family and friends on the dance floor. You can use the same lens to create some spectacular portraits — the prime lens at its best.

12-24mm f/4G Lens

Nikon has a great set of lens for wide apertures. The Nikon 12-24mm f/4G ED IF Nikkor Zoom Lens is one of the ideal lenses for any wedding photographer. The lens is great for shooting from a distance as well as it takes surprisingly great facial close-up photos.

100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens

The Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro USM lens is perfect for capturing the details even the smallest objects. Naturally, the bride and groom will be looking forward to photos that have captured the smallest beauties like the wedding ring in high quality detail. This lens is capable of producing magazine-like quality. All you need to do is add in your creative touch and a bliss of lighting and you will get some amazing pictures.

15mm f/2.8 Fisheye

The Canon 15mm f/2.8 fisheye lens is one of the lens every wedding photographer must have. It is important if you want to capture the special moment with an exceptional perspective. The lens pulls everything to the centre thereby creating an ultra wide, surreal view of the ceremony. If you are using a Nikon camera then 16mm f/2.8 AF Fisheye Nikkor Lens will be ideal for those fisheye shots.

16-35mm f/2.8L

If you want to use an ultra-wide lens then Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens will do a good job. This lens will allow you to capture the surroundings to add contextual story to the shots.

With these lenses in hand, you will surely be able to capture some spectacular pictures of the wedding.

Author Intro: Michael Rae is a blogger/photographer for Creative Wedding Photography, a company that offers one of the finest wedding photography in Stockport, Cheshire and Manchester.

Author’s Intro: This is a guest post written by Nada Ljubinovic. Nada is an amateur photographer, who enjoys sharing her ever developing skills and knowledge on all photography related topics. Nada’s most recent interests include wedding photography. Connect with her on Google+.

Wedding photographers have a significant day ahead of them. Their mission of the day is to attend and shoot a lovely wedding and ensure to leave behind the wedding photos that will last well beyond today.

But let’s not forget the other wedding attendees. As much as it is about the bride and groom, this special day is also about their friends & guests and how their presence adds to the special moments that will be cherished for years to come.

It all sounds great, the scene is set, everyone is having a great time and then the photographers’ nightmare starts to creep in as they notice the sun starting to fade and yet there is still no moonlight.

Yep that’s the glorious and scary aspect of photography — dusk photography. Yet it doesn’t have to be that way at all.

Awesome colors and dusk lighting

Good wedding photographers, whether they are Melbourne wedding photographers (my inspiration), Tuscany wedding photographers or Rome wedding photographers, will tell you that this is the best time of the day to take some awesome shots. (Learn more about the secrets of shooting at the dusk here.)

While it’s true, there are numerous considerations that the photographer needs to keep in mind for the end result — amazing wedding photos in the dusk lighting.

So here are five basic, yet handy tips that will help any photographer take amazing dusk photos with that “wow” factor and that can help earn a positive professional reputation.

Tip 1 — Come Prepared With Equipment & Accessories For Dusk Wedding Photography

The importance of preparation for dusk lighting cannot be emphasized enough. You have to be sure that all the equipment is ready to go and capture the special moments.

So what all has to be ready to go — on-camera flash, reflectors, lightboxes, mini-softboxes and a good battery charging pack are all must-haves for any photographer who want to capture stunning dusk shots.

Wedding Photo Kit — Equipment and Accessories

Being outdoors at dusk is a great time and you can surely get amazing photographs. The key is to get the lighting right; therefore use the diffusers and the reflectors. A great reflector with gold and white sides will allow you to play up more of a warm glow to rely on the fading natural light around you. (Check out more on studio lighting and equipment here.)

Tip 2 — Act Quick — Setup The Shoot Beforehand

If you’re using your on-camera flash and other accessories, get them set up properly well beforehand. You have not much time to waste — dusk lighting is only 20-30 minutes of the show.

Dusk lighting in wedding photography gives you the opportunity to play with lights and shadow on a level that just isn’t present when shooting in broad daylight. However, you may have to adjust based on wind or crowd movement. As long as you know about these possibilities ahead of time, you’ll be able to pull off your best photos.

Tip 3 — Make The Most Of Surroundings & Natural Scenery

Outdoor photography is all about utilizing the beautiful scenery around you, so you can leave behind the backdrops at your studio and take advantage of the amazing venue your newlyweds have chosen. When they review their photos, they would certainly like to see more of the contextual backgrounds (the venue and the natural scenery) rather than a canned backdrop that you rolled out.

Make the most of the surroundings

Tip 4 — Pose, Repose & Compose — For The Memorable Wedding Shots

Dusk is the time of the day that rapidly descends into night. Don’t count on being able to always have time to set up that perfect shot. Sure, you will get the couple to pose for a few shots, but allow them to freely move about the venue; chase them to capture the intimate moments.

Go for creative angles that really showcase your ability to come up with unique, dynamic images. Go by the choice of your client. Every couple is different: some couples will want a more traditional look, while others want their playful side showcased.

Tip 5 — Finally, Its Time To Process The Images

Keep in mind that even if you take great shots in-camera, post processing is still a must. Your camera will not be able to get everything in place.

Make sure you give yourself time to process every shot. Weeding out bad frames, adding the retro touch, black and white conversion and make-touchups are a part of the process, but this is easier when you shoot in RAW format.

Convert your wedding shots to black & white

Great wedding photography is all about pushing the limits of your photo equipment than relying on default settings to capture the true magic of someone’s special day.

These tips should serve you well in not only dusk lighting conditions, but in other areas of wedding photography as well. Good luck!

Author’s Intro: This is a guest post written by Nada Ljubinovic. Nada is an amateur photographer, who enjoys sharing her ever developing skills and knowledge on all photography related topics. Nada’s most recent interests include wedding photography. Connect with her on Google+.

Professional portrait photographers employ a number of techniques to create flattering portraits — using a diffusion filter or a soft focus filter being one of them.

Diffusion filter is a photography filter which sits right on the top of your lens and scatters the light entering the camera. It is made up of a translucent photographic film, which actually does the trick.

Photographers use it to add various effects; especially portrait photographers use it to reduce unflattering skin blemishes. It is thus also known as the soft focus filter.

However this effect cannot be achieved simply by defocusing the subject to a smaller degree. This is because even when you use a diffusion filter the focus remains sharp. It is just diffuses the strong light without affecting the sharpness and the contrast. And is thus different from the out-of-focus effect. Let’s talk about the effects of a diffusion filter here.

Effects of A Diffusion Filter

1. Eliminates Skin Blemish: A diffusion filter reduces minute details in the scene. As a results it softens the wrinkles, rashes and minor skin defects. It is thus used in wedding photography to give soft, romantic & delicate look to wedding portraits.
2. Adds A Dreamlike Haze: The softfocus filter (to an extent) softens the subject and the background; giving it a dreamy look almost like shallow DOF and complimentary bokehs (rarely).
3. Changes The Color Tints: Some filters can change the overall tint of the skin tones. For example, the Tiffen gold diffusion filters adds a warm glow to the skin.
4. Softens Shadows: Diffusion filter also softens the harsh shadows in the scene.

You can easily find a number of diffusion filters. However their degree of softening the subject varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. The diffusion filters come in variety of sizes, so make sure you check out the size of your lens prior to buying one. Let’s check out a sample image to see how a diffusion filter works.

Before Diffusion Filter

After Applying Diffusion Filter

This effect can be achieved by smearing petroleum jelly on a UV filter or shooting through a nylon stocking. You can also replicate this effect in post production by applying “Gaussian Blur” in Photoshop.

Practically you can take care of such issues during post-processing as does the before and after effect in the above picture. Personally I try to stay from optics which may degrade or alter the quality of the image. But when it’s about correcting the light, it has to be done on-scene (like employing a GND or a CPL). That’s because it’s almost impossible to fix lighting during post-processing. But when it comes to the effects of diffusion etc. you can always do it during the post-production (and revert back if you like). What do you do to achieve this effect?

The luster and the unusual sheen of the sunflares can easily make you a fan of shooting in the sun with the lens flare effect. And your portfolio is pretty much incomplete if you haven’t used this “unusual” effect.

Even though lens flare is a flaw, professional portrait photographers employ it creatively to sometimes add glamorous touch and other times to add romanticism and cinematic feel to the photograph. The wedding photographers use this technique to add “summery” and warm & playful appeal to the images shot as the part of engagement and wedding sessions.

If you are also interested in re-creating magic with lens flare, equip yourself with a little bit of science behind the lens flare and a few handy tips. Let’s check ’em here.

The Science Behind The Lens Flare

Nothing scary here! Just the formal knowledge on how the lens flare (which is actually a flaw) is rendered to the images while taking a photograph.

The lens flare is formed when the sun’s light or the light from any bright source strikes the camera lens at the top edge. When the light enters the lens in such a fashion, the light rays internally reflect on the lens element a number of times before finally reaching the sensor. This reflected light reduces the sharpness in the image giving it a hazy blanketing effect known as the lens flare.

With a little practice this technique can work wonders for portrait photographs — good over-exposure, unique vintage look and soft dreamy effect.

Precautions

Chances are few, but someone having a bad day with everything malfunctioning around him for no reason may well end up with a burned sensor (or one less eye) if he manages just the right settings for it. Make sure you don’t focus on the sun. Do not look/shoot at the sun through the viewfinder and certainly not long enough or at slower shutter-speeds. The right thing is to have the sun out of the frame, behind the subject or peeping in partially through the corner.

7 Killer Tips For Adding The Sunflares

1. Position Sun’s Light Behind The Subject

   This beautiful effect manifests itself when the sun’s light or any other bright source of light is behind the subject. The back-lighting projected in the camera brightens the scene and beautifully wraps the subject in the over-exposure bliss. You can shoot directly against the sun, that is, just after sunrise or late afternoon before the sunset when sun can be naturally placed behind the subject. However at other times of the day you will have to lie down on the ground to position the sunlight behind the subject. An easy workaround though is to employ the window light magic.

   

   Window Light Over-Exposure Bliss

2. Expose For The Subject

   Exposing for a back-lit subject can be tricky for the camera. The camera’s meter gets bluffed by the brightness in the background and ends up under-exposing the subject. Switch to the manual mode and expose for the subject. You can use a hand-held light meter (and take the incident reading of the light falling on the subject) or judge the exposure by camera’s histogram and highlight indicator, you can also use spot-metering. Make sure that you expose for the subject (this will keep the background over-exposed). This is what renders a dreamy effect to the image. Use bracketing just to be safe.

3. Know The Lenses In Your Kit

   Different lenses produce the flare differently. Try photographing the lens flare with the various lenses in your kit. Carry the one which best creates the lens flare for the special occasions when you want to add romanticism to your images. The 50 mm prime lens does the job well, whereas you may find it difficult to get good lens flare with high quality lenses (lens manufacturers as such look upon lens flare as a flaw and try to minimize it by employing high quality optics).

   

   Awesome Lens Flares

4. Camera Settings To Think About

   Getting the focus right and setting the appropriate aperture value acts as the game-changer for the photographs shot against the sun. Let’s have a look at both the settings here:

   • Focusing: The camera’s auto-focus gets tricked with the bright source of light behind the subject and thus end up focusing on the light source . If that is the case, you can either set the focus manually or try out this neat trick: Block the sun’s light with your hand, compose the shot & lock the focus. Then remove your hand, recompose the shot and shoot with the sun’s light entering the lens.
   • Aperture Settings: You can either go fully manual or turn on the aperture priority mode (when shooting indoors against window light) for this kind of shots. Whatever the case may be setting the appropriate aperture value will help you in getting the desired effect. A pro tip here: A smaller f-number will get a wider lens flare with more of a washed out look and less of the pronounced polygonal shapes whereas narrow aperture will result in light streaks and sun-star effect.

5. Preview The Effect In The Camera

   You can preview the appearance and the position of the lens flare & the light streaks with the help of DOF preview button. When you depress the DOF preview button, you can visualize how the lens flare appears at various aperture settings (wider at lower f-numbers and sun-bursts at narrow apertures). Though you will not be able to preview how washed out the final image will be as the final effect depends on the duration of exposure as well.

6. Shoot In Raw

   When shooting against the light, you are running a high risk of getting very washed out images. The over-exposure kills the details. The best way thereof is to shoot in RAW which allows you to recover the details (to some extent; highlight recovery is almost impossible with DSLRs) and have finer control over giving the final shape to the image.

   

   The Washed Out Look

7. Process Them To Get The Final Look

   If you have practiced it right, you can get good sunflares in-camera. However, don’t be disheartened if you are not able to make it in camera. Shoot during the magic hours to get the lighting right and you can rely on a number of Photoshop actions and Lightroom presets to do the magic for you. You can try Matt’s Sunflare Presets for instance. The ready to use sun-flare presets and actions are good at adding the gracious effect to your images.

And now it’s time to check out beautifully captured portrait shots with sunflares & dreamy cinematic feel.

Macro photography is an amazing opportunity to enter the world of beautiful surprises. Minute details, fine textures and life size reproduction are enough to get you excited. However investing in a macro lens is not always a feasible option, that too, just for experiencing the fun of capturing the macro details.

If you’re immensely interested in trying out your hands at macro photography, reverse lens technique is one of the affordable ways at your disposal. Using a close-up filter on the lens barrel or attaching extension tubes and bellows are also good options to consider, but using a reverse macro ring / adapter or a coupler ring is far more inexpensive. Reverse lenses actually offer a powerful way of shooting macros with more than life size reproduction.

A true macro lens allows you to fill the frame with 1:2 or 1:1 reproduction, that is either half the size of the small subject or equivalent to the life size of the macro subject. The reverse lens technique on the other hand allows you to get extremely close to the subject to achieve up to 3x life size projection. Let’s see why does this happen.

When you reverse the lens you essentially try to reverse the way the lens projects an image to the camera sensor. There is a little bit of optics to it. Normally a lens looks at a wider field of view and focuses it on a much smaller plane, i.e., the camera sensor. Thus the lens looks at the bigger picture and forms a small image on the sensor.

On reversing the lens, the lens turns up the theory of “big to small” to “small to big”. The reversed lens will focus on the narrow plane to form a bigger picture.

Reverse Lens Technique — The Technicalities

Reverse lens technique is simply about mounting a reversed lens to your camera, that is, attaching the camera lens in such a way that the rear element points outwards and front element (lens barrel) mounts on the camera.

This can be done by using a lens reversing ring, one side of which mounts to the camera and the other holds the reversed lens in place. You can buy one from Amazon or Adorama for as low as $9.95.

Adorama Lens Reversing Ring for Canon EOS Lenses with a 52mm Filter Thread.

When you reverse the camera lens, you however loose the camera’s ability to communicate with the lens. This means no auto focus and no control over lens aperture. To control the aperture, you will thus need a lens with manual aperture ring. Any Nikkor D-series lens or Canon FD lenses for instance will do. If your lens doesn’t have a manual aperture ring, you will not be able to stop down the light and thus will have to work with maximum aperture. Nevertheless, you can still give it a try for some beautiful abstractions.

You can also achieve the reverse lens set up by stacking a secondary lens over the primary lens. For instance placing a reversed 50mm prime lens over your 18-55mm kit lens. All you need is two lenses and a lens coupling ring.

Nikon AF-S 18-55 + Nikon 50mm 1.8D reversed

The advantage of using this technique is that you no longer need to look for a lens with the manual aperture ring. You can leave the reversed lens open at the widest aperture and stop down the primary lens for increasing the depth of field.

How To Shoot With A Reverse Lens

Reversed lens technique is a specialized set-up. You cannot simply point at the subject and shoot it as you normally do. The reversed lens has its own caveats.  Check out the following tips to work out with reverse lens.

1. Attach The Reverse Lens

   If you have two lenses go in for lens stacking and if you have one you can attach a reverse lens by using a reverse lens adapter as discussed above. You can use a fast prime lens or zoom lens or both. With zoom lens however keep one thing in mind. When you reverse a zoom lens, it’s zooming mechanism will also reverse. That is you will have to zoom out to actually zoom in with the reverse lens.

2. Image Stabilization

   The slightest of hand blur or camera shake at such magnification can completely ruin the photograph. However, if your camera has IS feature need not worry, else rest the camera on a sturdy surface or mount it on the tripod. If your camera provides mirror lock up, turn it on. This will also help in minimizing the motion blur.

3. Turn On The Manual Focus

   Auto focusing is no help here. You will have to turn on the manual focus. You will have to set the focus by physically moving the camera closer to the subject. You will have to work in the range of 1 inch or so. If possible move the subject closer to the camera as struggling with tripod is not a feasible option.
   

4. Play Around With Aperture Settings

   The camera with reverse lens looses all the automatic features. Therefore, turn on the manual mode. DOF is extremely shallow at close proximity and you will have to stop down the aperture for better focus. Set the aperture to f/8 and experiment by stopping the light by varying the aperture, shutter speed and zoom levels. The viewfinder will blacken out as soon as you adjust the aperture ring manually and as such hitting the sweet spot requires a trial and error approach.

   Take multiple shots of the same scene and later stack the images in Photoshop for a sharper focus.

5. Lighting

   At such a close proximity, getting proper exposure is a challenge. Sometimes you will end up casting shadow of your lens and other times there will be too less light entering the camera owing to narrow aperture. So try to illuminate the subject with natural light, artificial light or even an external flash will do. You can get some great macro photographs in a small studio set up.

   

   Macro Photography Setup

6. Protect The Lens

   The reversed lens potentially exposes the pins transmitting the electronic signals and the internal glass element of the lens to dust. This can greatly damage the lens quality. Therefore, you need to be extra careful with your lens in this kind of set-up. Keep the lens protector cap handy and place it on when not shooting.

Rest you will learn by trying it out. So get ready to have fun with extreme close ups. Ans don’t forget to share your pics!

Photographing people, models, kids specially those who shy off in front of the camera can be tedious job. Posing them simply doesn’t work and you end up taking flat, boring and unflattering images of your dear ones and the self-conscious clients. It’s time to turn their weaknesses into their strengths, just kidding :) It’s time to get the ball rolling in your court, it’s time to introduce the props. Yes, you get it right! Props can really help you in getting the images you want — lively, peepy and expressive.

Props are simple supporting objects introduced in the photograph with a purpose. Sometimes props are used for engaging the subject and at other times props are utilized for adding an element of interest in the photograph. A girl holding the bunch of flowers, a kid playing with his toys, a senior portrait posing with his / her favorite musical instrument are some of the common examples of using props in photography. In fact any object can act as the props — the chairs, pedestals, a book, surrounding elements, lights, etc; anything included in the photograph to balance the visual weight of the subject can be viewed as the prop. Props come in handy for giving a lift to your photographs. A little bit of fore thought and you’re all set to get creative with — The Props.

Props Compliment The Personality Of The Subject

Props add context to the images. Photographing a fashion designer amidst her creations speaks volumes about her work and interests. Similarly photographing an executive in his office with all the awards and rewards in the backdrop recites the success story of the person photographed. Props offer the visual cues about the persona of the subject. Costumes also play an effective role in defining the character of the subject. For instance, simply introducing a cowboy hat in this photograph alters the character of the shot and the subject.

Props Create The Mood

A senior portrait holding a guitar, a kid running after the fascinating bubbles, old man and his stick resting alone on the rugged bench in the park — all have their share of story to tell. While the fascinating bubbles make lighten the atmosphere; stick and rugged bench surges the melancholy.

Prop used for heightening the emotions

Props Can Be Used As Interesting Backdrop

To do away with the background clutter or lots of distractions in your shots, place the subject against one of the dominating elements, trees in the garden, an array of awards in the office or lively wedding decors to highlight the story.

Props As The Subject

How about bringing the prop in the limelight? Give it a try — cast the prop as the lead of the story; perhaps by focusing on the prop while blurring the subject. It will add an extra visual dimension to the shot.

Focus on the prop: Focus is on the flowers while the subject is blurred.

Do you have some more creative ideas for using props?

Natural lighting offers a lot of opportunities to make great photographs. Just like dawn and dusk are the best times to shoot outdoors, natural light pouring and streaming through the window make up for the best source of light indoors; anytime of the day. The quality of the window light is simply superb and adds a lot of mood to the indoor shots. Not only the still-life, but it benefits the portrait shots as well. You can easily count on the window light to re-create the magical portraits. It is one of the most attractive lighting for communicating the emotions & expressions you want to convey through photography. Here’s the quick checklist of add-ons window light offers for an outstanding portrait photo-shoot.

1. Soft, Diffused Light

   One of the characters of the window light is that it is soft and diffused — which makes it the best type of light for portrait shots. Well, not always. The light pouring in from windows facing north or south direction is bound to be soft, while you can diffuse the direct sunlight by pulling the blinds or drawing the curtains. This soft light evenly illuminates the subject and clubbed with selective focus, window light makes up for the flattering images.
   

2. Direct Light For High Contrast Portraits

   While soft diffused light give a natural feel to the portraits, the harsh light helps in bringing out the skin textures, especially helpful when photographing the elderly people. Along with this, direct light is also good for casting the shadows of the surrounding elements like the window grill, blinds & folds or even the curtains. The warmth of the sunlight along with the shadows create aesthetically pleasing and interesting images.
   

3. Overexposure Bliss

   Take a look at Matt Andrews’s wedding collection for this one. It has some of the most beautiful bridal and couple shots, shot against the window light. The smooth, silky white gown of the bride pleasantly mellows in the burst of window light and the visual treat of the washed out backlight is quite pretty, far beyond imagination.
   

4. Awesome Silhouettes & Profile Shots

   After experimenting with the frontal lighting, take a break and try out the backlight magic for creating captivating silhouettes. Shoot against the light for creative profile shots — no details, just the outline and intriguing shapes. Play smart at it — pull the curtains down to add the glowing effect or shoot at twilight to compliment the subject with exploding colors of the blue hour.
   

5. Beautiful Complimentary Bokehs For Dreamy Effect

   With window lighting, backlight is at its best. Not only can you silhouette the subject, it can be used for filling the frame with mindblowing bokehs. But this works best during the dawn, when the sun sets and the artificial lights take over the charge to beautifully light up the world around us. The incandescent lights in the backdrop are perfect for revitalizing the scene with bokehlism. Want to learn how to create the bokeh effect. Check out the tips for creating bokeh effect here.
   

6. Jazz Up Portraits With Artistic Lens Flare

   I bet you can get your creative most with this natural source of  light. Apart from photographing beautiful bokehs and amazing profile shots, the next great idea lined up for an awesome portrait shot is the lens flare. Backlit the subject while shooting straight into the sunlight pouring through the window. The resulting circular discs and washed out look will create a feeling of romanticism and mystery.
   

7. Natural Light Merged With Studio Set-up

   Sometimes shooting just the natural light can be a tedious task. For instance on the sunny days when the sun is at the mast and the entire room is filled with harsh light, having the reflector or strobe lights handy pays you off. However, it doesn’t require expensive lighting set-up. You can employ the thermocol sheet or a cardboard covered with silver foil to act as the reflector and use the secondary light or flash to act as the fill light and thus overpower the natural light entering the room.

8. Appropriate Set-up For Catchlights

   Shooting through large windows create a suitable atmosphere for photographing the gleaming reflections of natural light in the eyes of the subject. This is what makes the portrait shots all the more livelier and expressive. The catchlights are at its best when the subject is facing the sunlight pouring through the window.

9. Shooting Through The Window Glass

   Including the window glass with perhaps the raindrops or lots of scattered lights help in creating a hazy look. The lights reflecting off the window glass creatively blur the subject, giving it a dramatic appeal worth experimenting with.
   

10. Add An Element Of Interest: The Window Itself

    While you are at it, i.e., adding the visual appeal and burst of soft light incoming through the window, don’t forget to experiment with the windows as props. Windows can introduce the second element of interest in the photograph. The beautiful scene in the backdrop compliments the subject well. You can also utilize the window frames to tell the visual story through natural framing. This simply helps in adding context to the photographic story.

How about employing this natural source of light?

Portraits? Come on… Well, but aren’t those the only photographs where the subject can talk back to you? Yes, portraits have the potential to get you the maximum reaction and promotion. And portraits are one of the most common types of photography — you don’t need to look for a nice subject with sunlight, greenery and waterfalls etc. Done well, the subject would promote you for free. So here are 5 simple techniques to add flair to your portraits:

1. Play With Eye Contact

   The eye is the liveliest and the most expressive part of the human body. As the popular quote says, “The eyes are the mirror of the soul”, it is one of the best practice to focus on eyes for portrait session. Go for a close-up and try catchlights to add interest. Retouch and sharpen the eyelashes a bit and you are in for some wonderful finishes.

   Ask your subject to look into the camera and don’t shy away from photographing the eyes leading out of the frame. The way you focus on the eyes and play with eye contact changes the mood and feel of an image. For instance, direct eye contact silently speaks volumes about the subject’s mood whereas eye contact between the subjects portrays the level of intimacy and adds “love in is the air” feel; especially when a wedding couple is photographed.

   

   Beautiful eyes

2. Reflections And Reflectors

   Add drama to your shots by introducing abstract elements like reflections and shadows. Well not just the reflections in water! Utilize the reflective surfaces or shoot mirror images. Just hold the reflecting surface close enough to the subject so that it doesn’t actually become a part of the picture. You can also try some reflectors to lighten up the shadows or use a golden reflector and silver dish for some glamor effects.

3. Try A Flash Diffuser

   It’s just a plastic cap that you place over the flash and get going with some beautiful diffused and soft light. The direct flash on the camera without a diffuser looks a tad unflattering otherwise. A flash diffuser allows you to eliminate harsh light and shadows to thus evenly illuminate the scene for a natural look. You can find one here or simply go in for DIY homemade soft flash diffuser.

4. Multiple Exposure

   This is more of an exception than a rule. But sometimes experimenting with effects like multiple exposure can land you some moody shots with added interest. Turn on the multiple exposure and set the number of shots required to create the desired effect. These special effects enhances the subject or the scene and renders dreamy & nostalgic air to it. Get creative at it!

   

   Create atmosphere with multiple exposure

5. Try Post-processing

   Just fire up Lightroom, play around with vibrance, saturation, vignetting, split toning, etc or simply try a preset. Use any of your favorite photo editor to add some amazing image-effects. From one touch effects like sepia and black & whites to the 300 effect, anything is possible. And guess what, these attract more interest than the plainly retouched portraits.

How do you add uniqueness to your portraits?

Lights, camera, action — and here we go… for making an awesome portraiture. This reminds me of a lovely quote:

Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.
— George Eastman

Be it natural light or studio light getting to know the most of it — the light, definitely pays you off.

Especially when working with the model in the studio set-up, choosing the appropriate lighting set-up is like half the battle won. The arrangement of lights play an important role in accentuating the shapes, form, contours, facial details and expressions; the very essence of portrait photography.

So, let’s get started with a simplistic lighting set-up to create mood with your portrait photographs.

Step One — Placing An Accent Light

Accent light comes in handy for adding dimension to otherwise flat pictures. Accent light also known as the highlight lighting is used for accentuating or emphasizing some specific object or area in the photograph. In case of portraits, the most common used accent light is the hairlight. Place the accent light slightly above and behind the subject so as to light the subject’s hair. This helps in separating the subject from the background.

Accent Light: The hair light separates the subject from background

Step Two — Positioning The Key Light

Next step is to place the key light. Key light is the main light used for illuminating the subject as well as the scene. For adding depth to the scene and selectively illuminating the subject place the key light just opposite to the accent light so as to shine directly upon the subject.

Key Light: Main source of illumination

Step Three — Adding A Fill Light

While accent light separates the subject from the background and key light reveals the contours and textures, fill light helps in evenly illuminating the shadows produced by key light. The fill light illuminates the subject evenly, thereby adding a diffused glow which makes the photographs look more natural and appealing.

Fill Light: Lighting up the shadows

Setting up the lights in such a manner, is popularly known as the three-point lighting set-up. In fact three-point lighting method is  a standard method used in visual media such as video, film and still photography. However the strength, color and angle of the lights determine the final shot. So, what are you waiting! Get ready to try your hands at this basic lighting set-up for some awesome portrait photographs.

Author’s Intro: This is a guest post by Kevin. Kevin provides various tips and tricks on wedding photography, portrait photography and family photography.

A photographer is perhaps one of the most important components of a couple’s wedding day — the person responsible for making those special moments truly special for the couple to cherish for the time to come. Besides capturing the traditional pictures that most couples want, an experienced photographer can apply creative techniques to create unique poses and interesting photos. The sort of poses used in a picture can be just as important as light, angle, focus and landscape when it comes to creating a great photo.

With so much competition in the field of wedding photography, it is important to offer a wide range of services on one hand and have a vast amount of knowledge about what makes a great photo on the other hand. But one thing that sets apart the great wedding photos from among the good ones is — directing and capturing unique poses.

Go For Natural Poses

Unless the subject is a professional model, it is always beneficial to ask them to pose naturally. It is important that the person being photographed feels comfortable in front of the camera and enjoys the experience of being photographed by the photographer. However, adopting just a few simple movements can help make a good picture even better.

One of the easiest and basic poses to ask for is to ask the subject to stand or sit at a slight angle, rather than facing the camera inwards. In many cases angling the shoulders slightly can provide you with a balanced shot which will help lead your viewer’s eye towards your main focal point.

Change The Angle Of View — Shoot From Above

Where possible, it is always better to shoot from above the subject to avoid any unsightly double chins. As the whole premise of a wedding day is romance and love, make sure the happy couple are holding hands or standing close to one another in each shot. A shot of them standing forehead to forehead with their eyes closed can provide a beautiful and tender photograph.

Say Cheese! And Here You Go — Make Them Laugh

One of the golden rules of posing for photographs, especially on someone’s wedding day, is to get the people in the picture to smile. Try cracking a joke or shout a silly statement just before clicking and see what sort of response you get. To add a bit of variation, ask the bridal couple to perform what has become known as “The dip”. This simple action of the groom bending his bride backwards gently, and leaning over to kiss her can make a dramatic pose on its own, or will simply make people laugh and clap when they see it.

Capture The Moments Of Love & Playfulness

After the formal ceremony, it is quite expected that the newly married couple will disappear for a short period of time to pose for the photographs. This can be a great opportunity to introduce an element of fun and playfulness into the photos. Try and find a landscape that might add as some sort of prop such as a gate or swing and introduce depth to the photo by asking the bride to sit on the gate so she is slightly higher than he is. Allow them time to chat, while you make beautiful pictures of the couple. This will definitely capture the natural expressions.

What About The Funny Poses!

Comical poses work well, such as getting them to stand a few feet apart, bending at the hip with backs straight and meeting in the middle for a kiss. Getting the bride looking directly into the camera, while the groom looks down at her is another nice pose that works well. Or reverse the pose with the groom looking into the camera and the bride looking up at him.

About the author: Kevin provides various tips and tricks on wedding photography, portrait photography and family photography.

Website: Dreamlife Wedding Photography

As the time passes by and age goes on adding as numbers, one gains experience and becomes wise. And the sphere of wisdom expands to all edges — be it relationships, emotions or expressions. Advancing towards the older age, people tend to have a life full of real stories — harsh struggles, accomplished dreams and a lot of experience to share with the coming generations.

Just like the charm of kids and peppiness of teens, they too have something special about them. This reminds me of my granny, who is a little stubborn, gets frustrated easily, defines her own fashion statement, nurtures new generations, unites the diverse thoughts, shares her past experiences with a broad smile and above all one thing that makes her all the more beautiful is her genuine expressions and emotions that add subtle importance to her being. Even at this stage of life, she lives life to her fullest — though with some complaints and some unrealized dreams in her eyes.

I had never thought that I can speak about her at length. She is superbly beautiful and a perfect subject to click some of the great photographs — to implicitly portray wisdom, strength of character and a lifetime of dreams. It’s not just me, many photographers like Peter Carey love to capture the warmth, lifetime story and moment of truth of elderly people when they are out on a travel photography shoot. In fact, photographing old people marks as the second subject on his list of travel photography subjects. Check out what Peter Carey has to say about it:

Old people. They’re everywhere you go but many of us tend to look on by when traveling. And yet, besides young children, I have found the elders of most areas to be inviting, warm souls who are easy to smile.  They hold the history of what has gone on around them and have many stories to tell. And often all it takes is a few moments, a smile and an honest attempt to relate with another human to make that connection so vital to taking good people photos in general.

Likewise, senior citizen portraiture or old people photography forms an interesting subject for portrait photography. Their sparkling eyes, loose wrinkled skin, genuine expressions and striking personality add a photographic tale to it.

So, here are 7 awesome tips and 35 fantastic photographs to help you capture the best shots of older generations.

7 Awesome Tips For Photographing Old People

1. Posed vs Casual Shots

   Flip the coin and decide for yourself whether you’d love to photograph the formally posed portrait or would like to tell the story through your photographs. If you inform the subject that you are about to click the photograph, they become serious, wear unnatural expression or simply shy in front of the camera. Whereas capturing the shots when the subject is engaged in telling you stories or is busy doing some work make for great shots. Contextual, environmental and family portraiture also works well with old people. For instance, an old lady sewing sweater for her grandchildren, old men talking politics and current state of affairs or grandparents together playing with kids look more naturally appeasing.
   

2. Fill The Frame

   Get up close, personal and capture the fine details like facial expressions, lines & wrinkles, rugged hands, sparkling eyes, etc to add a unique sense of depth and emotion to image. Even though lines, wrinkles and age marks add character to senior portrait shots, occasionally carrying a soft focus filter helps you in smoothing the harsh details and induce soft, dreamy effect to compliment to make pleasing photographs.

3. Capture The Expressions

   Expressions form an indispensable element of portrait photography. Expressions portray human emotions and add liveliness to the captures. So, here is the quick tip for capturing the expressions — Set your camera on tripod and make your subject laugh, play, sing and feel special. Let them completely forget the presence of camera to capture the moments of genuinity. Also don’t forget to focus on the eyes as “Old men’s eyes are like old men’s memories; they are strongest for things a long way off”.

4. Make The Most Of Naturally Available Light

   Try to avoid flash. It acts as distraction in 90% of the cases and almost always ruin the photographs unless you know when and how of flash photography. By the way, utilizing the natural and available light is quite rewarding. While soft, diffused lighting is apt for the glowing skin of old people, occasionally employing harsh lighting and high contrast effect brings out the details in their face and can give a great quality. Also, experiment with side-lighting, window-light and edge lighting to add drama to your captures.
   

5. Shoot In Color

   Black and white seems to be the first choice for senior portraiture. But shooting in color is far more effective for creating mood and communicating the emotions. Retain the color photographs and convert them to black and white to give them timeless classy effect.

6. Add Image Effects

   Cool lomo effect, rustic sepia touch, nostalgic retro effect or old classic vintage look add dimension to the simple shots of old people. These effects revive a sense of history and revisits all the great memories that come along with it. Open your photographs in Photoshop and play around with right filters and adjustments to get the look and feel that best compliments your subject’s expression.

7. Photograph The Child-like Acts

   The old are in a second childhood. Observe them carefully and you will surely come across some of the habits, traits and actions and sometimes inactions which will pave way for some interesting shots, like this one — the seniors all ready to perform at the Mayfest.
   

8. Bonus: Don’t Think Too Much, Just Release The Shutter

   And here goes the last and the best of the advice. Don’t think whether the shot will come out perfectly or whether your subject will appreciate your act, just press the shutter release and make a timeless capture of the priceless moment!

35 Fantastic Examples For Photographing Older Generation

1. Just Like The Old Days
   
2. Warming The Bones
   
3. Four Glasses
   
4. I Play Flute, You Enjoy Your Life
   
5. Past Time…
   
6. First Sunny Days
   
7. The Lady In The Pink
   
8. Resting In Peace
   
9. Sweethearts
   
10. Bohemian
    
11. Substance
    
12. Jonathan
    
13. Unspoken Conversation
    
14. Old Neighbour
    
15. Sr Antero
    
16. Gaiterio
    
17. Love Is…
    
18. One Life
    
19. The Older Stuff
    
20. Old Couple
    
21. Indifference
    
22. A Beautiful Old Lady
    
23. Kindness
    
24. Thoughts Of Your Future
    
25. Old Man And The Sea
    
26. Old Thai Woman
    
27. Penseur
    
28. Begging
    
29. Los Ojos Tristes De Charapan
    
30. The Grandmother
    
31. Meghwal Elder
    
32. Amma Hugging Goat
    
33. All Life Is An Experiment, The More Experiments You Make The Better
    
34. Java Malang
    
35. Older’s Man Profile
    

So what are you waiting for? Pick up your camera and get ready to take the shots that capture the essence of older generation. Turn on life for them, turn on life for yourself — photograph the funny instances, some cool stuff and serious side of your subject — The Old People.

Experimenting with new ideas opens up ways for getting creative at what you do. Similarly breaking the bounds and photographing new themes, subjects or say visiting new locations marks the beginning of photographic explorations and excursions. You can get started at home — pick up your favorite book from the book shelf and feature it as the bestseller or give your creativity a kick-start with photographing the vital element for all known forms of life — H₂O (Water).

The water droplets can be an awesome subject to shoot. It’s varied shapes, colors and dynamic appeal will definetely pay off all your hard work. A word of caution here, “Be careful, you can get addicted!” Quite right, once you get started with capturing the water droplets, you will be surprised with your own results and will try to capture more of it —  amazing shapes, amazing effects and amazing droplets. And now it’s time to check out some cool ways for experimenting with the amazing subject — the water droplets.

1. Splash Set-Up At Home

   Not sure whether photographing the water droplets will work for you. Raise the flags and give a go ahead with setting up the splash set up at home itself. Set up the camera on tripod and tune the camera settings — fast shutter speed and burst mode is preferable. Place a glass of water on a table against white background. Now ask your friend or family members to drop the ice in the glass while you stand by the camera to release the shutter and capture the scene — the splash scene. The spontaneity of splashing water will fill your frames with exciting shapes and interesting compositions. Check out more on photographing splash scene here.

   

   The Splash Scene

2. Have Fun Experimenting With Colored Liquids

   It gets more and more fun as you involve yourself in photograping the splash scenes. Now that you have already tried experimenting with plain water, it’s time to get creative. Add some color to water or perhaps try capturing the splash droplets of colored liquids like Corrie White. Check out her flickr set Fun With Water here for capturing the water droplets like a pro — complete control over the drops, superb colors and remarkable timing. This effect can be replicated by using the dropper for dropping the water droplets or simply by investing in a drip kit which allows you to control the size, interval between drops and the flash lag.

   

   Have fun with color liquids

3. Capture The Dew Drops

   Nature has its own ways of revealing the beauty and morning dew drops adds to its essence. The morning dew drops shining on leaves, flowers and tall grasses just look stunning. Get up early and put on your macro lens to explore and capture bigger than real life dew drops on the complimentary surfaces like leaves or spider’s webs. The soft and angular sun light does its best to make the droplets appear as the pearls.

   

   Sunrise In Dew Drops On Spider Web

4. Experiment With Refractions

   TIme and again, I love to mention a flickr set called A Thousand Drops Of Light. This flickr set consists of some of the finest examples of refraction. Then there is nature photographer Steve Wall’s Flickr set Waterdrops. You will find some inspiring shots and an excellent write-up for replicating those wonderful water drops. Be it Ecstaticist, Steve Wall or Giovanni Orlando (flickr fame jjjohn), have used water as the natural lens to get striking optical effects. Check out what Steve has to say about this — the optical & physical properties of water to act as a lens.

   Simple physics produces these tiny, beautiful and common images. Water is cohesive, it naturally bonds together in the shape of a sphere, and in that shape it functions as a miniature lens that will refract nearby objects. Using that organic lens as seen through your technological lens, will allow you to explore those tiny, complex worlds.

   And then you ofcourse need to pay attention to background, composition and focus — the focus on the water drop as well as the focus on the subject refracted within the drop. The focus stacking technique comes is handy for capturing the refractions with accuracy.

   

   Water droplet acting as the lens

5. Water Droplet On Glass

   Rain drops on the window glass is also a good idea. The water droplets on the outer surface of the glass dominate the composition with irregular shapes. The conglomeration of beautiful droplets create unusual patterns. You can also get some amazing shots by employing light effects. The reflected light and the water droplets together replicate the bokeh effect as in the image below.

   

   Window Glass + Light = Replicating the bokeh effect

6. Delve Into Photographing The Array Of Droplets

   Look at the photograph below. Looks like the photographer has tried to paint the sky with water droplets. You can also try something like this where a numerous water droplets of varying sizes capture the viewers attention.

   

   Painting the water

7. Capture All That Action & Drama

   While photographing the long exposure shots along the coastlines give surreal effect to streaming water, you can also anticipate to capture the crashing waves and gushing waters as well by tuning the camera at fast shutter speed. Capture all that action and drama — ripples, crowns, blur, spills and more.

   

   Crushing Waves

Do you also love to photograph the water drops? Let’s make this list to 10. Add your creative ideas and prolific tips or simply drop by to share your experience with photographing water droplets.

Macro photography is a world of fascinations. The fine details and unexplored world of macros make it all the more refreshing each time you take a look at some of the perfectly finished macro photographs. Ecstaticist’s photostream, Lord V’s photographs and Macorlin’s shots find a special mention in this respect. Shallow depth of field, sharply focused details and amazing macro shots is what makes the difference. Beautiful shots of water droplets, specially morning dew refraction shots are enough to take you by surprise. For instance the image to the right (shot by Ecstaticist) is an inspiration for trying out unique composition.

The collection named A Thousand Drops Of Light, showcases Ecstaticist’s passion for photographing the water droplets with simply amazing shots like this one. While Ecstaticist completely relies on in-camera setting to get such lovely shots, you can try out something like this by employing the technique called Focus Stacking.

What Is Focus Stacking?

Focus stacking as the name suggests is the imaging technique wherein a set of images shot at different focus distance are stacked onto one another to result in sharp focused image. In other words, focus stacking is an image processing technique used for increasing the depth of field in a macro shot.

Focus stacking basically finds its application in macro photography, where getting sufficient depth of field becomes a challenge owing to the following facts:

1. Distance To The Subject: The lesser the difference between the subject and the camera, shallower the DOF is. This is what happens when you use the macro lens — you get closer to the subject and thus the background (and foreground) is blurred. This can often result in blurring everything else than the focus point, for instance, the outer pollen grains in case of this photograph.
   

   Selective Focus

2. The Aperture: When you tune in the macro mode on your camera, it automatically sets the larger aperture to easily take the close up shots. This reduces the depth of field considerably, thus blurring the out-of-focus subject.

As an inference, the camera settings for macro photography makes it difficult to get high DOF. Focus stacking thus enables you to get the entire subject in sharp focus while leaving the background soft and smoothly blurred.

How To Shoot Your Stack Of Images For Focus Stacking

Put on the macro lens, tune the camera settings for macro photography and set the camera on the sturdy surface or the tripod. Now all you need is to take the macro shots of the subject, by varying the focus points though. Take the multiple shots of the same subject with same setting and from the same point of view but by changing the focus point each time. You can change the field of view either by rotating the focal ring or by moving the camera. While doing so, make sure that the current focus point overlaps the in-focus part of the previous image. This helps in getting accurate results upon automation.

Focus Stacking In Photoshop CS5

Transfer your images to the computer and open them with Photoshop to let the magic happen. If you don’t already have the stack of images, you can download the files from here to see how image stacking works in Photoshop. Here are the steps for stacking the images in Photoshop.

1. Open Photoshop and go to File > Automate > Photomerge.
2. Load the source files by browsing the files on your system and select Auto from the Layout pane. This will auto-align the images for you. Make sure that all the checkboxes in the Source Files section are unchecked.
3. This will load the individual images as layers in the Layers pallete.
4. Select all the layers (CTRL + click each layer or select the first layer and hold Shift and select last layer). Go to Edit > Auto Blend Layers. Choose Stack Images, select Seamless Tones and Colors and click OK.
   

   Auto Blend Layers

5. This will blend the selected layers and result in a seamless composition with overall sharp focus, except for some roughness towards the edges. Crop the edges to arrive at the final image. Check out the final image. It’s sharp, crisp and has increased depth of field.
   

   Final Image: Sharp Focus, Increased DOF

You can also use CombineZP for applying this tecnhnique, however the process may change. CombineZP is the free alternative to Photoshop and you can get it here to try your hands at focus stacking just in case you don’t have Photoshop.

And now it’s time to get set go for focus stacking!

The backgrounds play an important role in making or breaking the photographs. Sometimes the backgrounds induce visual distractions and at other times compliment the personality and the character of the person in the photograph. Whatever the case may be, playing with the backgrounds can dramatically alter the mood in a shot. While contextual backgrounds are good at telling the story, adding dramatic or colorful backgrounds can help your subject stand out distinctly. The key for geting the backgrounds right is to thus experiment — experiment with available backgrounds or eliminate the backgrounds. Here are 9 professional tips to flatter your subject with a perfect background.

1. Crop Out The Distractions

   The person is the main point of interest in the portrait. However background clutter, competing lines and other objects in the frame distracts the viewers’ attention off the main point of interest in the photograph. The best thing to keep the focus on the subject is to thus crop out the possible distractions. Here are three simple tips to keep the distractions off the frame:

   1. Fill the frame with the subject: Get up-close and zoom in to get the tight crops of the subject. This will result in filling the frame with the subject thereby eliminating the distracting background completely.
   2. Remove the distractions: Unclutter the location by probably removing the elements in the background such as furniture or toys. The cleaner looking background tends to be more pleasing and result in professional images too!
   3. Crop the image: While clearing off the distractions before releasing the shutter should be one of the priorities, you can do away with the background clutter by cropping the image in post-processing phase as well. The crop tool comes in handy for getting the tight crops off-camera.
      

2. Blur The Background

   While it is not very easy and feasible to eliminate the background clutter, blurring the background is a smart way out for combating the background (or foreground) distractions. Tune your camera to aperture priority mode and go in for wide aperture (low f-number) settings to delibrately throw the background out-of-focus, leaving behind the complimenting hues and seamlessly smooth background.
   

3. Embrace The Environment

   Including the surrounding elements and the environment dictates the overall mood of the photograph. Photographing the couple on the beach for instance perfectly compliments the love and romance in the air whilst blackenend backgrounds that render the feeling of loneliness and isolation. So consider including the beach waters, peppy colors, christmas trees in the background to reflect the clebrations and holidaying mood.
   

4. Contextual Backgrounds

   Contextual backgrounds add a personal touch to the portraits. When you place your subject in the context of their work environment, unique activity or characteristic location, the image speaks volumes about the persona and personality of the person in the photograph. Such backgrounds weave a mini-story and provides cues about the personal and professional life of the portrait.
   

5. Beautiful Sunset In The Background

   This makes space for one more quick and interesting tip, i.e shooting against the beautiful sunset. This gives you an opportunity to embrace the sunset as the naturally beautiful backdrop. At the same time this trick opens up way for getting your hands at silhouette photography to result into the images that convey drama, mystery, emotion and mood by hiding the details of the subject.
   

6. Look Up, Look Down — Include The ground

   Change your perspective and change your angle of shooting to utilize the natural backgrounds around you. The textured walls, antique buildings, tree leaves, blue skies, white clouds, golden sands, green grass, etc can be efficiently utilized as perfect portrait backgrounds. Make your subject sit on the ground and shoot from high angle to include grass as the background or take a shot from slightly low angle to include the blue skies as natural backdrops when shooting outdoors. There are lots of portrait background ideas when shooting outdoors — just look around yourself carefully and you are sure to get some real nice, wonderous and amazing backgrounds to perfectly compliment your subject.
   

7. Seamlessly Flawless Portraits Against White Background

   White backgrounds come in handy for portraying flawless beauty of the portraits. The secret behind creating ethereal, beautiful and aesthetic images — the white background and a high key lighting set-up goes a long way in creating the images full of light. The high key protraits thus created by utilizing the white backgrounds just look stunningly beautiful.
   

8. Place Subjects In Front Of Open Spaces

   Placing the subject in front of open spaces is a good idea for blurring the background. Place your subject in front of a beach or an open field and set the focus on your subject. The camera’s focal length will keep the subject in the sharp focus while throwing far-off stretching field out ot focus (as in the image below).
   

9. Professional Backdrops

   Professional backdrops add flair to the photographs. The choice of professional backdrops ranges from buying purpose specific studio backdrops to colored sheets of paper or a simple piece of cloth. The custom backdrops allow you a lot of flexibility and add to the mood of the scene. You can additionally use the colored gels to light up the background wall to your choice of color and thus enjoy colored backgrounds off the white walls.

And now it’s your turn to follow the tips and learn the techniques for photographing the perfect portrait background.

Portrait photography and posing go hand in hand. And as soon as you mention the word “pose”, the mind plays smart tricks for your subject to prepare for the picture-perfect shot. Stiff body, plastic smile and fake expressions — this picture-perfect shot has everyting except for The Natural Look. The very thought of posing for the photograph alarms the mind, raises the self-consciousness and prepares the subject to be a different person altogether. This however contradicts with the very purpose of portrait photography, i.e., representing the personality of people in the photographs. And as Matt Taylor says in one of his posts, “Your subject won’t know how to pose, handle their hands or what expression to make – that is your job as the photographer”, it really is your job to capture your subjects true “self”. So, quickly check out these 5 tips for photographing natural looking portraits.

1. Pose The Hands

   The body language speaks a lot about what’s going on in your head. If you’re feeling nervous, your hands show it off and if you’re sad, your eyes speak it all. While each part of your body is expressive and speaks volumes about your personality, the hands and fingers communicate how the rest of the body is feeling. So, here are some quick tips to pose the hands naturally:

   1. The first tip says: Do not pose the hands at all. Sounds strange! It’s quite simple. Engage the model in some activity and let her communicate with his / her hands so that the hands automatically fall in place.
   2. Lightly fisted hands for guys and elegant fingers of girls indicate relaxed, comfortable and casual poses.
   3. If your subject is too conscious about the shot, it’s better to make her relax and exclude the hands from the shot. Go in for the headshot or head and shoulders shot to hide the nervousness.
   4. It is really difficult to get the hands right unless they have something to hold. Give your subject something to hold and see how the pose comes out naturally.
   5. Things just get better when you decide to include the hands. And when you include the hands, bend the joints, i.e, elbows and wrists to give refined feel to the potrait. Also shooting the hands from the sides make them look slimmer and better.
   

   Posing The Hand

2. Contextual Portraits: In Context Of What They Love To Do

   One of the effective technique for photographing the natural looking portraits is the contextual portraits, i.e. placing the subject in context of what they do. This style of photography weaves a mini story and builds the character of the portrait; bringing out the unique qualites, talent, work ethics and so on. At the same time photographing people in the familiar location, with complimentary background and relevant props relax the people beyond imagination.

   

   Portrait Of Musician: In Context Of Music Band

3. Relaxed Portraits In Familiar Surroundings

   Just like contextual backgrounds work wonders, so is the case with familiar surroundings where the subject feels comfortable and relaxed. Instead of choosing an outdoor location, why not choose the home ground itself.

4. Activity & Props For Casual Look

   Establish a rapport with your subject, engage them in some sort of activity — something interesting, crack a joke or talk to them about their work. All this makes room for casual air. People tend to forget the camera’s presence when they get busy with what they love to do. Same happens when they have something to hold in their hands; may be pets or a musical instrument. Just engage them in whatever they love to do and sit back, observe and shoot them.

   

   The Dancer: Photographed

5. Capture Natural & Casual Expression

   Casual expression is what a natural pose is all about. And here are some tips from Christina Dickson, a portrait photographer for poses that convey an easygoing attitude and casual expression.

   • Pull up a chair and casually seat the model and as Natalie Norton remarks, 9 out of 10 times, people are more relaxed and feel more casual when seated as compared to when they’re standing for portrait sessions.
   • Leaning against the wall is a comfortable stance that instantly steps away the formal air of the photo-shoot.
   • Head slightly tipped back will generally give an attitude of “punk” and make flattering images almost all the time.
   • Feet hip width apart give a look of strength and when placed at different angles or heights (on a step, chair etc) give a better “balance” to depth.
   • If it bends, bend it. This goes for elbows, knees, wrists, etc. The bends and the body curves look elegant and graceful.
   • Last but not the least, learn to pose yourself. Mimic the poses in front of the mirror and practice them until you are comfortable.
   

   The Casual Look

Pack your bags ready with these nifty portrait photography tips. Happy shooting for capturing that naturally awesome look!