Photo Question: Portraits

[Eddy]

Hi,

Good helpful tips mike!

I need to know how do you guys take portrait photos?
i've been trying to take some, but they NEVER come out good.

any tips would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

[Mikey_]

What exactly are portraits? Are those the close-up facial shots? They aren't the studio pictures you'd take with family and friends, right?

Close-up Portraits:

I always take my portraits at a slight or extreme angle to create something different.

I also almost never take a shot of the ENTIRE face -- see http://neliance.com/testimonials/testimonials.php for examples. I took those long time ago while working for Neliance full-time. The pictures didn't come out right though (in terms of color, sharpness, etc.), but my primary concern was to just take their pictures and put on the website.



Will write more about this another time. Have got to do more studying and respond to job interviews.

Michael

[Eddy]

oh thanks alot, your tip helps alot, i never thought of it that way, i am clueless when it comes to taking photos of people when they are posing, but random shots of people i'm alright.

i hate taking photos of portraits.

thanks mike

[Mikey_]

Oh, in terms of flash, I almost never use Flash. Flash gives pictures such an ugly color, especially with night shots.

The only time I really use flash is during the daytime (yea, sounds weird, doesn't it?) to flash out the shadows from people's faces. Nothing is uglier than a nice background and people's faces hidden behind their own shadows.

Be cautious about this though: with the use of NO flash, digital pictures have a higher tendency to get blurry. So, be prepared to use a tripod or something.

Michael

[Mikey_]

I read a tip sometime ago that when you take portrait photos, subjects tend to be nervous in front of the camera, especially kids. It's best when you can capture something more natural and so it's important that you get to know them prior to taking the picture. This will put the subject a bit at ease. In fact, just let the subject be natural and move around -- just take many, many snapshots until the right one comes along.

To further help the person feel more at ease, stand further back with the camera and zoom in instead. The closer you are with the camera, the more self-conscious/nervous they become.

Sometimes though I do take pictures of people with some space around their heads (I don't always cut them off like in the above pictures.) When I do that, I generally have the camera focus on the face and have the rest blurred to put attention on the person.

When you want to photograph children or little kids, I have found that it's usually easier to distract them with something colorful while you take the snapshots. Not only does this make them feel less tense and more at ease, you'll be able to capture them in their natural behavior. I find it much more pleasing to have a picture of someone moving around naturally than pose tensely.

Michael

[Mikey_]

I've found that I SUCK at taking portrait pictures... I have found, however, that scenery pictures appeal to me much more.

[Mikey_]

I've found that I SUCK at taking portrait pictures... I have found, however, that scenery pictures appeal to me much more.

Hahaha... after all these years, I still SUCK at POSED portrait photography

Michael

[Eddy]

yea i'm still not into portrait photography, but i definitely enjoy shooting it much more than before.