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.

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.

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.

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!

Senior portraits or high school senior portrait photography as it is generally referred to as, are formal portraits of students (teens to be more precise) taken at the beginning of their senior school of high school. This stepping into the new life, with fresh air and gross attitude is an amazing turning point of life for the high school seniors to cherish for a long time to come. Apart from being contender for school yearbook, the senior portrait pictures make way for amazing photo-gifts and memorable albums. Being a popular genre of portrait photography, mostly all the techniques of portrait photography apply to this form of art as well. Here are 5 tips for taking great senior portraits; to help you gel well with the teens for outstanding results reflecting the true personality of the teens — grown up attitude with a little bit of childishness.

1. Personalize The Senior Portrait Session

   Establishing the rapport with your client is the very first step when it comes to portrait photography. Hosting a pre-session consultation in this regard is a great way for breaking the ice. As much as it helps the photographer in understanding what the client wants, it also helps in boosting the client’s confidence. The pre-session consultation acts as the groundwork for a great photo-shoot ahead. Professional photographers arrange for pre-session consultation meetings with the teen and his or her parents to discuss about clothing, location, portrait styles and senior portrait photography poses and ideas to begin with.

2. Recommend Clothing, Accessories And Props

   Style, attitude, unique personality, liveliness and the transition in the physical appearance give a distinct identity to the senior portraits. And as a photographer it your responsibility to capture the unique characteristics of their personality on the photographic frame. The clothes, the accessories and the props, both of you choose for the senior portrait session help in defining the attitude of teens. While casual clothes almost always look cool, formal clothes, party dress up, stylish sunglasses, scarves, hats, shoes, stuffed toys, basketball, etc are sure to add flair to the photographs.

3. Guide The Senior Portraits For Posing & Expression

   The most important ingredients that make for great results is the expression — a lot of which is conveyed by the poses. Senior portraits are full of life and fun, but when they come in front of the camera the natural expressions take place of the fake smile. Don’t let this fear, scariness and uncertainty ruin the photographs. Make your subject comfortable by directing the poses which just happen; without much effort.

4. Control The Photo-shoot Creatively

   With a successful pre-session consultation meet and friendly interaction with your client when everything is falling into place, it’s time to let your creative juices flowing. Smartly take the control of the session and make the most of the photo-shoot. Employ various lighting techniques for creating flattering images of the subject. Shoot the action, go in for shallow depth of field, add the context to the story with selective backgrounds, relieve the stress and have fun.
   

5. Add Interest With Artistic Enhancements

   Final finishing touches like enhancing the complexion, tweaking the contrast, adding vignetting effect, etc are a must for creating a lasting appeal. Re-touch the portraits for a professional finish and go beyond the edges to give classy touch to the portraits. Try your hands at artistic enhancements like black and white conversion, tinting and toning, hand-coloring or simply pep up the colors to match up with the vibrancy, vivacity and liveliness of the senior portraits.

Last but not the least, enjoy the photo-shoot and have fun!

Headshots are simply photographic shots that focus on your face and shoulders. Sometimes a headshot includes only the face and the neck. Those that include the shoulders too are called ”three quarter shots”. Ideally, a headshot is taken to minimize one’s flaws and to enhance one’s features. This is particularly true for glamorous headshots (meant for actors, singers and models). But there are some headshots that are not quite dramatic viz. passport sized photographs, mug shots (those taken after an arrest) and those intended for corporate individuals. These headshots do not need specialized lighting and the expression of the subject’s face is usually neutral. Headshots can be colored or back and white.

Purpose Behind Headshots

Headshots are taken for a number of purposes. Mostly aspiring actors and models include them in their portfolio to give a better view of their face to the casting directors. These shots are usually taken from the front, placing the subject in the absolute center and often contain no surrounding scenes in order to give an emphasis to the subject’s face only.

1. Film And Television Actors/Models

   These headshots are used to portray the individualism of the subject. Lighting and focus are the key factors here for a nice headshot. Next comes the make-up and attire. Usually black or white clothes are used to avoid distractions from the face to the clothes. The eyes are often highlighted and the rest of the face is kept a bit delicately focused. This is done as the eyes are the liveliest and the most expressive feature on the face. There are various attitudes that can be expressed through the eyes — intelligence, confidence, hope, personality, etc. Often glasses or contact lenses are removed before the shot to avoid any blur/reflection. However, post editing is needed to remove wrinkles and blemishes as they seem more prominent in headshots. The headshots of models are also used for marketing by placing them on labels of products.

   

   Yael musician by Hen3k Hen3k

2. Mug Shots And Passport Sized Photographs

   These types of headshots do not require much sophistication. These are taken simply to keep a photographic record of an individual for identification.

3. Commercial Headshots

   For those willing to use headshots for purely commercial and business promotions of individuals, commercial headshots are the best choice. These shots too are not very glamorous but they are slightly flattering; providing an edge to the subject’s personality. These headshots are often used in the electronic format though some areas require printing. The commercial headshots are used in business cards, catalogs /brochures, websites, newspapers, annual data reports, resumes and  for marketing.

How To Capture A Headshot

The key to having an ideal heasdshot is playing with your best features. If taken properly, headshots can flatter even the most simple facial feature. There are some factors involved to get an ideal headshot:

1. Indoor And Outdoor Headshots

   There are people who would like to have no background in their headshot and there are some (usually for personal use) who want a backdrop. Outdoor headshots can be taken by keeping the background simple and shooting in natural light/flash or blurring the background. However, in studio headshots are considered to be the best as you can adjust lights according to the shooting need. In addition, special care should be taken while shooting different physical characteristics of different subjects. For example, a bald man would have an entirely different type of headshot from a person with hair. If you place a hair light behind the head of a bald man, the subject’s area of focus will shift to his head which will give a very shiny and undesired  result.

   

   Head Shot by Ha-Wee

2. Positioning The Camera

   In order to avoid barrel distortion (a photographic error because of shooting too close to the subject), keep the camera approximately 8-10 feet away from the subject. Do not use wide range lenses as they induce and exaggerate geometrical distortions. For a head shot a lens of 85 mm and above is preferable as it keeps the distortion low.

3. Positioning Lights

   According to your requirements, adjust lighting at different angles for sharp, soft or no shadows. To lighten up the subject’s face properly, two lights in opposite directions will be required. Similarly place a hair light above or  at the back of the subject’s head to get an enhanced lighting effect. The professionals don’t do it without a light meter. But your camera already has a light-meter built-in and you can take a few test shots to see if you are getting the results.

   

   She’s a beaut by Your Alter Ego (Angelica Lasala)

4. Different Angle For Men And Women

   Women need to appear delicate in their photos. To the contrary, the men should look strong and confident. Shooting womens’ headshots from an angle slightly above their face and downwards tend to make their eyes big and the rest of the face soft giving them a tender yet beautiful look. For men, the angle is set to shoot from slightly beneath the face going upwards. This gives a sharp and strong effect.

5. Reducing Blemishes

   Human skin is prone to blemishes and spots. To hide/soften these blemishes, diffused light should be used. This helps in highlighting the facial shape but reducing the marks. You may also choose to use a soft-filter on the camera or you can create that effect during post-processing.

6. The Amount Of Light

   If shooting outdoors, set your camera’s flash to the brightest setting. For any headshot, a lot of fill-light is needed especially in bright scenes, whatever be the location.

7. Facial Expression

   For glamorous headshots, facial expression is a must. It adds interest to the photograph. Try experimenting by tilting the subject’s head at various angles and ask the subject to try various poses and expression for each shot (for example, smiles and no-smiles).

   

   Head Shot by M0J0jojo

Technical Aspects

Here are some of the technical aspects of photographing headshots.

1. Reflective Umbrellas

   While taking headshots for actors and models, use a reflective umbrella instead of direct light to avoid harsh shadows.

2. Reflector

   A small reflector should be placed near the waist of the subject, focusing the light towards the face from down, to avoid chin and nose shadows.

3. Camera Settings

   Headshots are generally photographed under controlled lighting like in a studio. The angle of light, the pose etc. play a key role in getting you the killer shot. The professional always use a light meter to get a balanced contrast and to highlight the facial features. The background too plays an important role and complements the shot. To make the background dark, move the subject away from the background. To make it light, do the contrary. You can also have a secondary light fall on the background. You may also want to try high-key and low-key photographs of the headshots as an additional possibility.

4. Print

   Professional headshot are usually printed out in 8×10 format. Some additional sharpening may be required. The key is to verify the sharpening by checking the eyes of the subject.

Catchlight is the photography term used to describe the reflection of light that shows up in the eyes. The human eyes are the liveliest part of the human persona and naturally tends to gain the reflection from the surrounding light sources and it just takes an observing eye to capture this natural phenomena onto the frame. While you will probably notice the catchlights in the eyes of your subject during the daytime due to the reflection gained from the natural light, sometimes it calls for some specific studio settings to capture the catchlights.

Why Catchlights?

What is the big deal about the catchlights; why are photographers fascinated about capturing the catchlights? Catchlights make the portraits look livelier and underscore the expression in the portraits. It is like portraying the reality onto the frame — the reality of the glittering eyes. It is about capturing the shining eyes, which holds so many secrets and promises in them. The catchlights help in making interesting portrait photographs and attract the viewers into the liveliness of the photograph. Even though one might not notice the glow in the eyes instantly, subtle catchlights contribute to the overall feel of the photograph and pull-in the viewer to the element of interest.

Technique And Set-Up For Photographing Catchlight

Catchlights vary in size, shape and position. The formation of catch lights is dependent on the light source used for making the exposure. The most favorable position for the catch lights is supposed to be on the upper edge of the iris, which looks more natural and pleasing owing to the fact that the natural light is over head and thus get reflected in the upper corners of the iris.

It is fairly simple to photograph the glow of light in the eyes when photographing in the natural light. The natural source of light, the sun, tends to gain the reflection in the eyes naturally. It then just requires you to observe the catchlight and capture one. It becomes trickier in the studio set-up, where there is no natural light available. In such cases, the professional photographers arrange the key light, fill light and soft boxes to act as reflectors in a way that the eye of the subject gain the glow of light at the desired position. In the studio set-up you have to direct the subject to look in the specific direction or tilt the head, so as to produce the reflection of lights in the eyes of the subject. The professional photographers take up the challenge of creating distinct shapes for catchlights. While circular catchlights look natural and rectangular catchlights are resulted of the soft-boxes, the photographers imply various photography equipment for creating unique catchlights like those appearing as a star. The photographers use various light modifiers for achieving the desired catchlights; like a soft box, a umbrella, the ring flash, a beauty dish, etc. Here are some examples to exemplify the implication of light modifiers for creating stunningly beautiful catchlights.

Soft Box by Melissa Ann Barrett

In this studio portrait, the photographer has positioned a wescott softbox in front of the subject. The softbox diffuses the strobe light evenly while introducing a brief catch-light at 2 o’clock position.

Bedtime by Tom Leuntjens Photography

The catch light in the photograph shows the impression of the softbox which is placed slightly above the little model.

50” Ringlight by Jon Winters

The portrait is photographed using the ring light; the ring flash diffusers, which have no light source of their own, but instead mount in front of a conventional flash unit and transmit the light to a ring-shaped diffuser at the front of the lens (thus producing a spiral catch light).

Have you tried to capture catch lights? Feel free to share the results here.

Photographing people is one of the most common forms of photography. While photographing family and friends is nothing out of the usual, the legal issues rise when photographing the general masses and people on the street. I came across and read about the requirement of model release forms when photographing people early in my profession. This heightens the sense of restriction and bounds in the stream of photography. Do you always need permission, seek consent or think twice before expressing a story that revolves around the human presence? If this is the case, it curbs the joy, thrill and creativity of the photographer. However, you have to be cautious when photographing people, and know when you must seek permission and when you must not. Else it’s like curbing your own rights as a photographer. There are several issues when photographing people, some legal, some morality based or just about ethics and common sense. Now please understand, this is not a legal advice by any means. This is more of how I personally tackle these issues.

1. The Public Aspect To Photographing People

   The way a photographer is free to photograph the public property and public events, the same holds true for photographing people in the public domain. You are free to photograph the activities, reactions and candid life of people on the streets, unless people find it uncomfortable to get themselves photographed. The legal issue rise only when you intent to threaten or violate the right of privacy of the people, i.e photographing the personal dimension of their lives even though in public places (as in a public restroom or so).

2. The Purpose Of Photographing People

   If you are photographing people just for the shear joy of capturing something creative and unusual and for non-commercial use, it is fair enough to photograph people as a voice to your art. The problems arise when you pick up the camera to photograph them to use the photographs for commercial use. This could perhaps be for online publishing or for selling them as stock photography and offering the photographs for editorial purposes. If this is the case, you definitely need to get the model release form signed by the subject. Again, if you are photographing people as the crowd or in the public domain, you are free to photograph them abiding by the law of the land.

   

   Thai People by Msieur rico

3. Legal Acts

   Each country has its own laws and rules regarding the rights of the photographer when photographing the people. While some countries have their own laws for not photographing the concepts of hunger and poverty, considering such acts as exploitation of economically poor sections of the society. The wise thing to do is to check out the legal acts and rights of a photographer of the country you are photographing in. It is always better to abide by the laws of the state to be on the safer side.

4. Unspoken Laws Of Humanity

   Apart from the legal stuff and commercial usage of photographs of people, there are some unspoken rules of humanity which comes in handy for tactfully handling the people. Some people may not find it comfortable to be photographed, even though in public places. Approach the person with a friendly smile and take the permission prior to taking the photograph. If the person is minor or you are perhaps photographing a child, consider to ask for the permissions of parents or guardians and completely avoid photographing the people who consider your act offensive or obtrusive.

Knowing the laws and acts associated with photography comes a long way to help you protect your own rights as a photographer. This knowledge comes in handy especially when you frequently go out for street photography or are immensely interested in photographing the cultures and traditions of people.

Portrait photography is perhaps the most common form of photography practiced. Portraits are about people and representing their personality in the photographs. Portraits form one of the most prominent subject in any field of arts; it serves the purpose of communicating cultures, traditions, events and celebrations. Learning to photograph people is a great experience. Getting started with friends & family can help you eventually turn into a great professional portrait photographer. Portrait photography is just about tapping into the opportunities, discovering and implementing the right techniques. Visualize the people around you through your camera lens and capture their personality and character onto the photographic frame.

1. Types of Portraits

   Portrait photography is an agreement between the subject and the photographer; to portray the subject’s identity on the photographic plane (in a pre-decided manner). Portrait photography is the medium of portraying expressions, personality traits, culture, traditions, moods and character of individuals. Portrait photography can be classified under various categories depending on what is to be portrayed, conveyed and the personal expression and creativity of a photographer. Head-shots are perfect for capturing expressions and you can opt for head and shoulders shot when you want to portray the personality traits of people. Portrait photography is all about posing people to reflect their social status, authority, physical attractiveness or personality.

2. What To Shoot (When Shooting Portraits)

   Portrait photography offers ample of opportunities and poses. You can opt for either directing the poses or going in for unposed and candid shots. The professional portrait photographers have to go by the words of their subject. They have to portray the subject as requested by the client; the opportunities in this case are very few. For a freelancer portrait photographer, imagination is the limit. Considering portraits as the subject, you can choose to portray the people in variety of poses, each conveying a distinct mood. Focus on the eyes to highlight the expressions, zoom-in and get close-ups to portray the physical attractiveness, go for unposed and candid shots for naturally aesthetic images, experiment with high shutter speed and capture the movement and activity of people around you or simply frame the contextual shots. Photographing people in the context of their environment, speaks about their personality more profoundly.

   

   Old Man by Fouquier

3. Establish Rapport With Your Subject

   One of the most critical issue with portrait photography is to get hold of natural looking poses that represent what a person or subject is. The essence of great portraits lies in capturing shots which represent the individual character of the subject accurately yet creatively. As such there’s a lot of scope for the talent of the photographer to fill this gap. Portraits look great in natural and comfortable poses, but the human consciousness comes in the way of making great photographs. Just make your subject feel at ease with you and your instructions. Be friendly and informal with your subject and start the session with some practice shots. Some of the excellent portraits are captured with the person in context of his surroundings or workplace. These two attributes characterize the person by forming a part of their personality.

4. Lights — To Portray The Character Of Portrait

   The lights play an important role in getting the right mood and setting up the tone of the shot (as in expression). Use soft and diffused light to get a … look. When portraying personality attributes hard light may be used creatively to highlight these characteristics. Light falling from a steep angle will tend to bring out the texture in the facial features like old-age wrinkles etc. While soft light tones down the facial details thereby presenting a more pleasing visual. Portrait photography shows up the best results with studio set-up of lights — studios allow you an excellent level of control over light and its characteristics. On the other hand consider shooting in shade when shooting outdoors.

   

   Day Nighty Eight By Dustin Diaz

5. Camera settings For Portrait Photography

   The most important of all, its time to set your equipment to appropriate settings to get the optimum output. While putting your camera to auto-mode is a good start for beginners, consider tuning the camera settings for a better control over equipment to get much better result in the final shot.

   • Camera Modes: The modern day DSLRs offer various modes; each best suited for a specific purpose. While shooting in auto mode is the perfect choice for beginners, you can always put your camera to manual mode and tune the camera to your preferences. Portrait photography is largely concerned with portraying soft and subtle effects, therefore you can consider the following modes to make a markwith portraits.
     • Portrait Mode: Setting your camera to the portrait mode automatically sets the contrast curves to low contrast which are appropriate for portraits. In this mode the camera sets the other details like the saturation levels, sharpening etc. The portrait mode thus is pretty intelligent and reliable to begin with. The flash pops-out automatically and you are ready to pay attention to the composition.
     • Aperture Priority: If you are looking to greater control and want to tune up for the finer nuances in the shot, you may want to use the aperture priority mode. This allows you to override the flash and flash settings and let’s you control the depth-of-field in the scene.
     • Black And White Mode: Black and white can give you a classy timeless effect with portraits. However, with digital a lot of things have changed. Today the best black and white shots are converted from color during post-processing. This has a two-fold advantage: you get a color shot and a high flexibility to apply filters, channel mixing during black and white converting on post-processing. So, leave the black and white for later. Quick Tip: Shooting in RAW let’s you shoot in black and white but also allows you to change this to a color mode with the RAW converter.
   • Zoom-In: Portraits is all about capturing the expressions and the expressions are profound in close-up photographs. I prefer tight crops even at the cost of cropping out some part of the hair etc. This helps to portray the facial expression and features. However zooming out allows to include the dress and wearings which are a part of the subject’s personality. Zooming also allows you to recompose while being lazy to move back and forth to frame the subject. However zooming-out is not a substitute for being close to the subject. Being close to the subject will induce geometric distortions which are unflattering to the person’s physical features. That’s the reason portrait lenses start at a focal length of 50mm (bare-minimum) and above.
     

     One Sixty Two By Anna Gay

   • Use Flash Effectively: Using flash with portraits is a critical issue, owing to the red-eye effect which results from using flash for portraits in low-ambient light. Avoid using direct flash; bounce the flash off the ceiling and walls. However flash isn’t a problem with studio light (strobe-lights). Additionally you will want to use a hand-held meter for light metering. This will help you keep the contrast and dynamic range of light in control.

6. Portrait Lens

   Portrait lens is a prime lens (fixed focus-length lens), which trades off between the geometrical distortions caused by wide angle and vignetting effect of telephoto lenses. Portrait lenses are normal lenses having a focal-length between 85mm to 105mm, appropriate for portraits. Most often a zoom lens in this focal-length range can be used as portrait lenses. This focal-length allows the flexibility of maintaining distance from the subject and while keeping the geometrical errors out of the scene when zooming. Portrait lenses generally have a wide aperture which helps in blurring the background and creating the bokeh effect to the advantage of portraits. Along with the portrait lens you must also consider investing in soft focus filters. It is a special kind of filter which reduces and softens the facial details like the unflattering textures and blemishes etc. to soften the overall photograph.

7. Composition — Framing Portraits Appropriately

   Composition is the key to interesting and unique photographs. Framing the portrait right in the center of the photograph often makes the image dull and flat. Placing the subject in golden ratio or according to the rule of thirds compliments the frame aesthetically. It naturally draws the human eye to the subject. When shooting portraits filling the frame with facial expressions. Experiment with close-ups too. Apart from this the backgrounds and surroundings also play an important role in aesthetically complimenting the frames. They add a context to the visual story of the character. While clear and focused backgrounds on one hand add a context to the portrait (and at times compliment the personality), the blurred background induces the dreamy bokeh effect. Photography is a lot about experimenting with unusual and creative compositions. Framing the same concept by varying the angle of shooting helps in portraying third dimension onto the photographic plane.

   

   Day One Hundred Sixty Nine by Dustin Diaz

8. An Element Of Interest Makes Portraits Visually Appealing

   Portraits can effectively benefit from interesting elements like some action, movement or interesting formation. The smoke out of a cigarette held by the subject, or the movement of the hand or perhaps the subject captured amid a phone conversation not only affect and create a mood, they also add a dynamic element of activity and interest. This is the edge some portraits have which makes them professional and outstanding.

9. Create A Mood In Portraits

   The context and the surroundings help set a mood of the photograph. For example, including dark backgrounds in context of a portrait heightens the seriousness of character in the composition and highlighting the eyes can heighten the emotion. Creating moods in the photograph depends on the overall lighting and the ambiance of the scene. The inclusion of elements like fog, snow, clouds, fire, etc also help in creating mood which goes a long way in making the photograph interesting and draws the viewers attention.

10. Digital Re-touching — The Final Step In Portrait Photography

    To add the final professional touches to the work some amount of post-processing is required. Make subtle changes, like enhancing the complexion, eliminating dark circles or blemishes, correcting the red-eye and so on. Try to avoid manipulating the image and making too many changes. Work on giving it a professional finish.

Remember, portraits portray a person, their personality, character, style, surrounding, culture, mood and tradition. Some of the best portraits are shot with the subjects in the context of their natural surroundings. A good portrait does not only reflect and represent the actual person but also portrays your art and creativity as a photographer.

Expressions is an indispensable element of  portrait photography. Capturing expressions gives an opportunity to portray human emotions on the photographic frame and adds liveliness to a photograph. Expression is an interplay of all the facial features reflecting (and depicting) various moods and thus adds dynamics to the photographs. Portrait photography is incomplete without capturing the cheerfulness of eyes, thoughtfulness of character and merriment of  relationships. Expressions can be effectively used to make photographs of living beings more engaging — be it people or pets.

1. Unposed & Candid Shots

   Expressions are best captured when unposed. Human consciousness kills the natural looking, awesome and authentic expressions. Opt for candid photography for some great and momentous photographs. Turn the flash off and click people around you when they are busy, engaged in their own world. Human emotions and mood swings are spontaneous and implicit. You cannot direct anyone to explicitly express the emotions. Always be ready with your camera to shoot the oscillating moods and natural expressions.

2. Establish Rapport With Your Subject

   

   Make Me A Bird by Zara

   Getting the appropriate expression in posed photographs requires a lot of understanding and interaction between the photographer and the subject. The photographer’s instinct and insight plays an important role in getting the desired effects. The photographer has to actively involve himself in the task of directing the subject to pose naturally and comfortably so as to reflect the authentic moods. Create friendly environment and make you subject feel comfortable, establish the rapport with your subject.

3. Crack A Joke

   Sometimes cracking a joke works wonders. Humor tends to defy human inhibitions and brings out natural unposed laughter. At other times just carrying on a conversation works the best.

4. Develop an Informal Atmosphere

   

   Smile by TomConger

   As a photographer, a lot depends on you when trying to capture expression. Humans respond to feelings, expressions and the charisma of other people. The way you conduct and carry yourself, your style of interaction etc. make all the difference. Exercise patience, strike a conversation and kill consciousness. If the subject is conscious, practice some test shots with them — one of these might become the final result.

5. Best Way To Portray Expressions Is To Focus On Eyes

   

   Expression by iwolkow.de

   Eyes are the most expressive aspect of the human persona. A slightly boosted reflection in the eye can imply sadness. An elevated glance reflects hope. Learn to understand the expression in the eyes and make the most of it when photographing expressions.

6. Zoom-in To Get Lively Expressions

   Expressions add liveliness to otherwise still images. Consider zooming-in the portraiture to bring out the facial expressions — speaking eyes and the smiling lips. Try to fill your photographic frame with zoomed-in portrait; thus, cropping and eliminating the distracting background.

7. Add Perspective & Context To Amplify Expressions

   

   Love You by Zara

   Add your perspective to the portraiture to heighten the expressions. Consider photographing the portraits at varying angles and viewpoint. Sometimes adding a context to the photograph helps emphasize the mood and thus the expression.

As an additional detail, “expression” and “mood” may sound the same but are pretty distinguished in the context of photography. The term “expression” is mostly used to refer to the explicit expression of the subject while “mood” is generally used to depict the overall mood or ambiance of a photograph. Watch this space for an article on building up a “mood” in the photograph.