I’m no protrait photographer, I’m used to landscapes. Mountains and lakes don’t make eye contact with you down the lens, and you don’t have to direct mother nature. You’re at it’s mercy! Portrait photography is a completely different skill… or is it? I tried it out in this video and below are some of my takeaways from my first foray into portrait photography.

PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY COMPOSITION

Is it really that different from landscape? A little but not a lot. Some of the basic concepts of landsacpe photography composition also apply when taking photos of people.

• Use simple, strong tools such as a central composition or a rule of thirds

• Make use of compression to seperate the subject from the background

• Control lighing to seperate the subject from the background

• Keep your edges clean

• Keep the background distractions to a minimum

As you have a much more control over a scenes lighting, this is where it differs from landscape photography. In landscapes you are at the mercy of mother nature, you can plan where the sun is going to be at the time of day, but that’s about it! Clouds are a thing which you cannot control…

PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY EDITING

How did my edits of people differ from landscape photography? Well, it’s interesting how much less you can get away with when people are in the frame. With a landscape, you have a certain amount of creative freedom to clean up the image, move and alter elements to create a more pleasing composition.

• Use less contrast than you would do in a landscape edit

• Focus more on colour grading. Make fine adjustments and don’t make people look like Shrek or a Smurf…

• Help subject to pop by darkening and/or desaturating the background

• Use vignetting to your advantage to bring focus into the centre of the image (if that’s where the subject is of course!)

THINGS TO REMEMBER WHILST PHOTOGRAPHING A MODEL

Social interaction with new people used to be my strong point… however sometimes when you feel out of your depth you return into your shell and become introverted. Unfortunately this doesn’t help, as models need direction. Here are some of my takeaways from my portrait experience:

• Direct the model, don’t be afraid to speak up. You are their eyes!

• Try and have a creative vision

• Focus on focus, and focus on the eyes! You’ll get a lot moe usable photos keeping this in mind

If you wan’t to get some inspiration for your next portrait photography session, or just want to see the sorts of images I managed to take my first time attempting portrait photography, check out my gallery here: https://tonyjhugh.es/gallery/portraiture