Simple Tips For Portrait Photography

Portrait photography looks simple but needs lot of techniques and artistic vision. But the initial and most important challenge is the selection of subject  Here we are discussing some very basic but inevitable points to shoot some awesome portraits of interesting faces specially in street photography.

Selection Of Subject

The most crucial moment for a portrait photographer is the selection of subject. Most of the time it is your personal decision and reflects your interests, education, vocabulary  and demand. A face having depth and shine in eyes, a girl with beautiful hair, a boy with gloomy eyes, an old woman with wrinkles on her face or an old man having turban or hat on his head may be the good subjects. Some time you are on an assignment and need a specific face which may be the key shot of your report. Picture of Sharbat Gula    or Afghan girl is an example here. No doubt it is a glorious portrait with expressions and deep sea green eyes but its real importance was attached to its link with world’s political situation.  When you are in a street for photography you must be keen enough to search for interesting faces. People walking around in the streets and festivals are mostly in a hurry and you have to decide quickly to have a candid shot of an interesting face.

Personally when ever I go for documentary photography in rural festivals like village fairs and seasonal celebrations, I always look for some face that is unusual, interesting and graceful. Your subject must reflect the grace of your land.

Sometimes when I am in search of portraits of some malangs( mystic men ) I choose very clean, healthy and graceful faces. Subjects with big and attractive eyes are of my special interest. Bright clear eyes give a good catch light feel which is one of the most important element of a good portrait.

Kids are very popular subject for portrait photography. Kids to be shoot must have innocent look. Crook and over smart children never be a good subject. On the other hand subjects must not have a stupid look.

A subject have depth and attraction in his eyes is always a good choice. Sunken, lifeless eyes are the worst element in a portraits and should be avoided unless you are shooting some celebrity with these features. As other elements of photography, choice of subject also reflects your personality, mood,state of mind and and environment in which you are living or shooting. A dirty nomad boy with running nose may be an interesting subject for some one but I personally never shoot such faces. I always go for some cleaner and presentable looks.

Shooting cultural portraits looks just easy and a point and shoot job. But I felt a tough choice while I was shooting in Kalash Valleys of Chitral District Pakistan. Kalash Girls are famous in the world for their beauty and cultural dresses but it gave me a tough time to select a unique face among the otherwise monotonous beauty.

Any subject which do not have captivating expressions is useless  and in my opinion portrait photography is all about expressions. “How you shoot” is very important but “when you shoot” is more important in portrait photography. I normally take an initial picture of the subject which is not my final picture. Just a while after the first click, subject becomes relax, gives very natural expression and I shoot my final shot.

So while you prepare for portrait photography you must have lot of vocabulary of the subjects and faces you are going to shoot and must have a clear vision about the final pictures you want to have in your bag. Vocabulary is necessary not to copy the portraits you have in mind but to create something different and stunning following the basics of portrait photography.

The post Some Very Practical Tips For Choosing Subject In Portrait Photography appeared first on Razaq Vance Art Photography .

WHAT IS DEPTH -OF -FIELD? 

                   “Depth Of Field  is the zone of sharpness in your image”. This is the simplest definition of DOF.  

HOW TO GET DESIRED DOF?           

 There are different situation in photography when you need different DOF. Some time you need pin sharp images from top to bottom and at others you want to single out the main subject from the background. All that can be achieved by just one adjustment on your DSL. As a rule i.e by changing aperture size,  DOF changes.

 As a rule when you tighten the aperture depth of field would increase and as you open it DOF will decrease. Another point is when you increase the f value for your lens it tightens the aperture and when you decrease the f value then aperture opens up. So at f32, aperture is in its tightest condition with maximum DOF and at f2 at most open with minimum DOF.    

DEPTH OF FIELD IN LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

Landscapes photography needs full depth of field especially in the sweeping landscapes which are having interesting elements both in top and bottom. For example you a landscape with flowers or stones in the foreground and a peak at distant needs a pin sharp image throughout. The technique to achieve that is to tighten the aperture up to f/16 or even f22. Use of tripod is must because a tight aperture will reduce the shutter speed and there is a chance of camera shake. Wide angle lenses have more depth of field than the tele- zooms, so use a wide angle lens for landscape photography like that.  

DEPTH OF FIELD IN PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY  

Those portraits are considered excellent in which your subject is standout from the background. To throw the subject out of focus you need to do is a reverse than landscape. Open up the aperture to its maximum. Cheaper lenses have maximum aperture of f/ 2.8. Sometime f/4 also works nicely.  Costly lenses have wider aperture and give more shallow depth of field so more dramatic portraits. One thing must keep in mind that always try to focus eyes of the subject while shooting portraits.

DEPTH OF FIELD IN MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY

Macro lenses by default have shallow depth of field as they can focus at very minute distances. In maximum situations you need a clean and less messy background to show your subject in full details. Some time you want show only the mouth parts of an insect. In these conditions use a wider aperture. In case you need to show the bristles on the body of an insect and you want whole butterfly should be sharp then use a tight aperture and try to keep the subject away from messy background. 

HOW TO KNOW THE DEPTH OF FIELD AT EACH APERTURE.

 Almost every DSLR have a” depth- of- field -preview “button. There are some charts and tables showing depth of field  DOF at each step for different focal length lenses with each aperture reading for different focal length lenses.  You can consult these charts or can use DOF button to get required area sharp.

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Graceful Faces

People of Pakistan are graceful and handsome both from appearance and by heart. This pictures is from a village fair. I saw these two graceful Punjabi men with turbans in a mela bazar and request for a shot. They allowed with a smile and become a bit tense while I shoot.

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Black And White Portrait

A farmer was in deep thinking and looked worried about his crops. He was smoking “hooqa”, a local form of smoking pipe. I chose to make it a black and white portrait that was the demand of the subject.

The post BLACK AND WHITE PORTRAIT OF A FARMER FROM ASIA appeared first on Razaq Vance Art Photography .

A Face From Village Festival

Village festivals in Punjab Pakistan are rich in cultural activities and festivity. Theses melas are a rich source of entertainment for the villagers. Many theaters and games are the part of daily activities. These village festivals are the hub of different faces with multiethnic backgrounds. this young man was a member of a theater team and I exposed him while wandering in the mela bazaar at day time.

The post PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY AND A FACE FROM A VILLAGE FESTIVAL IN PUNJAB appeared first on Razaq Vance Art Photography .

A Nomad Boy

Nomads have a tough life. The toughness of their life reflected from their faces. This boy have sorrow and sadness in his eyes.

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Beauty Of Hunza Kids

Hunza valley Pakistan is famous for its amazing landscape beauty. But few people know that this valley have amazingly beautiful and innocent inhabitants. People of Hunza valley are hospitable and kind for the tourists. Beauty of Hunza kids is famous world over. These kids have smiling innocent faces and enjoy good health due to ample availability of fruit and mineralized water of of the valley.

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