Are You Making These Portrait Photography Mistakes?

Photography Tips  •  Portrait Photography

Portrait photography is a difficult art. It requires you to bring together not only your skills in photography but also your interpersonal skills. Photographer Miguel Quiles from Adorama breaks down the top three mistakes that portrait photographers tend to make and how to solve them:

1. Lack of communication

Not communicating with the model is probably one of the most common of all mistakes that portrait photographers make. Maybe the photographer doesn’t have the best interpersonal skills or isn’t quite sure what to say. It may be because the photographer is stressed out. But, at the end of the day, if the photographer isn’t communicating with the model, the model’s mind is likely to run wild.

Constant feedback as to how the images are turning up is a good way to keep the model interested and engaged.

2. Eyes out of focus

As strange as it seem, many portrait photographers make the cardinal mistake of not getting the subject’s eyes sharp. In other words, they focus on some other area of the face. Many photographers feel that the center focus point is the best in regards to focusing. But the center focusing point hardly ever coincides with the eye closest to the camera. And that produces an image where the eyes are soft and out of focus. If you’re using a fast aperture lens this mistake is compounded.

To solve this problem you need to activate single-point AF and choose the AF point that coincides with the subject’s eye (closest to the camera).

3. Eyes not looking in the right direction

White space in the eye is yet another common problem and that usually happens because when you ask the model to look to the side, their eyes often look in the opposite direction, so you see whites of the eyes.

To solve this problem, ask your subject to make sure that their eyes are pointing in the same direction as their nose.

Are you guilty of making any one of the above mistakes? Share your experience with us.