| Portrait photography is the art of taking pictures of | | | | the control dial to portrait mode - this is usually |
| people. Now whether you do this for family and | | | | indicated by a small icon that looks like a person's |
| friends, or just because you like people pictures, you | | | | head. If you use a DSLR, or you shoot in manual or |
| may find these tips helpful in making your portrait | | | | semi-manual mode with your camera, use a larger |
| photos more polished and professional looking. | | | | aperture setting. This is indicated by smaller numbers |
| 1. Clear the clutter. When you take a person's | | | | such as 5.6, 3.5 and 2.8. In fact, those three aperture |
| portrait, you want the picture to focus primarily on | | | | settings are often the best ones to use when taking |
| that person. If you have a lot of clutter behind or | | | | portrait photos, because those tend to blur the |
| around them, it detracts from the person in the | | | | background best. A 2.8 aperture setting will give you |
| picture. So before you shoot, try moving the person | | | | a much more blurry background than 5.6 will, but 5.6 |
| to a place where there is little to nothing else around. | | | | still does fairly nicely if the background is not too |
| The middle of a room is an easy option, as is having | | | | close to the person you're taking a picture of. |
| them stand against a blank wall. | | | | 4. Get Closer. Yes, closer to the person you're taking |
| 2. Focus on their eyes. Regardless of what else might | | | | a picture of. It's ok to just have a picture of the |
| be in the picture, and regardless of whether anything | | | | person's head and shoulders... it's even ok to take a |
| else is in focus or not... if you have a person's eyes in | | | | picture of just their face with part of the head |
| focus in a portrait photo, it always has much more | | | | missing. The face and eyes of a person is where |
| impact and is considered a better picture overall. The | | | | most of their expression is, so leaving out most of |
| old saying about eyes being a window to the soul | | | | the body in a portrait photograph will often produce |
| actually applies in portrait photography, so if the | | | | much better results. |
| person's eyes are clear and focused well, the picture | | | | These four tips are great starting places for creating |
| will look much better. | | | | much stronger, more appealing portrait photos. So go |
| 3. Try to blur the background. If you have a point | | | | out and try them yourself now, and you might be |
| and shoot camera, you probably have a control | | | | surprised at how much better your people pictures |
| setting dial on the camera that will help with this. Turn | | | | look. |