Photo Tips for Portraits
Patience and persistence are two of the most important things to keep in mind when taking good photographs for portraits. In fact, when you get right down to it, good photographs are essential to making a great portrait, so it’s worth taking the time for this preliminary step. It’s not easy to get exactly what you want in a photograph, but when you do, it can be very rewarding. You’ll want to take lots of photos—dozens of them—and then carefully choose the best. (We’ll need 1 to 4 good photos.) What we’re looking for is a natural pose that best captures the personality of your subject, and some close-ups with the same lighting that show details. Here are a few tips to taking photographs with a portrait in mind. These tips will apply whether you’re photographing pets or people. If the results still aren’t what you were hoping for, don’t worry—just do the best you can. It might be better than you think!
Where should I stand when I take the photographs?
~ The best place to stand is at eye level with the subject, while keeping your camera level. When the camera is pointed down on the subject, whether it’s a small child or a pet, the image becomes unnaturally distorted. (See illustration below.)
~ Sometimes the best place to “stand” is sitting—or even lying down! The idea is to have the subject and the camera at approximately the same level. (See above illustration.)
~ If you’re standing, keep a little distance between you and the subject, perhaps 5 or 10 feet. Use your telephoto to zoom in so the subject mostly fills the viewfinder. Using the telephoto helps reduce the distortion you get when you’re too close to the subject. If you stand too close, you’ll be likely to get a “fish-eye” effect—where the nose is huge and the hindquarters are teensy! Unless, of course that’s the effect you want. (See illustration above.)
What kind of lighting do I need to take good photos with detail?
~ Generally, the best lighting for detailed photographs is natural daylight taken outdoors on a cloudy-but-bright day, or in the early morning or late afternoon. Try to avoid brilliant sunshine in the middle of the day because it will show up in the photo as intense white highlights (hot-spots) and extra-dark shadows—both of which obscure the details.
~ When it’s sunny outdoors, position yourself so the light is directed to the front left or front right of the subject. (See illustration #3) This way, the detail will show up better, and your subject won’t be either squinting into the light, (illustration #1) or the light won’t be coming from behind them, shading the front (illustration #2). The best time of day for natural lighting when it’s sunny, is in the early morning or late afternoon—it’s not too bright, and it’s easy to get side lighting. (illustration #3)
~ If you’re photographing indoors, you can use a lamp, or set up beside a large, well-lit window. Try to turn off the flash feature on your camera. Flash usually doesn’t show off the subject as well as natural light. It creates hot-spots and hides the details. (See illustration #1) One exception to this rule is pets with very dark fur. In this case, flash is helpful to bring out details.
Can you give me some ideas on composing the photo?
~ Either a head study or a full body pose will make a good composition for a portrait. It’s an individual preference. Both poses should be at eye level with the camera.
~ Try to fill the camera frame with the subject as much as possible, without cropping off legs, hands, top of head, etc. We don’t want to have to guess what they look like!
~ Remember that the more detail you have, the better—especially of the face.
~ Photos for portraits should be as natural as possible in a position and location that shows off the subject of your portrait in the most favorable way. Avoid clutter that partially hides the subject. Another example to avoid would be a dog chewing on a bone or some other object that distorts the mouth so we can’t see its natural shape.
~ Above all, look at the photo’s composition as a portrait you’d like to look at every day, and as a much-loved remembrance. Because that’s really what it’s all about!
What about photographing a background? or more than one subject?
~ If you have a special location you’d like us to include in the portrait, you can photograph the background separately from the subject(s), and we can integrate them when we compose the portrait.
~ Likewise, if you have more than one subject you’d like to have included in one portrait, we will work from two separate photographs. When sending in more than one photo for us to combine, it really helps us if the lighting and camera angle of the subjects in the photographs are as similar as possible. (This is not essential, but it helps alot!)
I have a black cat/dog/rabbit, etc. Is there a special way to photograph it?
~ When you’re trying to get a good detailed photograph of a black or very dark animal, you need lots of light. Outdoors, strong sunlight is good. If you’re indoors, you can use a lamp or you can set up beside a well-lighted window. And in this instance, you can also use a flash to good advantage. When taking detailed close-ups of the face, make sure it’s well-lighted so we can see and capture the facial expression.