The Gear that Makes Portrait Digital Photography Great |
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Written by IDP Editorial
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Friday, 20 June 2008 03:42 |
 The difference between good portrait photography and great portrait photography is not technical skill; it’s the ability to develop rapport with people. Great portrait photographers care about people and have a genuine curiosity about the people they meet and can connect with them in just a few minutes. After a one-hour session, these photographers sometimes know more about the subject's life than their friends and family.
The art of great portrait photography is built on the equipment but it can be costly. For instance the film for a 20x24 Polaroid camera costs about $50/exposure, so your ability to connect with your subject can afford you to take two exposures. When you are using a digital camera most photographers fill the flash card with at least 50 images in the pursuit of yielding one photo that truly expresses the essence of a subject.
When you hear the term “portrait photography” usually the image of a professional studio comes to mind. If you are seriously interested in pursuing this field, and you can’t create a photo studio, you can focus your attention on showing the subject and their surroundings or environmental portraiture.
This type of portrait photography works best when you can enlarge the final image to a minimum size of 11x14 inches: any smaller thank this and the subject's face will be too small. And the technique of taking photos that will enlarge well takes an incredible amount of skill. To achieve this result use a mid-range digital SLR, a low ISO setting, tripod and a prime rather than zoom setting.
You should also consider the fact that there are two components to studio portrait photography. The first task is to control the background. This will help you to your focus attention on your subject by eliminating distracting elements in the frame. Although a neutral seamless background may not be appealing, using this technique is effective.
A gray backdrop may not produce the best portraits but you will be less likely to make a mistake and you will see anything within the frame that will detract from the portrait. That doesn’t mean you have to build a special room to control the background. Today there are many alternatives from backdrops that you can transport to any location along with backdrop supports that you can buy or assemble.
But there are times when you simple cannot control the background. If you find yourself in this situation, you can get creative and use a long fast lens, for instance a 300/2.8. This technique can work because fast telephoto lenses don’t have depth of field. The facial features of your subject will be sharp, but everything else will be blurred into muted shapes of color.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 24 August 2008 13:15 )
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