Category Archives: Tutorial
JRN 220 Portraits Lecture
Posed Portraits
1. Put your Subject at Ease
a. How do you feel when you are photographed?
b. Get to know your subject without equipment
c. Make eye contact primary. Use a tripod.
d. Otherwise it’s like staring down a gun barrel
2. Natural Portrait
a. Forced smile?
b. Smile vs. Spontaneous laughter
c. Smile vs. Serious
d. Let subject be themselves
e. Limited direction
f. Keep looking for moments until you leave
g. What do you want to say
h. Reveal something about character of person
i. Wait until your subject gets tired of posing on their own
3. Light
a. Can make a boring portrait great
b. Directional lighting – 3 dimensional
c. Soft lighting – Window – Doorway
d. Look for light
e. Reflector
f. Do not use direct sunlight
g. Raccoon Eyes
h. Bounce flash
4. Have an idea
a. Look at other portraits for inspiration
b. Do something interesting then do something different no matter how outrageous
c. Use Props
d. Use the background to help tell a story about the person
e. Go early. Stay late.
f. Be flexible in case a better idea comes along
5. Capture the “Inner Person”
a. Face – show what the subject reveals
b. Eyes – looking at the camera vs. looking away
c. Body language
Candid Portraits
1. Photojournalism is candid photography.
a. Subjects are unaware
b. Observe but do not direct
c. Documentary photography
d. Reveal emotion
e. Capture intimate moments without interrupting
f. Tell a story
2. Anticipate a moment
a. Shoot a lot
b. Move yourself
c. Shoot more
d. Shoot until you get the moment
e. Reveal something about your subject
f. Be at the right place at the right time
g. A couple holding hands might kiss
h. A child with a snowball is likely to throw it.
i. Remember to shoot a fraction of a second before the action.
j. Don’t stop too early
3. Subject should not be looking at the camera
a. If they do. Don’t shoot.
b. Wait for them to grow tired of posing. They will go back to what they were doing.
c. When the subject looks at the camera, it’s obvious the subject is camera aware.
4. Preset your camera
a. Aim your camera and focus on something at the same distance as your subject. (Hold your finger half-way down)
b. Concentrate on your subject’s expression.
c. When the moment arises, swing your camera to your subject and shoot.
5. Out in the open
a. When subject is engaged in an activity they are likely to forget about the photographer
b. After shooting the photo, lower your camera and walk away so as not to draw attention to yourself (get name later)
6. Big Game Hunter
a. Use a telephoto lens
b. DSLR – 80-200mm lens or 300 mm lens
c. Shoot then get name
Studio student, Krista Tacey, brought in her childhood piggy bank and set this up during a hands on still life exercise. An SB 800 Nikon Speedlight was used with a Lumiquest Softbox III. A gobo was used to darken the background and eliminate a distracting reflection. In this case the gobo was a black piece of foam core held underneath the light and between the light and the piggy bank. The image was cropped slightly all around the scene to add impact.
In class last Wednesday, my JRN 420 students and I had a fun time photographing each other as an exercise for studio portraits (see their blogs above). While this is a mug shot and not the type of photos we are trying to make, these do illustrate what each light does. Four lights were used for the top left photo. The main, fill, rim, and background lights. We turned off one light at a time to see how each strobe affects the lighting. The rim light was turned off for the top right photo. Then at bottom left, we turned off the background light. At bottom right the fill light was turned off. Try to imagine what Aliscia would look like if lights were turned off in a different sequence. What purpose does each light serve?
