How to Take a Good Portrait

How to Take a Good Portrait

Aleya Duncan

Non-photographers and photographers alike need to understand that photography is in a completely dependent relationship with light. The use or misuse of light is the deciphering factor between a good photograph and a bad photograph. In fact, the word ‘photography’ itself comes from the Greek words “phos” (light) and “graph” (to draw).  So, ‘photograph’ literally means “to draw with light.”

Studio portraits, to the trained eye, often seem posed and artificial in a way that is unappealing to true artists. The contrast is high and bright, the smiles are plastered on, the backdrop is a hazy blue with a distant train chugging in the background- recycled, overdone, cliché. But there is a way to get a stunning portrait. There is a portrait market for true artists that cringe at the Walmart-printed, bow-overloaded baby photos and cowboy-boot senior pictures.

The key is to develop a style; a coveted perfect balance, between knowledgeable insight and that carefree candid smile.  To take a great portrait, one must be devoted to the study of light as well as a study of the subject. The subject is the focus of the picture, but the picture is not only the subject at face value. The photo should go deeper. The photo should feel three dimensional rather than two dimensional- namely, it should not feel flat, but instead reveal the subject’s emotional state, personality, and style.  

Another key to a great portrait is to create intrigue. Let your photograph speak something interesting and different to the viewer. This can be achieved by altering perspective, having diverted eye contact, controlling the amount of facial expression seen (by creating shadow, etc).  And, most importantly, let your audience feel the emotion of your subject. If they are happy, find a way to communicate that- shine a bright light into their eyes and have them twinkle brightly, or if they are sad, tilt their face towards the floor and create a deep shadow. 

There are many ways to improve portraits. Creating intrigue and experimenting with light exposure is certainly a great place to start. But the most effective way to create a truly great portrait is to capture and portray the essence of your subject in a way that is emotionally understood, or longed to be understood, by the viewer.

Advertisements

Advertisements are part of our every day life. According to New York Times, we see about 5,000 advertisements every single day, and that "anywhere the eye can see, it's likely to see an ad."

 We know this, and advertisement companies know this, and that is why advertisements have been becoming increasingly more personal and less of blatant sales' pitches.

Now, advertisements are presented as more of a favor to you, something that will improve your life, rather than just sales for the company. For example, when commercials come on TV, we often do not realize what the product being sold is until halfway through, or even at the very end of the advertisement. We only know that the people featured in the commercial are happy, and if we had what they had, we would be happy as well. 

That is why I chose to go with slogans such as "Never miss a moment," and, "Capture the beauty;" they both sales disguised as for products for the consumer's benefit.

The last advertisement I chose to design and feature offers a service rather than a tangible product. This kind of advertisement is effective for those seeking tutorials on how to improve in their personal skills, while effectively bringing in revenue for the instructor.

Mostly, I chose to present these advertisements because they are real, and they are applicable to non-photographers and photographers alike, in the sense that they offer a form of betterment and improvement in one's life.

After all, "a picture is worth a thousand words," as the famous quote says, conveying the idea that a "complex idea can be conveyed with just a single still image. It also aptly characterizes one of the main goals of visualization, namely making it possible to absorb large amounts of data quickly."

This further perpetuates the notion that photographs play a crucial, crucial role in modern-day advertising.

To Draw With Light

          The discourse zone I chose to focus on is photography in Baytown. I am familiar with engaging in and discussing the specialized language of photography, and find it is full of jargon that those outside this discourse zone have a hard time following. Five of the operative terms, or jargon, in relation to photography include: aperture, shutter speed, exposure, f-stop, and composition.  

Perhaps the biggest thing that non-photographers don’t realize is that photography is in a completely dependent relationship with light. The use or misuse of light is the deciphering factor between a good photograph and a bad photograph. In fact, the word ‘photography’ itself comes from the Greek words “phos” (light) and “graph” (to draw).  So, ‘photograph’ literally means “to draw with light.”

Aperture is the lens opening through which light passes to expose the film. The size is calibrated in “f-numbers” (f-stop); the larger the f-number, the smaller the lens opening. Directly connected to aperture is the shutter speed- the smaller the lens opening is, the slower the shutter must be in order to capture the most light possible to create a clear picture.

Exposure is also directly connected to aperture and shutter speed, because exposure refers to the amount of light that is found in a photograph. In essence, the lens aperture controls the intensity or the amount of light in a photograph, while the shutter speed controls the amount of time the shutter stays open.  All of these things together form the composition of the photograph.

Everyone sees these concepts in their everyday life whenever they see an ad or a photograph, but only photographers can have an easy, coherent conversation using these terms.

Three topics that are timelessly interesting to photographers include: How to build a better portfolio, how to make more money with your photography, and how to take better portraits.

How to build a better portfolio:

http://www.popphoto.com/how-to/2013/03/tips-pro-build-better-photography-portfolio

How to make money:

http://www.expertphotography.com/make-money-from-photography/

http://www.popphoto.com/how-to/2013/08/how-to-earn-extra-cash-your-camera

http://franklinarts.hubpages.com/hub/Top-10-Ways-to-Make-Money-Selling-Your-Photos

How to take a better portrait:

http://digital-photography-school.com/10-ways-to-take-stunning-portraits

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Learn-And-Explore/Article/gtnurpql/how-to-take-great-portraits.html