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Change your perspective every time for the best portrait
Change your perspective every time for the best portrait
When someone asks me how to shoot portraits I usually give them a weird answer that they do not expect.
If you are asked what the main rule for portrait photography is, what would you reply? Is it having a beautiful model or a good location? Having a story to tell? Or perhaps, having the perfect light?
If you were to reply with one of these statements I would disagree with you. Well, maybe only partially disagree because they are also central aspects that you have to consider, but I would disagree with you.
To me the main aspect in portrait photography is to create empathy with the person you are shooting.
I will give you some tips:
- Be kind to them.
The golden rule is being kind in front of your model. If you are able to make them feel comfortable in front
of the camera, you’ll be able to collaborate and cooperate well, and thus achieve the best results.
Just try, even if you are under pressure with your photography.
- Have an idea.
Every person you are shooting with is different, everyone has different attitudes, personalities and ways of
expressing themselves. You have to know how to valorize these aspects in every subject.
It might sound silly but try to make them feel pretty, special, and different from others by telling them the
idea you have structured is only for them.
Working this way will deliver the best smiles and the best photographic experience.
- Show the model their pictures.
I don’t mean showing every picture to your model but you have to tell them what you like and what you
dislike about the way they’re expressing themselves. Don’t be shy, nobody is perfect.
You will have better pictures, trust me.
Definitely the best way you can collaborate with your model is keeping in touch with them during your shooting, while making them some smile. You have to be helpful, kind, and positive with your model. You have to create an empathetic relationship even when you are not having the best day.
I’ve seen a lot of portrait sessions where the photographer and the model were in different places, they were feeling uncomfortable and the results were really unsatisfactory.
Over than the psychological aspect, there is, as in every photographic field you know, a technical aspect to consider but I would put it on a secondary level in portrait photography.
Here are the main aspects you need to consider in order to create an interesting portrait:
- Fill the frame with your subject
- Keep eyes in the upper third
- Use framing to concentrate all attention on your subject
- Create texture
- Use lines
As you can see in my photography, not all of these are always present as I prefer to go for a strong psychological aspect.
Nonetheless, these are the most frequent things you will have heard about photography, not only in portrait photography. So, I wish to say: change your perspective every time, get out of your comfort zone. It will open your mind and possibilities to the biggest psychological section of photography.
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