A complete solution to the composition skills of portrait photography

Lead: How to compose a portrait? Let me tell you a few examples. Let's have a look!

Scene 1: Common Techniques for Blurring the Beauty of Background in Portrait Photography

1. Select the bright part as the background, which is greatly blurred.

Choose the brighter part that the light can shine on as the background to avoid leaving a heavy impression on the picture. It should be noted that evergreen trees have strong colors, and even if they are blurred, they will not look too beautiful. The photographer's background is not necessarily a plant, but also a brightly colored wall.

2. Use backlight to make hair produce high-gloss effect.

When the photographer stands, he must carefully think about the position and choose the right position to make his hair stand out and look shiny. Once the hair looks shiny, the photographer's expression will give the viewer a special impression. If the hair looks dark, the whole picture will look dark, so the photographer needs to add highlights consciously.

3. Illuminate the dark face with a reflector.

Effective use of reflector can brighten the dull face caused by backlight and make the skin rich in texture. When shooting portraits, in principle, backlight or side light should be used, which is not suitable for front light and will make the face appear obvious shadow. Therefore, when shooting portraits outdoors, the reflector is an essential shooting tool.

4. You can cut off your arm when writing.

Sometimes the posture of the subject will make his shoulder or wrist part exceed the composition range, which is not a problem at all. On the contrary, it can change the picture and give people a bold feeling, so don't hesitate to continue shooting. If you barely put all the subjects in the photo, the photo will look mediocre. Try to make a bold composition.

Scene 2: A wide-angle portrait with a clever blend of background and subject.

1, showing a sense of spaciousness

The perspective of the photo is very wide, even the zenith is included in the picture. When shooting with a wide-angle lens, the picture will also contain unexpected parts, so the composition must be carefully arranged. Photographers should be aware of the viewfinder rate of the camera for composition and consider how to use the space flexibly.

2, flexible use of deformation around the picture

The picture taken by wide-angle lens is particularly transparent, so it will be interesting to use this feature consciously to shoot. In the above picture, the deformation of the photographer's foot is exaggerated, resulting in a unique visual effect.

3. Boldly enjoy the feeling of transparency

If you shoot from bottom to top, it will be like this photo, and the walls and iron gates in the background have strong penetration. Flexible use of such transparency in the picture can make the whole composition look very novel. When using a wide-angle lens, boldly changing the shooting angle can bring unique visual effects.

4. Do not use the focus lock function to focus.

When shooting from bottom to top with a wide-angle lens, avoid using the mode of central focus+focus lock. Because it is too close to the focus subject, it is easy to lose focus, which is called cosine error. Focus should be selected in advance to avoid camera movement caused by focus locking, so as to focus accurately.

Scene 3: Take a full-length street shot with a telephoto lens.

1, try to blur the background.

When a telephoto lens takes a full-length portrait of the subject, it will greatly blur the background. If you only take close-ups of faces and portraits above the chest, you can also take photos with blurred background when the aperture is fully open with a short focal length lens. However, when shooting a full-length portrait, the blurred background needs to use a focal length of more than 300 mm

2. Consider the balance with the background color.

The head of the subject is located in the bright part of the background as far as possible, so that the hair of the subject will not be mixed with the background. It should be noted that if there are striking patterns or repeated patterns in the background, the subject will lose attention and the background will dominate. Photographers also need to confirm whether there are dark parts or annoying billboards around the photographer's face, and then decide where the photographer is.

3. The photographer should have a good eye.

Even if the subject looks small in the whole composition, make sure that the face is illuminated by light. In particular, make sure that the eyes have obvious reflection (vision). If the eyes don't reflect light, they will appear dull and dull, and it is difficult to understand the facial expression of the subject. Taking a full-length portrait is as important as taking a close-up of a person.

4. The background is not completely blurred, showing a certain sense of transparency.

It is difficult to show a sense of transparency after the background is completely blurred. In the above picture, the flowers on the sidewalk and the trees above the photographer are in the same focal plane with the photographer, thus emphasizing the contrast between the photographer and the background. A key point of full-length portrait shooting is to skillfully show the transparency between the subject and the background by controlling the blurred part and the uncluttered part.

Scene 4: Dark female portrait that can reflect the photographer's inner world.

1, eyes and lips must be prominent.

When the whole portrait photo is dark, it is best to add light to the part that attracts visual attention. By adding highlights, the exposure can be darker, making the photos look more impactful. The key to taking dark portraits is not simply reducing exposure.

2. Consider the balance with the background light.

If the background (back) of the subject is illuminated by strong light, the whole picture will look clearer and become a vivid photo. If the background is normal, the photo will only look darker, but if there is strong light in the background, the dullness of the subject's face will naturally appear and the dark tone of the photo will be emphasized.

3. The subject's expression should be cold and wild.

The overall feeling of dark portrait photos should be cool. Therefore, subjects should not have a smile on their faces. It is best to give the characteristics of the photo through a somewhat surprising cold expression. The posture of the subject must be in tune with the expression, not too energetic. In short, we should grasp the overall feeling when taking pictures.

4. Focus on your eyes accurately.

A basic principle of portrait photography is to focus on the eyes. Especially when taking dark photos, the eyes determine the impression of the whole photo and need to focus accurately. Always pay attention to the focus position, don't relax after shooting, and carefully confirm the photo effect.

Scene 5: Female Beauty in the Black and White World

1, the blurred background makes the graininess more obvious.

Using noise generated at high ISO sensitivity will make the photo rough. In order to make this graininess more obvious, we can blur the background by choosing the appropriate aperture and lens. If you can use the noise in the middle part of the picture, the effect of graininess will be more obvious, so the background should not be too dark.

2. If necessary, the highlight overflows.

Overflow of highlights is generally a phenomenon that needs to be avoided when shooting. But when taking monochrome photos, the overflow of highlights can make the photos more impressive. Of course, it is not good for the main body to overflow with highlights as a whole, but it is completely irrelevant for a small part to appear this phenomenon. In the above picture, the photographer deliberately let the highlights overflow on the subject's face and become the highlight of the photo.

3. Choose a shooting location that conforms to the monochrome photo atmosphere.

It is not always good to take monochrome photos anywhere. Photographers should choose places that can render the atmosphere of monochrome photos. Compared with outdoor shooting during the day, shooting in a slightly dark room will make the graininess more obvious and better reflect the unique atmosphere of monochrome photos.

4. Consider the color matching of the photographer's clothes.

Monochrome style will greatly change the atmosphere and impression of photos. Monochrome photos are more than just taking all the objects in black and white. Some colors will stand out when taking monochrome photos. Shooting should be done before the official shooting, and clothes of different colors can be changed if necessary. If the photographer can realize the different effects when different colors become monochrome, then the technology of taking monochrome photos will be obviously improved.