So what makes a portrait appealing to the eye? There are a lot of factors of course, from the location you're shooting at to the person you're taking the picture of, but when it really comes down to it there are just a few key factors that play into whether a picture makes you say "Wow" or "Eh". Over the next few weeks I'll take each of these key factors and explain it, show a few examples, and hopefully help you learn how to improve your own photography. I'll preface it all with the fact that I'm far from an expert. Everything I've learned has come through trial and error or reading books and tutorials. But that's the great part of learning photography...there are so many good resources out there that almost anyone can do their own research and practice, practice, practice, until you start to notice a difference in what you see coming out of your camera. And you WILL notice a difference.
If I had to narrow it down to three things, I'd say Light, Focus, and Composition are the main factors in getting a good shot. Sure, these are the basics, you already know what they are, but maybe seeing some examples and getting some tips will help you along the way.
For me, understanding lighting has been the hardest one of the three. I'm still learning to really see light and learn to manipulate it, and I suspect it will take a few more years before I feel really comfortable with all aspects of it. Since most of you reading this probably don't have an interest in setting up studio lights or investing in strobes, I'll stick to talking about natural light which is what I use for nearly all of my shots. Natural light has a lot of advantages, mainly that it's FREE, it's beautiful when used right, and it's readily available (except in dreary Northwest winters). So how should you use it to your advantage? Well, here are some tips I've learned along the way...
When it comes to portraits, the focus should always be on the person (or persons), and usually the focus of the person will be the face. When it comes to lighting and faces, you should aim for two things. The first and most important is to avoid harsh shadows. Sure, mid-day sun means you won't have to worry about having to bump up your ISO to have enough light, but it also means you'll be dealing with light that's coming from above, which creates raccoon eyes, nose shadows, and probably a few "hot spots", or over exposed spots too. To avoid this, the easiest thing to do is pick a better time of day. You may have heard of the "golden hour"? This is most photographers' favorite time of day to shoot, an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset. At these times the sun is low enough in the sky to have more even light allowing for just about any location to work. It's a great time to play around with backlighting (sun positioned behind your subject) and sun flare, but even with your subject facing the sun, the results can be beautiful.
So what do you do if you can't keep the toddler up until 9pm in the summer to get those golden hour shots? There are a few options. If you have the luxury of waiting for an overcast day clouds are perfect for creating a giant soft box in the sky. You can still get some shadows if you're not positioned right, but they're usually minor and often easily fixable in post-processing. Or, if you can choose your location, pick one that has open, even shade. This allows you to get nice, even lighting and avoid distracting shadows. Whatever you do, avoid dappled shade like the plague! Having "hot spots" and shade on the same face is pretty tough to fix. Yet another option is to find something for your subject to stand under, like a garage door, a tree, a carport, etc. This allows light to fall in evenly from the front, but it blocks the harshest rays coming in from above. If all else fails and you find yourself in a situation where you have to take a picture in mid-day sun with no shade to be had, try to be creative. Have your little girl hold a cute parasol, or hold a scarf above her head. The last time I had to do this it was with a group of 6 kids on the beach at 10am. I knew that if I shot out in the open they'd all be squinting and I'd have horrible shadows to deal with, so I just brought along a king sized white sheet and had a little help creating a make-shift cabana. Sure, it's not as pretty as a shot taken at sunset would have been, but sometimes you can't choose! A final option is to fill in shadows using a reflector or flash. Flash is a whole other topic, but you can make a simple reflector out of white poster board, foam, or a piece of cardboard wrapped in tin foil. Angled toward the dark side of the face it can do a lot to even the light.
The second thing to think about when it comes to lighting and faces is catchlights. Catchlights are the reflections that you see on a subjects pupil when the light falls just right. You certainly don't need catchlights to have a nice picture, but if you can get them, it will make for a much better shot, especially for close-ups. Even just a little can bring life into your subject's eyes. Finding the right angles takes just a little practice, but after a while you'll get the hang of finding the right spots in no time. Having your subject in front of a large window, having them look up at you, having them angle their face a little towards the sky (45 degrees), or having them on the edge of open shade can all help get gorgeous catchlights in the eyes. So the next time you're staring adoringly at your little one or significant other, pay attention to their eyes. Where and at what time of day do you notice catchlights in their eyes (warning: this can become an obsession!)? Is there a particular spot in your house that has a big window or sliding glass door that would be perfect? While you're at it, start noticing shadows on their face too. You don't need a camera in hand to practice photography. It helps, but as you'll see in the next few weeks, there are a lot of ways to have your "photographer's goggles" on no matter where you are.
I could go on about lighting for a few hundred pages. Obviously there are a lot more factors that come into play than what I've mentioned here. But for the sake of helping you take better pictures of your baby, toddler, girlfriend, or whomever, this is a good place to start and here are some examples to go with it.
This shot was taken in late afternoon, a few hours before sunset, so while it wasn't the worst time of day, I still had to watch how he was positioned to avoid direct sun. Here the sun was behind him slightly to the right. You can see part of the back of his head is over exposed, but in this case it doesn't distract from the overall picture and even adds to it in my opinion. Now imagine he had been facing directly into that same sun. There would have been a lot more shadow to contend with, not to mention that he'd be squinting. You can also see that there are some catchlights in his eyes, in this case I think they were coming from the light behind the building he was facing.
Here again I was shooting in early evening in the height of summer, so not quite the golden hour. Because there wasn't a cloud in the sky, we looked for a lot of open shade at this location. In this case, he wasn't on the edge of the shade, so I had him look up at the camera to get some catchlights from the sky, and to avoid raccoon eyes.
And finally, this shot was taken on another bright and sunny day around 10 am. As in the previous picture, I had her look up at me a bit while sitting under an open roofed area that provided even shade, but still allowed for nice catchlights.I hope you've enjoyed the tips...coming next time...FOCUS!
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