8 tips portrait photographers should try

In this blog, I’ll be talking about 8 tips that could really help you when taking portrait pictures. You don’t have to do all 8 just do whichever one you like or feel comfortable with.

1. Add accessories

Adding accessories to the model can really empathize some parts of the picture. If you think your photograph is looking a bit bland, just add a bit of accessories. Don’t add anything that could possibly take the attention away from the model.

2. Get on the model’s level

Capturing a picture at the same level as the model will make the picture come out way better. You don’t always have to take pictures from a high angle. It’s also scientifically proven that when you’re viewing a photo where the model is basically at your level, you’ll feel more at ease looking at the photo. Make sure you and the model are both at the same eye level. If the model is standing, you can ask them to bend down to your level or vice versa.

ABOVE THE MODEL

EYE LEVEL

3. Remove hair from around the neck

Having hair around the neck sometimes looks like they don’t have a neck. Moving the hair behind the neck can also elongate the neck. You would want to do this especially if the model is wearing earrings or necklaces.

4. Remove tension from around mouth (and shoulders)

Sometimes models would have tension around the mouth and the shoulders and that’s not very comfortable to look at. You can ask the model to softly blow from out of their mouths and it’ll make the model look a bit more relaxed. You don’t want the model to look tensed or forced, so have then loosened their shoulders.

5. Don’t crop in camera

A lot of people prefer to crop in camera instead of when editing. Just take a step back to get more of the background, so that way when you’re editing, you can see if it needs to be cropped or not. I think it’s better to crop while you’re editing because that way you don’t have to be committed to the picture. If you don’t like the picture cropped then undo it.

6. Shoot through some stuff

This is something that I’ve been talking about a lot. You can just hold something up against the lens or have the lens look through something, like a sun catcher.

7. Watch the hands

When doing some retouching on the model, it’s very hard to retouch the hands when the palm is showing but it’s easier if the back of the hand was showing instead. Also, just like the mouth and the shoulders, make sure the hand isn’t tensed. It just looks very awkward when the hand is tensed.

8. Turn in a circle

When looking for the perfect lighting, have the model turn in a circle and move with them to see which way is the perfect lighting. You do that because sometimes you get harsh lighting and soft lighting. Once you found the perfect lighting, you don’t have to just stick to that one angle, move around and play around with the different lighting.