PORTRAIT Technique: SUPER Simple Tricks for BETTER Portraits
How to capture a stunning portrait? There may be plenty of tutorials all over the internet. A good portrait not only reveal the subject’s personality, but also tells his or her stories. Always fell frustrated by the professional but rather complicate tips in portrait photography? Still looking for the simple techniques can be used for better portraits? Here we have the some super tricks regardless of what camera you're using in your studio.
- The Photography Subject
- Hair Set and Body Move
Talking about hair set, we do not mean that all the subjects should have a delicately designed hair-style. And this part is more about the subject with medium or long hair. A slight change in the way the hair down can make a difference in the final result.
People always like to put their hair just straight down the face on both sides. By doing so, the hair is hiding the face and creates a sort of square shape, which is not flattering. To bring out some depth to the face, put the hair to the opposite side of the main light. Therefore, we can see part of the facial lines of the subject. To make things better, you can put a scrunchie and remove the hair from falling down the sides of the face. Thus, there will be more of the cheeks in the photo and give the face more shape.
As for the body move, it is reasonable to look straight to the camera when taking portrait photos. To add more depth, the subject can move the body slightly toward the main light. Then, there will be some shadow across the face.
- Natural and True Expression
When taking portrait photo, most people like to smile. However, it is a facade you should get rid of and wait for a natural and true expression.
Here are some techniques you can use to relax them a little bit. After the camera setting and shooting test, you can chat to them and fire away to capture the natural moment. You can also call their name casually. They may look around to see what you are calling for. Then you can press the shutter for the initial moment before they realize and put on the smile mask.
Another technique for family portrait photos is that you can cue the action for a better photography. Ask one of the family member to make a deliberate action to provoke expressions in the photo. For example, you can tell the father or mother to tickle the kids and capture the natural reacting moment. The beautiful emotions and reactions will add more interesting elements to the static portrait.
- The Photography Light
- Key Light Angle
There is no doubt that light plays an essential role in portrait photography. Here we do not talk about the lighting techniques or equipment, but some simple tricks.
The first one is that you can put the soft box 15 to 20 degrees from the camera’s position. It is totally a flattering single light setup to give a nice side of front light. The light will cast some shadow to the face and bring more depth to the photo.
- Add Kicker Light
Another trick you can use to almost all portrait is to add a kicker light. You can just use a head light or any flash light you already have. The key point is that you should set the kicker light one stop less than the key light. The kicker light will help to shape the light on the chin and the cheek. It also gives dimension and add depth to the portrait.
- Add Color Light
To get a special portrait, you can also add some color light to the photo. All you need to do is to place a color light to hit the background. You can do this by a flash or any other gears you have. Just put a color gel on the flash and throw it onto the wall, you can have the color light bouncing off. The color light would add more features and make the portrait much more interesting.
The easiest and functional way to get a better portrait is to use a hand-painted backdrop. The hand-painted backdrop has totally unique texture, which adds visual interest into your image. The multiple layers and textures of the paint also endow the portraits with depth and tonality, which you can never achieve with any other printed backdrops. Moreover, the hand-painted canvas backdrop gives the photo a much more vibrant and quite richer appearance due to the reflective muti-layered surfaces. Lastly, visual look canvas backdrops can add rich and expensive look to your images and you can create images with a vintage and classic look all the way to modern look.
Hope these tricks can give your some inspiration for a great portrait photo!!
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