One of the topics that you request us the most is without a doubt that of portrait photography. If you like this type of photography, you are in luck: you have just found an article in which you will find answers to all your questions regarding portrait photography.
I have made it my goal to make this article the most comprehensive SOURCE of information you will find on the internet when it comes to taking portrait photos.
Regardless of your level as a photographer, whether you are a beginner, amateur or advanced level, this monumental guide will help you understand the most important aspects with which you can improve your portrait photography.
In the next few lines I will present you with resources, tools, links to articles and information where we reveal all the tricks professionals use to take portrait photos.
Important: the techniques and tricks that I am going to reveal to you in this article will allow you to achieve photographic results close to the examples that you will find on this page or in the links that I include in it, however, theory by itself will not take the photo for you.
Before starting, I need you to commit to writing down those ideas or tricks that seem useful to you, but above all that you carry them out.
The best way to learn portrait photography is by practicing portrait photography.
Another thing: I recommend that you add this article to your favorites. I don't want you to lose track of him because an inopportune person rings your doorbell in the next few minutes.
Add the article to your favorites so you can refer to it later whenever you need to clear up a question about how to take portrait photos.
With that said, let's get down to business.
WHAT IS PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY?
Portrait photography is a photographic genre that consists of capturing the characteristics of a subject, either an individual or a group, through the use of light, background, poses, technique or composition. The story, the message or the emotion are essential ingredients for any portrait photography.
If you want to discover the types of portrait photography that exist, I will tell you about them below.
TYPES OF PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
There are many types of portrait photography, here I indicate some of these types. If you want to learn how to take good portraits, it may be a good idea to practice different types of portraits:
- fashion portrait
- Self-portrait (Selfie)
- High Key / Low Key Portrait
- Couples portrait / wedding
- family / group portrait
- Black and white portrait
- surreal portrait
- conceptual portrait
- artistic portrait
- boudoir portrait
- stolen portrait
WHAT IS THE BEST CAMERA FOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY?
Although good portraits can be taken with any camera, there is a certain type of camera that will allow us to make the most of the subject in front of us.
For this, we will need a camera with manual controls: it can be a digital SLR or a mirrorless. These cameras offer the advantage of, first, having an interchangeable lens, something that will allow us to invest in a good specific lens for portraits later (more on that later).
The second advantage of these cameras is the ability to set the camera to shoot in manual mode. Being able to adjust the camera in manual mode will give us an incredible advantage when preparing and executing our portrait photography. (To master Manual Mode, I recommend this other mega guide that I have prepared for you).
Within this type of cameras, any camera is worth it. These are our recommendations for SLR cameras to get you started.
BEST LENSES FOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
If you have an interchangeable lens camera, your thing is that you are raising some money to invest in a good lens for portraits.
In terms of lenses, there are many options on the market so, so that you don't feel lost, in this article we have prepared a list of the ideal lenses for portrait photos .
YES BUT… WHAT LENS DO I NEED TO PHOTOGRAPH PORTRAITS?
If within the previous list you ask me for my #1 recommendation, on a personal level I am obsessed with a lens that I call "The King of Lenses": I am referring to the 50mm f/1.4, which I have talked about in this blog until satiety.
If you want to know more about how this lens can help you take good portraits very easily, take a look at the article I dedicated to it .
Another option that you have is its cheaper version, "The Prince of Objectives", I leave you more information about this other one here .
RECOMMENDED ACCESSORIES FOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
Not all, but a good part of portrait photography owes its merit to something as small and secondary as accessories.
Most professional portrait photographers have a kit of accessories that they take with them everywhere.
If you want to discover which are the best recommended accessories for taking portrait photos, here is this article where you will find all these accessories .
PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS
I am of the philosophy that there are no impossible photos.
All the photos, no matter how spectacular or impressive they may seem to us, were taken by a person of flesh and blood, so sooner or later, with more or less difficulty, any of us can achieve the same photo, as long as we have enough Dose of tenacity, yes, and as long as we know the tricks and practices that great photographers follow to achieve those results.
The same applies to 1000% portrait photography.
It does not matter if you have a humble or cheap camera, if they explain the technique behind portrait photography and you start practicing on your own, little by little you will learn the same tricks that portrait photographers use in their work. .
One day, you'll be taking portrait photos at the same professional-quality level as those photographers you've always envied.
If you want to learn how to take good photographic portraits, here I bring you a list of articles where we have gathered most of these tricks used in portrait photos that you see out there:
- Tips and tricks to achieve good portraits
- How to prepare a portrait photography session
- Easy tricks to get impressive portraits
- Body language in portrait photography
PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT LIGHTING
To take good portraits you need a good light.
Whether it's natural light or artificial light portraiture, you need to know a few principles related to lighting control in portraits.
If this is what you are looking for, here are three articles where we explain in a very simplified way how you can control the light in the portrait, how to direct it on the face of your subject and thus achieve spectacular portrait photos.
- Guide to illuminate your portrait photos
- How to Create Dramatic Portraits in Harsh Light
- Trick to illuminate your portraits
COMPOSITION IN PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
Composition is another key ingredient to the success of a portrait photograph.
If you don't pay attention to the composition factor, it's easy to ruin that portrait that has taken you so much time and work.
In this article you will find everything related to composition in portraits.
THE POSES IN THE PORTRAITS
When you photograph professional models it is very easy. They know how to move and pose and you don't worry about this part.
However, when this is not the case, you have to direct the poses yourself . Ideally, you should have some posing schemes prepared, in the format you want, either in mobile photos, some pages with sketches, whatever is most comfortable for you when carrying out your portrait session.
These two articles will be of great help to you.
- Examples of women's poses
- Examples of man's poses
HOW TO TAKE SHARP PORTRAITS
A very frequent problem among amateur photographers when they begin to venture into portrait photography is the issue of sharpness.
In portraiture, it's easy to fall into blurry or slightly out-of-focus portraits.
Solving it is something very simple, we will tell you about it in the following article .
INDOOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
If you have trouble taking portrait photos indoors, don't worry, you're not the only one.
Photos taken indoors come with a particular difficulty: the scarcity of natural light.
No matter how much indoor light we have, an indoor portrait will always require following some special steps if we want to obtain a correctly exposed portrait photo.
For this, I leave you this article where we show you some tricks to improve your indoor portrait photographs .
HOW TO TAKE BLACK AND WHITE PORTRAITS
What happens if we combine two photographic genres such as portrait and black and white?
Black and white gives portrait photography an interesting “emotional” dimension that is difficult to achieve with colour.
If you haven't tried it so far, I invite you to try taking portraits in black and white because you may be pleasantly surprised.
How is it done? We tell you here.
NIGHT PORTRAITS
One of the most original ways I know of to take portrait photos is at night, producing a “night portrait”.
With the theme of the night, few people dare in photography, perhaps because of the supposed difficulty that it contains.
In this article, however, we try to demystify this supposed difficulty. Within it we have prepared 11 ideas to make a beautiful night portrait, without flash, and in a very simple way .
PORTRAITS WITH WATER
One of the most creative ways to do portrait photography and, incidentally, have a good time, is by resorting to the element of “water”.
How can I make portraits with water? – you may be wondering.
Relax, here we have prepared an extensive article full of inspiration and ideas so that you can try this fun way of taking photography.
PORTRAITS ON THE BEACH
The beach is one of the natural places that gives the most play when it comes to taking photographic portraits.
In this article we show you some very creative ideas to take your next beach portrait photography. In the article you will also find tricks and guidelines to make your task easier ?
STOLEN PORTRAITS
The "stolen" is a subgenre of portrait photography, it overlaps with some interpretations of the journalistic genre, although it also has points in common with street photography .
For those of you who are attracted to stolen portrait photography, in the following article you will find specific tips and tricks for taking this type of photography.
PORTRAITS OF PREGNANT WOMEN
Pregnancy is a very special stage that many women want to capture to always remember it.
This type of portrait has its own characteristics and some aspects to take into account to capture the best of the moment.
That is why we have prepared a complete guide on pregnancy photography, with tricks, tips and a lot of inspiration, which you can see in the link.
SELFIES (SELFIES)
The self-portrait is a subgenre of the portrait and is older than many people believe ( some place it in the year 1300 BC ).).
Nowadays, many have reduced it to a simple duck face pose in front of the bathroom mirror, but the self-portrait can be much more interesting and creative than that.
Here we have prepared 10 tips to master the art of self-portrait photography.
PORTRAIT WITH BLURRED BACKGROUND (HOW TO BLUR THE BACKGROUND IN A PORTRAIT)
One of the questions I hear most frequently is “How to take portraits with a blurred background?” .
The answer is simpler than you might believe.
Here I leave you the exact formula to achieve a portrait with a blurred background .
HOW TO MAKE CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS
If you are tired of the usual portraits, with boring poses and framing that does not change, here you will find a ton of ideas to capture very creative portraits .
COMMON MISTAKES IN PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
There are a series of very frequent mistakes that almost all of us have made at some point when we started taking portrait photos for the first time.
If you are taking your first steps in this photographic genre, with this article you will be able to get rid of a good handful of these errors with little effort.
PORTRAITS FOR SOCIAL NETWORKS
Our profiles on Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook, etc. They have become our calling card.
To make the best impression follow these tips for your profile photos and avoid making these mistakes in your portraits on Social Networks .
CARD PHOTOS
Ok, they are not artistic, far from it, but after all they are a portrait and knowing how to take your own passport photos from home is very useful. In the link we tell you step by step.
HOW TO TELL STORIES THROUGH PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
There are people who think that portrait photography is about the subject, the physique, the "pretty" of the model or the model. It seems that if you find an attractive model, you already have the portrait done.
In my humble opinion, that would not be portrait photography, but a simple shot with a camera of "something".
If there is merit in that photograph (which I doubt), forgive me but that merit would in any case be that of the subject who posed in front of the camera.
True portrait photography does not focus on the subject, but on creating a story.
The subject is an element, among many others. Like a movie, portrait photography has to reflect a story, it has to captivate the viewer, impregnate an idea, a concept, an emotion, a tickle in their brain.
If portrait photography is film, the subject posing in front of the camera is one more element, a kind of actor to continue the film analogy.
Every time you set out to take a portrait, think about the story or emotion you want people to feel when they see your photograph.
There are a lot of ideas and tricks that you can use to create and transmit a story in your portrait, here in this article we will tell you some tricks.
HOW TO CONNECT WITH PEOPLE IN PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
Maintaining the same analogy that taking portrait photography is similar to producing a film, in the cinema every good director has to know how to connect with his actors.
You should learn to do the same.
You can be a crack in technique and photographic composition, but if you don't know how to connect with your subject, he or she would pose nervously, or in an unnatural way.
If this is a problem for you, I recommend that you consult this article in which we give you clues and tips so that you can connect with the subject in your portrait photos .
SETTINGS AND PARAMETERS FOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
If you are looking for a starting configuration to adjust your camera to take a portrait photo, in this article you will find a section dedicated to the ideal settings and parameters for taking portrait photos.
WHAT APERTURE TO USE FOR PORTRAITS?
In a portrait photograph, the ideal is to use a diaphragm opening as wide as possible.
This is achieved by setting the camera to as low an f/ value as possible. An aperture of f/3.5 would be fine, but if you have a lens whose aperture goes up to f/1.8 for example, I would definitely recommend shooting with that aperture.
In any case, keep in mind that wide openings come with drawbacks as well.
If you shoot at f/1.8, you will have a lot of light, and you will get a very beautiful blurred background, however it will be easy for you to lose your subject while focusing.
It's not impossible, but it does make it more critical to get the focus right. Just keep that in mind. More on focus in this mega guide .
BACKDROPS FOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
In photography stores, and even on Amazon, you will be able to find a good number of backgrounds that you can use for your portraits.
There are white , colored backgrounds that simulate landscapes or other environments and that look great because, when they are out of focus on the plane, they pass through real environments ?
That being said, if you don't want to risk too much, a completely black background is a good wild card.
It always looks good, it gives a lot of room for black and white portrait photography, it allows you to take portraits in low key, isolate the subject, among other ideas.
BOOKS THAT TEACH YOU HOW TO TAKE PORTRAIT PHOTOS
If you want to dedicate yourself fully to this photographic genre, here are some book recommendations that will help you master portrait photography:
- Mastering Portrait Photography: this extensive mega-guide that you have been reading for a while now is nothing compared to our book, dedicated entirely to teaching the amateur photographer in a simple way and within everyone's reach how to master the beautiful art of Portrait Photography. photograph portraits.
- Without Fear of the Portrait, by José Antonio Fernández: one of the most successful books in terms of sales in the FotoRuta collection. Ideal for those looking for a complete guide to perfect their portraits.
- Dramatic Portraiture, by Chris Knight: the portrait photography book you are looking for if you are already passionate about portraiture at an advanced level, if you want to learn portrait photography focused on fashion or advertising, or also if you want to master lighting in photography of portraits.
- Portraits, by Steve McCurry : this photojournalist is an eminence in photography. Surely his well-known portrait of the Afghan girl sounds familiar to you. His book "Portraits" is full of ideas that will inspire you for your next portrait photography.
- Read this book if you want to shoot good portraits, by Henry Carroll: a great introduction to portrait photography, with an emphasis on simple language and close style. An ideal book for those who are going to venture into portrait photography for the first time.
YOUTUBE VIDEOS WITH TIPS FOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
Interesting video from the guys from De Viaje con la Cámara. In it they tell us 5 ideas to make creative portraits. Ideal for those days when you feel like doing some portrait work but you feel lacking in creativity.
In this other video Joan Vendrell tells us, in 6 minutes, how to set the camera to manual mode to take portrait photography.
GREAT PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHERS
Looking for some inspiration? Here I bring you my selection with the best portrait photographers. His works are a delight if you like to enjoy on a visual level, but besides that, you will surely find in his portraits a mighty source of inspiration:
- Steve McCurry: well known to all lovers of portrait photography. He rose to fame with his portrayal of the Afghan girl in a refugee camp in Pakistan. You can see his work on his websiteand on his Instagramwith more than 3M followers.
- Annie Liebovitz : Present-day American photographer, through whose lens many celebrities have passed. She has worked for many prestigious magazines and is, to this day, the highest paid photographer in the world. You can enjoy her portrait works of her on her Instagram.
- Sebastião Salgado: Brazilian photojournalist, considered by some to be the best photographer of the early 21st century. His portrait photography mainly focuses on subjects from less developed countries or in difficult social situation. He has a marked social commitment that can be appreciated through his photography. His own official website is not known, but you can find a good number of photos of him with his “black and white” stamp on Google.
- Platon Antoniou: definitely the photographer of politicians. Many personalities, world leaders (Obama, Putin, etc.) and actors posed for him. He represents a modern school of portraiture. To achieve the result he wants, he employs all possible technological means, from the lens to the developing program and digital editing to obtain the amazing portrait photographs that he produces. Official Web.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
In this article we have gathered the most frequently asked questions that we receive about portrait photography. Here are 10+1 questions (with their corresponding answers) about portrait photography .
Still hungry to learn how to take good portraits? Here are some additional readings:
- Introduction to portrait photography
- 100 Express Tips for Portrait Photography
I hope you found something useful in this portrait photography guide.
Be sure to bookmark it so you can refer to it whenever you need to brush up on something.
