A successful portrait is often the result of many factors. While there’s no magic formula, certain parameters can greatly influence the result.
Here are our 5 tips for a great portrait!
1- A good photographer masters his technique
Just like a sport, photography requires a lot of training and practice to master your camera.
Bear in mind that some lenses tend to distort perspective. As you don’t want to distort your models’ faces, it’s best to use a minimum 50 mm focal length, especially when you’re getting close to your subject.
If you’re planning a professional outdoor photo shoot, space is generally not an issue, so you’ll be able to frame as you wish in most situations, whether your lens is a zoom or a fixed lens.
The fixed lens, however, is generally more popular with photographers, as its optical quality is better than that of the zoom. What’s more, they generally offer larger apertures.
Large apertures mean superb bokeh!
2-Putting your subject at ease during a photo shoot
Photographing models on their own, as a couple, as a family, for a pregnancy or any other event, requires you to know how to put them at ease. Some of them are apprehensive about the photo shoot, and that’s normal!
Let your model understand that it’s a game, a moment of sharing and fun, so that she can relax even more 🙂
The more relaxed they are, the better the result!
A model who’s on guard won’t be able to let go, and won’t give up a part of himself. This unease will be palpable in the final shots. His expressions and poses will seem unnatural and forced. It’s important to start by talking things over and establishing a bond of trust between photographer and model.
As you talk, you’ll notice that the model will relax, her gestures will be less tense, more fluid, and her jaw slack.
During this phase, the photographer will encourage the model with simple words that will get her to relax a little more: « Yes, that’s very good! », « There, that’s perfect, don’t move! ».
Our primary objective is to start by erasing your apprehensions with encouragement that will push you to take your most beautiful portraits while spending a pleasant moment in the company of our professional photographers.
Here’s an article to help you understand how to make your photo shoot relaxed and enjoyable: 5 tips for feeling at ease in front of the lens!
3-Knowing the right settings for portrait photography
It goes without saying that mastering your camera’s settings is very important!
Are you using a compact, a bridge or an SLR? It doesn’t really matter! The quality of your photographs depends not only on the environment, but also on a number of fundamental settings. To get the most out of your camera, you need to master these settings, so you can get the best out of your professional photos.
Setting the diaphragm opening: The diaphragm is an internal component of the camera, whose mechanical role is to regulate light. The size of its aperture determines the amount of light reaching the sensor, where it is noted: f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22…etc.
Small values such as f/2 correspond to a large aperture, and therefore let in more light than, say, f/16, which lets little light into the camera. Adjusting the aperture of the diaphragm allows you to play with depth of field, i.e. the phenomenon that detaches the photographed subject from the background of the scene. When you use a large aperture (f/2), you’ll have a shallower depth of field, and therefore a blurrier background. At f/16, on the other hand, the depth of field will be greater, and the background sharper. Typically, a subject will be perfectly in focus if it is sharp against a blurred background. This is because this setting allows background details to be forgotten (not to attract too much attention), in other words, not to interfere with the main subject of your photo!
4-How to manage soft focus
In photography, soft focus is a desired and controlled blurring effect.
All methods of obtaining a blurred image can be used in this context: motion blur and creative blur (voluntary movement), depth-of-field blur, zoom blur…
If you’re a digital camera novice, try your hand at soft focus by using portrait mode, which automatically sets the aperture to maximum when you take the shot.
In fact, when reading an image, sharp objects attract our attention, whereas blurred elements tend to be discreet…
Communication is the key!
If you’re planning to take part in a photo shoot, you probably want the photos to be as beautiful as possible.
However, you don’t always know what poses to adopt during the shoot, and this can be quite unsettling.
That’s why communication between model and photographer is so important to ensure that the shoot goes as smoothly as possible.
The expressions, positions and looks the model adopts must enhance her from every angle!
Depending on your morphology, certain poses will be more appropriate: lowering your chin will make your eyes appear larger, and shooting you in a slight dive will also give the impression that you’re slimmer.
Another trick we also use is the three-quarter pose, which will make your face look slimmer in a tight portrait, or your silhouette for a full-length portrait 😉
Photo retouching:
Photography isn’t just about preparing a shoot and then shooting. It’s important not only to manage and classify your photos, but also, and above all, to process them properly to create an atmosphere and give them a soul. That’s why we don’t offer « raw » (unprocessed) photos to our customers.
Post-processing (which means photo retouching) is a modification made to the photographic file following the photo shoot.
It involves adjusting certain parameters to make the photo even more flattering.
We retouch each photo to remove anything that would detract from it.
We also adjust the colorimetry of the photo according to the exact mood we want to create. Example: color temperature, brightness, vibrancy.
In a few words, and to sum up (very) briefly, a good photographer must be able to manage a photo shoot while mastering his or her technique, be a good communicator, manage the psychological aspect, and know how to retouch his or her images.
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