Learn which lenses, camera settings, lighting techniques, and poses are used to create photographic portraits that express the true character of the person in the scene. Get helpful tips for portraits of babies, groups, and couples, and for self-portraits, as well.
A photographic portrait is more than just a picture of a person. The best portraits aim to express the essence of a person’s nature and reveal characteristics that would go unnoticed in an ordinary snap-shot. Although professional equipment gives the photographer a wider range of options, an amateur photographer with just a point-and-shoot camera, day light, and a simple reflector can create portraits that capture the subject’s personality just as well.
Choose the Optimal Camera Lens and Settings
If you’re using a camera with interchangeable lenses, choosing a short telephoto lens—85-135mm for a 35mm camera—will produce optimal results. For head shots, the 105-135mm range works well. The short telephoto range allows you to move in close enough fill the frame with the subject, but causes minimal distortion of perspective.
Using a wide-angle lens will force you to move up close to the subject to fill the frame, which widens the perspective and distorts the subject's features. Alternatively, with a long lens like a 200mm or 400mm you’ll have to move back, which compresses perspective and makes the subject’s features appear flat. Many digital cameras offer a portrait mode that’s worth experimenting with. Depending on the camera, this mode may automatically zoom in on the person in the frame, use soft focus to even out skin tones and minimize the background, and fire the camera’s flash unit when the shutter button is pressed.
Arrange the Scene
The focus of a portrait is a person or group and a cluttered background only distracts from this focus. Before you shoot, frame the subject in the viewfinder and check the background for anything that might draw attention away from the subject. Are there any objects with conspicuous colors or shapes? Is the subject standing in front of any tree branches or poles that, in the two-dimensional photograph, will appear to be growing out of their body? If you can’t move the subject or shoot from a different angle, open up the lens for less depth of field, which will blur the background enough to make it less obtrusive.