This document provides guidance on taking effective portrait photographs. It discusses portrait basics such as capturing someone's character. It also offers tips for formal portraits, including making the subject comfortable, being in charge as the photographer, and emphasizing the person rather than their surroundings. Additional sections cover outdoor portraits, indoor portraits, using backgrounds effectively, different lighting techniques, perspective, balance, and remembering to keep the final photo in mind. The overall message is that portraits require an understanding of human nature and skill in composition, lighting, and other technical elements to reveal someone's personality.

1. WEEK 8: PORTRAITS
Joel Kinison
College of Southern Maryland
March 2009

2. PORTRAIT BASICS
• A portrait is defined as a likeness of a person
• Reveals something of the person’s character
• Good portraits contain something about the person’s
personality, attitude and mannerisms
• Some people show character with immediate
transparency, while others may be more difficult to ―read‖
at first
• This takes skill and an understanding of human nature

3. FORMAL PORTRAITS
• Get to know your subject with small talk
or informal conversation. It’s important for
people to feel comfortable
– Plan a few shots to break the ice.
– You and the subject will be nervous.
• Calming the subject
– Relatively comfortable position
– Subject will settle down during the
shoot
• You must be in charge
– Competent and knowledgeable
– Only then will your subject become
relaxed
• Emphasize the person in a portrait - not his
or her surroundings.

4. PORTRAITS OUTDOORS
• What background works best with the clothes your
subject is wearing?
• Where is the sun?
• Is there wind to mess up the hair?
• Is the location private, or will you have to worry about
clutter or distractions in the background?
• What is the weather like; is it sunny or overcast? An
overcast sky provides soft, diffused light, while a sunny
sky provides bright, intense light. Overcast is preferable
in most cases.
• What can you use in your surroundings to enhance the
composition?

5. PORTRAITS INDOORS
• Will you use a flash or the available natural light?
• If you will use a flash, will you use the built-in flash or a
bounce flash ? If you use a bounce flash, how high is the
ceiling and what color are the walls? Both will affect the
outcome of the shot.
• If you are using the available light, how strong is the light
coming in from windows or doors? If the light is not very
strong, you may need a slower shutter speed, and
possibly a tripod to avoid blur.
• Pay attention to the background tones and objects.

6. MORE ON BACKGROUNDS
Distractions
• Distracting focal point (silly face in the
background)
• Protruding elements from subjects
heads
• Competing lines (strong clashing lines)
Strategies
• Check your background
• Move your subject
• Change your shooting angle
• Use aperture or focal length to blue
backgrounds
• Fill your frame
• Post processing

7. Make your location work for you.
Be aware of the background and the available light, but also the environment
Mojo from Flickr
http://flickr.com/photos/mojo74/2428713524/

8. THE VACATION PORTRAIT
• Family with nice background scene
• Problem: too much background, but you can barely tell
who is in the photo
• In portraits – the subject is the people
• Too much background can cause conflict

9. DEPTH OF FIELD
• Background can be too distracting.
Decrease the aperture setting on your
camera to narrow the DOF.
• The same depth of field effect can be
obtained by simply moving closer to
the subject.
The closer the subject is to camera, the
narrower the depth of field it will
appear in.

10. Rule of thirds
This works under the concept
that tension in the picture will
bring more interest.
One way of enhancing the
composition of your shots is to
place your points of interest inn
smart positions.
While the rule of thirds can be
broken with great effect it’s a
useful principle to keep in mind.
Digital Photography School
http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds

11. Rule of thirds
background

12. Break Rules

13. Get Closer
• If you see something
interesting, don't be satisfied
with just a wide shot.
• Think about the essence of
what you are photographing
and work closer and closer
until you have isolated and
captured it.
• Don't be shy. People are
usually happy to show you
what they do well.

14. Get Closer
Fill your frame

15. National Geographic
Photograph
FRAMING
• Photographs are two dimensional but it helps if they look and feel three
dimensional.

16. FRAMING
If you use objects other than
your main subject in the
foreground, be careful of
placement. You don't want to
obscure or detract from your
subject.

17. LINES
Every time you hold your camera to your eye, look for leading lines,
foreground elements, frames—anything you can use to lend dynamism to
your image.

18. LINES
Intersecting points - Lines

19. To really capture the mood avoid the stark and bright light of flash
photography (or will want to at diffuse it) and so you’ll need to switch off
your flash and do one (or all) of three things to some extent
• Increase your ISO
• Slow down shutter speed
• Use a larger Aperture

20. Lighting to really capture the mood
Silhouettes
Direct Light
Natural Light Back Light

21. Foreground lighting

22. PERSPECTIVE
Off center different
perspective – Viewpoint and
Framing

23. PERSPECTIVE
Off center different perspective – Viewpoint and Framing

24. PERSPECTIVE
Make your images stand out by
finding fresh perspectives to
shoot from.

25. BALANCE
An internal, physical response
Does the image feel balanced?
OR does it tilt or feel heavier in
one part than another

26. REMEMBER
• Always keep your end photo in mind when you are
searching out locations and taking pictures.
• Evaluating your situations may not come as second
nature like it does for professional photographers, but,
with practice, you can recognize a photo and to look for
those photographic elements that can help or hurt your
pictures.

27. Have fun with filters

28. WEEK 8 ASSIGNMENT
Post a portrait photo on the group Flickr web site