Portrait photography, how to combine the realism of foreground and background?

Brother Ma Ye once said in an article that before learning various composition methods, we should understand the relationship between subject and companion, foreground and background.

When taking a portrait, there is no doubt that the subject is the person himself, and the companion may or may not be an object or ornament on his hand. If the foreground and background are interspersed, the subject can be well set off. If the foreground and background are handled properly, they will complement each other with the subject-people.

Let's talk about the processing of foreground and background in portrait shooting, combining with the portrait photos taken by Mustang Brother!

I the role of foreground and background 1. Explain the environment

Foreground and background can explain the living environment of the characters, and can match the costumes of the characters, such as when shooting Hanfu.

2. Reflect the depth

It's easy for beginners to overlook the foreground. In fact, there is a prospect, a theme and a background. From front to back, it forms a depth, which will have a good sense of space and make people feel three-dimensional and intuitive.

Step 3 set off the atmosphere

The feeling of blurring the foreground or background is still fascinating, because the feeling of blurring, if handled well, is very dreamy and beautiful. For example, a leaf or a flower in the foreground, a little light in the background can set off the atmosphere.

Step 4 highlight the main body

The foreground and background are vague, and only the subject is clear, which naturally strengthens the model. This is also what everyone refers to as sugar water tablets, but the sugar water tablets are good and good.

Second, how to combine 1 with reality to obtain a small depth of field.

The wild horse brother pointed out in many answers that the main points are large aperture, telephoto and close-up shooting. Pay attention to these points, and you can get a smaller depth of field.

2, close to the foreground, to achieve the effect of blurring.

The lens must be close to the foreground, and then focus on the distant portrait, so that the natural foreground will be blurred, and of course, it should also cooperate with the processing method of small depth of field mentioned above.

3. Stay away from the background and achieve the effect of blurring.

Because the depth of field is within a certain range, it is necessary to ensure that the background is outside the depth of field in order to have a blurred effect. In other words, the model must have a certain distance from the background.

Third, avoid patterned portrait shooting 1, and don't blindly shoot portraits with telephoto.

As mentioned above, it is easy to get a small depth of field when shooting a portrait with telephoto. However, in some scenes, such as humanistic themes, people and scenery are emphasized, and it is necessary to ensure that the background is not too vague to explain the environment of the characters. At this time, if you are blindly vague, it will be counterproductive.

2. Don't be unwilling to take a wide-angle portrait.

In fact, wide-angle portrait shooting is a good way to integrate people and scenes, especially wedding photography. If the scenery is blurred, why go abroad to shoot a wedding blockbuster?

3. Don't get together and shoot people.

A bunch of photographers are shooting around a model, but it doesn't have much artistic value. Not to mention bringing great pressure to the model, bringing great difficulties to the photographer's framing and composition, and it is easy to take the same photos!

In short, portrait photography is not like many people say, as long as the big light is enough, but it needs to make rational use of various lenses and arrange the foreground and background reasonably, so that the portrait photos taken will not be so monotonous and full of beauty!

Original answer, all rights reserved. Author Mustang, freelance photographer+self-media person. If you like this article, please like it and forward it to @ Wild Horse Photography, and continue to create original output equipment experience, shooting skills and photography courses | Walk with you on the wild road!