Friday, January 22, 2010

How To Capture Your Perfect Portrait Photograph

By Richard Stevens

Profiles of people have been frozen in various popular photographs for decades. However, portrait photography isn't just about capturing a face; instead it is about making a person or a group of people come alive in a picture by depicting them in their true form.

A good portrait photograph beats the convention and is able to catch moods and perspectives of a person like never seen before. However, regular family or single person portraits are also done and they are appropriate for family albums.

A proper close up bringing the individual's face into focus differentiates a truly expert portrait photograph from an amateur one. This is achieved by a common camera trick of making the background slightly hazy and unclear so that the person's face gets the best possible focus. A camera with a wider aperture can achieve this perfect tuning between the background and the person's face. Whereas, when both the person and the background are equally significant, like a photograph taken with the subject in a beautiful landscape, then a standard aperture setting is more appropriate.

Photography is all about absorption of light into the photographic medium; therefore insufficient light has always been a photographer's cause of worry. However, by adhering to some common photography guidelines, a decent portrait photograph can be obtained. One of the ways is to make the subject sit near the window such that the light entering from it falls on only part of the face. The remaining part of the face can be lighted up by making use of something reflective like a white piece of glossy paper or board. However, However, portrait photographs taken in studios under artificial lighting mostly come out better than those clicked outside.

One more thing that you must keep in mind is that the more comfortable a subject is during the photography session, higher the chances are of getting a perfect portrait photograph. If the subject doesn't feel comfortable while being clicked and doesn't give a natural expression, then even the highest quality camera and lighting methods can not ensure a good portrait.

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