Basics of Portrait Photography:
Face, Place, Clothes, Pose
Selfies have their time and place. But a real considered portrait requires more.
A portrait is more than a picture of what you look like. ?In a portrait facial expression, location, choices in clothing and accessories and posing all come together to show who you are. Portraits can be an exploration and affirmation of who you are.
As part of the process, we begin by planning to set goals for your portrait session. ?Going over different styles and choices in portraiture, we’ll make a place on how we can best collaborate on making a memorable, compelling and striking portrait of you.
Here are the four main components of a portrait.
FACE
Expression. ?Most of that is on me: making you comfortable enough that you can relax, enjoy the portrait session and still look like you.
Catching an authentic moment, that doesn’t feel forced. ?There are subtleties and nuances in facial expression while they are challenging to name and define – they are easy to spot.
So much can be read into how you hold the muscles around your mouth and your eyes. ?They convey emotion.
PLACE
The environment in which you are pictured. ?This can be a choice of flat color for the background, or making the choice to include the natural environment. ?There a portrait is taken impacts both the comfort level of the person getting their portrait made and also the narrative of the image.
CLOTHES
Wardrobe choices are dependent on where you want to use the portrait. ?Is it for marketing purposes? ?Is it to reach a specific client base? ?Is it for you? ?The styling choices in wardrobe and hair and make up set the tone for the portrait.
POSE
So much of a portrait comes down to body language – which is posture and posing.
Do you look comfortable? Confident? ?Do you want to look mysterious or moody?
Body language is tied to the emotion and tone of the portrait that is being projected.
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