“Say Spaghetti!”
A small sample of professional portraits that I have photographed in the past many years. I’ve always enjoyed helping my friends and colleagues present themselves in the best light possible. It is rewarding to see the finished result and know I play a small part in helping others succeed.
Getting people to laugh while saying ridiculous phrases is also pretty fun.
Location, Lighting and Laughing
Location, lighting and laughing while trying to get the perfect shot makes for the best time. Keeping an eye on composition, getting a genuine smile, and avoiding strange shadows really helps. And most often communicating about everything going on in the background keeps your subject informed about needing to re-shoot.
Having wardrobe options for a costume change will help you get more options out of photo shoot, as will keeping a fresh shirt on hand in case of perspiration.
Learning from mistakes
Often my biggest hangup when photographing people is being indoors and relying on available lighting. It’s never really as bright indoors as you think it is. Our eyes adapt and play tricks on us, turning on more lights or opening the curtains is almost always better that relying on a flash without some diffusion or bounce.
Learning not to rush the process can be difficult. It really pays off though to fix stray hair, reposition clothing, or recommend a little adjustment to posture. Minor things can be touched-up in photo processing after the fact but you can’t fix major errors. Rescheduling or re-shooting is a lot more work than the few extra minutes to get it right the first time.
What are some of they tried and true techniques that you use when taking portraits?
Let me know in the comments below about your successes or spectacular failures that you’ve learned a lot from.
You can see more updates of my #photography work here.
