(upbeat music)
- My best tip for portrait photography
is just to learn how to connect with people.
- Get to know your subjects.
- Treat the model like a human being.
- Know the person, know the human being
before you take the photograph.
- Ultimately, ya know, everything comes down to
your communication with your subject.
- Portrait photography is about a connection,
that's the difference between doing a portrait of somebody
and a photograph of somebody on the street.
- Now you might only be photographing them for a few minutes
but you've gotta make that connection
or else you'll see the eyes are just, like,
"what am I having for lunch?
"I wanna get out of here,"
versus really working with you.
- [Brian] If you really wanna do a portrait,
learn to approach strangers
and explain why you wanna photograph them
and get them in front of your lens.
- Take the time, introduce yourself,
find out their name, what they're interested in.
- Breaking that ice, and getting to know your subjects
opens up a whole new world in terms of
the quality of work you're gonna get.
- I think it's important to go in knowing what you want
but then be open to spontaneity.
- The person you're photographing
is not just a photon reflector.
They're a collaborator, we have to work together
to create good photographs.
- I'll often keep my camera in my bag,
and I'll walk around a given area
and I'll find someone I find interesting
that I feel I wanna photograph,
and I'll try to sit down, and if I
if they try to speak the language
I'll try to have a conversation,
if they don't, ya know, you try to,
you try to play, like, professional charades.
But you're willing to put forth the effort.
- And your energy can convey everything that you need it to.
So, even if you're not gonna communicate with words,
your energy should communicate what you want.
- That person has entrusted you with
making their likeness in a way
that they're gonna be proud of.
- People wanna remember a special moment,
and you need an expression to do that.
I'll let the light go, I'll let the depth of field go,
I'll let anything go if the expression is there.
- [Me Ra] The key is that everyone is having a good time,
and if the kids are having a great time,
that will translate in the photos.
It's honestly, in working with kids,
to use a higher voice,
(laughs)
the higher tone kids respond to more.
Is to look like you're having fun,
because if you look stressed,
kids don't wanna follow you there
and you're, you're a leader, they're following you, ya know?
Like a Pied Piper.
I would also suggest getting a great shot of mom,
because she's often the one who books the shoot,
she's the one who cares about it and invests in it,
and so just to end it with making her feel
beautiful, recognized, acknowledged,
that is, that is a must.
- Part of the thing that makes a great portrait
is being able to engage with the subject.
People engage with the subject based on their eyes,
they look directly into the eyes,
and if the eyes are out of focus,
it's a little disconcerting.
You need to make sure that your subject's eyes are in focus.
Using the Sony cameras you can go ahead
and use your eye auto-focus
and it always ensures that, ya know, the eye's in focus
so, I don't have to think about it that much these days
it kind of does all that for me,
but for portrait shooters that might be
shooting something else,
you should probably get a Sony and get eye auto-focus.
(laughs)
- Fill the frame with the person,
separate them from their background.
If you can separate them from their background
what you've just now done is
you've drawn attention to that person in the photo,
no matter what they're standing in front of,
with that 2.8 70-200, even the F4,
that background's gonna get blurry.
So, I'd say separation is such a big key
because it takes your photo from that,
I grabbed my phone and just, click,
and grabbed a quick shot, to it to,
it takes it to a whole nother level,
cause when people look at that photo
it has a whole different feel to it.
- I find myself usually using a wider lens,
a 35 or a 50 or a 24 are kinda my go to lenses
for shooting portraits.
It gives way to a bit more of a landscape.
When I'm shooting a portrait,
I love to shoot it out in the field,
and I wanna show a piece of that landscape,
to give essence of why we're there.
- When I do portrait photography
of local people and cultural environments,
I try to use a wider lens
and put my subject close to the lens
and let the wide angle effect give me some background,
show a sense of place, show the person in their environment.
The other thing is, I don't shoot many portraits vertically.
I don't like a vertical subject in a vertical box,
there's no dynamic there.
So I do a lot of my portraits horizontally,
which is close to a cinematic effect.
- My best tip for portrait photography,
specifically with bands,
is to bring alcohol to the shoot
and be liberal with the libations.
I know that sounds kind of like a joke,
but it's, it's true.
It makes for some really good shoots.
I mean, you don't wanna overdo it of course.
(upbeat music)