Portrait Photography - A Primer

Portrait photograpy is the art of capturing humanmore of a person's personality if you are able to
faces in a number of situations and capturing ahave them acting naturally, interacting with the other
variety of emotions. The whole idea is to adequatelypeople in the image or simply in a more relaxed state
capture the personality of the subject as well as theirthan the regular sort of pictures you see people
image. Portrait photography doesn't have to behaving taken. One of the most important elements
restricted to the studio either, as many people wishof portrait based photography is the lighting, which is
their portraits to be shot on location or in their ownsomething that you really can't skimp on when buying
homes as well as the the traditional studio setup. Plus,your photographic equipment.
one less glamourous aspect of portrait photographyAdequate lighting is the key to making your images
is for pictures used on official documents such aslook professional- it's not just about the camera! Aim
passports and the like.for soft and off-camera lighting, and be sure that
With portrait style photography, the emphasis is veryshadows are eliminated.
much on the subject themselves rather than theWhen shooting outdoors, be sure that you have an
backdrop, but this doesn't mean that you cannot beelectronic flash and a reflector at hand in your
creative with the composition of each shot. After all,portrait photography arsenal. Above all, portrait
we've all seen those rigid, awkward portraits withphotography is the practice of capturing a moment in
cheap backgrounds where the subject is sat staringan individual's life, and once you have got their
at the lens and wishing for it all to be over.personality shining through, your work is much easier
Creative portrait photography can capture so muchto do well.