The Christmas holiday is almost upon us, so now’s your chance to impress all the family with your portrait photography skills. Over Christmas you’ll most likely be visiting, or be visited by your nearest and dearest (whether you like it or not…!) so why not take the opportunity to take some great portraits. You may not end up with all the gifts that you’d hoped for, but you’ll have some great shots to play around with. Check out camera advice’s tips; and for more words of wisdom on taking portraits click this Digital Photography School link to have a look at the ‘Essential Guide to Portrait Photography’ e-book.
So, what are the most important points to remember about taking great Christmas Portraits?
© ChewyChua’s @ Flickr
Preparation:
1. Remember to charge the batteries for your camera and flash (if you have a separate flash unit). This may sound obvious but you’d be surprised how easy it is to forget when you have so much else to remember.
2. Take spare batteries and memory cards for back up. You may well have enough space on your memory card but what if it some how gets corrupted? A spare is always useful.
3. What’s the story? Are you going to depict the day in a relaxed reportage style or are you going to shoot posed pictures of everybody dressed up? Maybe you’ll take a shot of each person with his or her favourite present. Although this idea may be the cause of World War III amongst your family, a theme often strengthens the impact of a series of pictures.
4. Tell everybody what you are thinking of doing before you arrive. Some people can be a bit funny about being photographed. If you warn them in advance then they can prepare themselves.
© AbbysTuTuFactory @ Flickr
Shooting:
1. What is your portrait going to say / portray? Does your subject need to be laughing, straight faced; maybe he or she has just opened a present and has the wrapping paper in their lap.
2. Think about the background. It is easy to forget that the background adds to the story of the picture. Also, make sure that it doesn’t look too messy for your shot.
3. Make sure that the lighting is how you want it. If you are going to use ambient light then make sure your camera has the ISO/ASA capabilities to cope if you are shooting indoors. If you are going to use flash then make sure that it not going to overpower the background light (such as a Christmas tree) if you want that to be part of your shot.
4. Check the depth of field. Do you want the subject and background in focus or does the background distract from the subject? If it does then use a shallow depth of field to stop it from being so distracting.
5. Make sure that you have a fast enough shutter speed. You don’t want check your pictures later on a large screen and find out that they are all ‘soft’.
6. Think about what lens you are using. If you are going to go close in on someone’s face then use a longer focal length lens. If you use a wide-angle lens close up with a portrait then it will look distorted.
7. Crop close into your subject. You’ll find your portraits will generally be stronger without lots of background around them.
8. Have a bit of fun with the composition. Photography courses are always going on about rules of composition. Why not try breaking those rules and see what results that you get. You might find something interesting that you never thought you’d like.
© Burnsland @ Flickr
9. Relax your subject. Portraits always look better when your subject looks comfortable or purposeful. Maybe give them something to hold, or talk to them while you are taking the shot. Do not let them talk too much though, or you will end up with lots of pictures of them pulling odd faces.
10. Don’t leave anybody out! It might be fun to include some of the less obvious family members.
© invisghost @ Flickr
11. Don’t overstay your welcome. Your subject will eventually get tired of being photographed. Try to be sensative to this. Once they are over it you’re pictures will probably reflect this.
Some of these suggestions will seem fairly obvious to experienced photographers but I think it is a pretty good checklist for strong portraits. If you want to read more about taking great portraits click this Digital Photography School link to have a look at the ‘Essential Guide to Portrait Photography’ e-book. This book has recently been released and is getting great reviews.
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