Improve Your Portrait Photography With Purpose And Passion

Photography Tips  •  Portrait Photography

Becoming a photographer is lot more than acquiring expensive cameras and an extensive lighting collection. To truly be a photographer, one must have creativity and a passion to create unique art. Unfortunately, capturing the portrait we have developed in our mind can sometimes be a challenge since we must somewhat rely on the subjects to convey our ideas. Luckily, as Marvell Smith divulges in the two hour long seminar below, there are things we can do as photographers to capture the poses we desire. Take a look:

Working With Talent

Getting shots that portray passion and creativity means you have to play photographer and director. When people are your subjects, as they so often are portraits, you have to guide them and them give them advice on posing. There are exceptions to this rule, of course, but we will not always be so fortunate as to work with professional models who instinctively know how to carry themselves for film.

Here a few tips to use when posing your talent:

• When taking candid shots, it’s especially important to be able to read body language. As an artist, body language is a major and universal means of communication, perhaps even more so than spoken word.
• When shooting men, have them put a slight bend in their leading leg so they do not appear too upright and rigid in the photograph.
• When shooting women, never shoot their collar bone straight on because it makes them appear wide. Have her slightly rotate or use a different camera angle.
• Pay attention to where people place their hands. Women especially should keep their fingers “soft” instead of having a death grip on things. You want the pose to look like an actual moment, not a stance.
• To help diffuse tension or nerves, instruct your subjects to breath or have one whisper something to the other to create a moment.

Practice Makes Perfect

Lastly, it’s important to remember that good photography comes from the heart. Create photographs that you want to create and that passion will show in your work. As you grow as a photographer, whether you are a professional or amateur, it’s necessary to develop your own style.  Also, knowing your equipment (i.e. how certain lenses and focal lengths will distort a face) will help play a major role in how happy your clients are with your work.

“For portrait shooters, our goal is to make our subject look good. They don’t care what lighting we use. They don’t care what lens we use. They care whether or not they look great.”