10 Portrait Photography Composition Tips Beginners Must Learn

Introduction: After the novice understands a series of parameters, the next step is to learn composition. Below I will talk about 10 techniques of composition.

1. Use a simple background to highlight the characters

The choice of background is very important when taking portraits. If used properly, it can well set off the atmosphere of the picture. Complex backgrounds can easily distract the viewer. attention, so when shooting, you should try to choose a simple and coordinated background, so that the subject can be better highlighted. If you are shooting indoors, from a head-on perspective, you can give priority to using walls or background cloth, and from a top-down perspective, you can consider using sheets or the floor. If you are shooting outdoors, you can consider using a large aperture to blur the background, or look for beautiful building exteriors or dense flowers. You can also use the blue sky as the background by looking up, or the grass as the background by looking down. In short, as long as the background selection is concise, you can always find a suitable shooting scene and angle.

2. Use an appealing background to create a beautiful picture

A simple background can make the portrait more prominent in the picture, but the picture lacks story and cannot be explained well. The environment of the characters in the picture is therefore only suitable for shooting portraits. If you want the picture to be more readable, you should choose the background based on the shooting intention or the characteristics of the subject. You can try to choose a more aesthetically pleasing scenery or an environment with content as the background to enrich and enrich the picture. This is especially important when using a wide-angle lens to shoot portraits, so the wide-angle lens will incorporate more of the environment in the picture, so the choice of background becomes even more important. In addition, you need to pay attention to the reasonable arrangement of the characters' positions in the picture to obtain photos that are aesthetic and highlight the characteristics of the characters.

3. Choose a large aperture to obtain a shallow depth of field

As mentioned before, the larger the aperture (such as f/1.8, f/2.4), the smaller the aperture value, and the shallower the depth of field; The smaller the aperture (such as f/18, f/22), the larger the aperture value and the greater the depth of field. To get photos with a shallow depth of field, you should first consider shooting with a wide aperture. Large aperture plays a very important role in portrait photography, which can achieve beautiful blur effects with shallow depth of field. At the same time, it can also help us ensure a higher shutter speed when the ambient light is poor.

4. Get a shallow depth of field by getting close to the subject

The easiest way to get a shallow depth of field and blur the background is to keep the distance between the model and the background constant. , let the camera be close to the model, so that you can easily achieve the effect of shallow depth of field, the characters are more prominent, and the background is naturally blurred. When shooting, be careful that the foreground is not a cluttered scene, because when the camera is close to the model, the foreground will appear clearer in the picture.

5. Keep the background away from the subject to obtain a shallow depth of field

If you want to obtain a shallow depth of field and blur the background, the easiest way is to keep the distance between the model and the background constant. In this case, let the camera be close to the model, so that you can easily achieve the effect of shallow depth of field, the character will be more prominent, and the background will be naturally blurred. When shooting, be careful that the foreground is not a cluttered scene, because when the camera is close to the model, the foreground will appear clearer in the picture. Changing the distance between the model and the background is also one of the ways to obtain a shallow depth of field. Arranging the model to maintain a certain distance from the background (you don’t have to be close to the model) can also achieve a perfect shallow depth of field effect. Simply put, the farther the model is from the background, the easier it is to create a shallow depth of field, resulting in a greater blur effect.

6. The rule of thirds composition that makes the character the visual center

The rule of thirds composition can be divided into two types: horizontal rule of thirds and vertical rule of thirds. When shooting a portrait, divide the picture into three equal parts horizontally and vertically. The torso of the character can be placed on each dividing line, and the face or eyes of the character are placed at one of the four intersection points. It can highlight the main character more clearly.

7. Curve composition method to express the softness of female figure

Curve composition is divided into S-shaped composition and C-shaped composition. When shooting female portraits, S-shaped or C-shaped compositions are often used to express the softness and sexiness of their bodies. The most commonly used one is the S-shaped composition. The C-shaped composition also has a good performance in expressing the soft figure of women, but it is weaker than the S-shaped composition. Usually when a woman with a good figure stands naturally, she can shoot a beautiful S-shaped curve from the side. If the angle of shooting from the front is used, the model needs to tilt her body slightly. In addition to these two angles, you can also form a more sexy S-shaped curve by lying down.

8. Diagonal composition method that stretches the beauty of the figure

Diagonal composition is often used in portrait photography. When the figure's posture or body movements appear in the picture in a diagonal manner and occupy a large enough space, a diagonal composition is formed.

The stretching effect produced by the diagonal composition is very effective in showing the slender figure of a woman or beautifying the body defects of the subject. When taking portraits using this composition method, the instep of at least one of the model's feet must be straightened, so that the body lines extend from the legs to the instep to lengthen the body lines.

9. Triangular composition method to express a sense of stability in the picture

Triangular composition is a typical composition form in portrait photography, which is divided into three types: equilateral triangle, inverted triangle and oblique triangle. When shooting, the body or movement posture of the human subject is used to combine to form a triangle. This composition has a strong sense of stability and upward impact. The face of the character is usually located at the top of the triangle as the visual center.

10. Shooting portraits in a horizontal frame

The horizontal frame composition is widely used by people mainly because the horizontal frame conforms to people’s visual habits and physiological characteristics, because the human eyes are horizontal. Many objects also extend in the horizontal direction. It is more suitable for portrait photography of people and environments, and can also be used for shooting group portraits, etc.