Portrait photographs not just tell stories about people, but also the place, culture, time, and experience. No matter whether someone is taking a casual portrait of their friends or setting up a professional shoot, it is imperative to use basic portrait photography techniques to have impressive outcomes. The relationship between the lens, the portrait subject, and the image background is extremely important in this photography style. Due to its artistic appeal, a lot of photographers are attracted to this style. Bruce Weber Photographer is one such photographer. While he is most popular for being a fashion photographer, he has done a good amount of portraiture work in his career as well.
Bruce Weber Photographer marks a few pointers for capturing impactful portrait photos
There are a number of things a photographer needs to take into consideration to capture attractive portraits. They need to have the right lighting and ideal camera equipment, ensure creative posing, and so on. Here are some of the most important elements to take into account when taking portraits:
- The most preferable way to compose a shot in portrait photography is by making sure that the subject’s eyes are in the top third of the image. After all, the rule of thirds is one of the basic photography composition techniques. This approach can be an exception when the portrait photo includes a full body shot. In such situations, the subject can be positioned in either the lower third of the photo, or on the left or right third.
- Photographers can include textures in their portraits to add more details and interest to them. The subject can be positioned against a background that has a contrasting texture. For example, a close up shot of a wrinkled grandmother can be taken against the soft skin of a newborn. On the other hand, a portrait of a child can be captured against the background of rough tree bark to create an attractive contrast.
- Composing the shot in a manner that the face of the subject fills the frame would help in eliminating unwanted distractions from the portrait. Filling up the frame can also be helpful to add more texture, like sweat, wrinkles and lines to the image. Finer details of the eyes of the subject will also stand out while doing so.
- Creating a shallow depth of field by shooting with a large aperture is another creates a way to eliminate distracting backgrounds and ensure the focus of the portrait is on the subject. One must make sure that the subject does not stand too close to any background object, while trying to obtain a shallow depth of field.
- Considering the direction of the body and eyes of the subject is important when positioning them. The image must be composed in a manner that the subject has space to look into and does not have their body pointing immediately out of the frame.
Bruce Weber Photographer has taken portraits of both celebrities and non-celebrities over the years. Going through some of the portraits captured by him can be a good way to learn more about this photography style.