How to Take a Better Portrait
One of the most common things we take pictures of is other people. But all too often we’re less than satisfied with the outcome of our portraits. Following are 11 quick tips that will help your next portrait opportunity. Give them a try, and let me know if they helped!
Move in closer on portraits
- Get closer - It’s tempting to back up and get the whole head to toe, but zoom in, and get closer. Try shooting part, not all of the face.
- Use a tripod – If you can. Why? Because you’ll get a sharper photo.
- Reduce the clutter - Remember, if it’s not adding to the photo it’s taking away from it.
- Remove the trees and poles from your subject’s head – As always, beware of your background and avoid positions that cause distractions in the photo. See tip number 3.
- Use shallow depth of field – It draws the eye to the subject. Read my post on how to make the background blurry.
- Focus on the eyes – Make sure the subject’s eyes are tack sharp in focus. They say the eyes are the window to the soul.
- Try different angles – Don’t be bashful about tilting the camera in a few different directions. Be creative.
- Take lots of photos – The more you take, the more of a chance that you capture just the right one.
- Use a flash, even outdoors – If you’re outside, try using a flash. Sometimes this can help. If you’re inside, aim the flash at the ceiling, or wall. Or, use a diffuser to soften the flash. Once you feel comfortable advancing beyond on-camera lighting, start to learn about off-camera lighting. Watch this tutorial on off camera lighting and you’ll be inspired to experiment!
- Only show off your best shot – Once you’re ready to share the photo, try to narrow it down to one shot. Resist the urge to show a bunch of the same type of shot. This can be tempting when you’re uploading photos, but only reveal your best work!
- Use a nice lens – But try before you buy. If you’ve been reading this blog you’ll notice I’m a big advocate of renting lenses.
Following are a few sweet (portrait) Nikon lenses to test drive, or buy:
- Nikon NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4 – Buy this one. It’s one of the least expensive lenses, and one of the best. $325 at B&H. Read my post.
- Nikon NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4 – So sweet, but kind of expensive. Rent this one, unless you can drop $1,200 at B&H.
- Nikon NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8 – Test drive, But consider buying if you can. $1,900 at B&H. Read my post about the 70-200mm.
- Nikon NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8 – Also superb for macro photography.
- Nikon NIKKOR 200mm f/2.0 – Just rent this one, or you’ll break the bank.
I want to comment about the use of the flash. I personally try to use it as seldom as possible. I find that it flattens the subject if the aim of the flash is the same as that of the camera. This is not true of course if you are able to use a deported flash, one that shoots the light from an angle. I do find the flash useful sometimes when the subject is backlit (a portrait in front of a sunset for example- in such a case, without a flash it’s difficult to get the nice colors of the darkening sky and still see the face of the subject.
In portraits, I think it’s worth experimenting with the lightning (the angle, the number of light sources, etc…) this will make big differences on the softness or the harshness of the portrait.
I agree. Personally, I prefer candid portraits as opposed to posed. But the reality is that many of the portraits we end up taking are posed and then shared with friends and family. And if lighting is a challenge it’s sometimes easiest to resort to the flash. But certainly there are other options. The use of off camera flash / strobe can be a good option but there’s a learning curve. Then there’s the option of working with the available light. And you can try using a light reflector – a collapsable reflector that has a golden side and maybe a silver side. Try it all and see what you like best.