11 TIPS AND TRICKS FOR AWESOME PORTRAITS

Look, today's post is really to be learned by heart, or printed at least. Then I bring you a series of 11 tips and tricks that you can apply in your portrait exercises and that will help you achieve remarkable improvements. They are tips, as you will see, simple and easy to carry out but that make a lot of difference between a photo of a debuting photographer and another that begins to be professional

11 TIPS AND TRICKS FOR STUNNING PORTRAITS

Even if you are taking the picture outside, and during the day, do it with flash . It is not necessary to be an external one, the camera itself is worth it. You will notice a tremendous difference in the results.
Open the diaphragm well. Use the opening priority mode and reduce the f / .. value as much as you can. Thus the subject will come out well focused and sharp, contrasting with a very unfocused background.
Beware of very sunny days. If the sun is giving strong do not let your subject be placed directly under it, because that usually causes small but strong shadows on the neck and face (nose shadows for example). It is best that our subject is placed in a place where the contrast between sun and shadow is not so pronounced.
For home-made portraits, try placing your subject near (very close) to some natural exterior light source (a window for example). Natural light coming from the window will fill your face and eyes with life and expressiveness. Of course, as I was saying in advice 3, avoid direct exposure to sunlight.
During the framing, try to leave your model on the opposite side to the direction towards which the head is directed. For example, if your head is slightly turned to the right, place it to the left of the frame. It is called the law of gaze.
For pictures of babies try to have the flash off. Some pediatricians comment that the flash can cause irreparable damage to the baby's eye. Anyway, even if that were not true, babies do not usually like the flash. Unless you want your little one to cry in the photo ...
If you want to obtain attractive and engaging portraits, ask the subject to collaborate a little by placing himself in strange places, or wearing unusual clothes for the place where he is. For example: a grandmother in a disco; a doctor with a tennis racket; ... The experiment, apart from fun, is a good solution for those moments of lack of creativity.
To photograph silhouettes avoid, as far as possible, automatic adjustments, especially those of exposure, light measurement, etc. The camera will automatically try to harmonize the contrasts by obscuring the illuminated background and overexposing the subject silhouette. On the other hand surely the flash will jump by itself, trying to illuminate the silhouette. It is best to take manual control to get all the contrast we are looking for.
If you make your subject adopt very uncomfortable postures it is very likely that you take a portrait with a constipated face. To avoid it, make sure it is in a comfortable position.
Head tilt is a trick that most professional portrait photographers use. The trick is to make the subject tilt his head slightly to the side. The woman can tilt her head in any direction (always without exaggeration) while for the man it is preferable that the slight inclination of the head is in the opposite direction to his shoulder closest to the camera.
One tip that works very well when doing group portraits is to place the heads of the subjects at different heights: make one sit on the couch, another on the floor, another standing behind, etc.