In this video I'm going to share with you
the top 3 mistakes that
photographers make, when they're shooting portraits.
Welcome back everyone, my name
is Miguel Quiles, and I want to talk to
you guys today about some common
mistakes that I see photographers make
all the time, when it comes to shooting
portraits, and how you can avoid them. So
let's talk about the very first one. So
let's talk about the first mistake that
I see that people make all the time,
which is not communicating with the
model! So we often, as photographers are
worried about our camera settings, and
all of the technicalities of taking a
great photo. However in the process of
doing that, we can't forget to talk to
our models, because if we don't talk to
them their mind runs rampant, and goes
into places where you don't want them to
go as a photographer. Let me give you an
example
Let's see... let's zoom into this photo,
let's make sure eyes are in focus..
lighting looks a little bit off here.. Oh
man I hope that was okay! My hair you
think it's my hair is that why he's
making that face, maybe leave the light a
little bit farther back. I didn't get
enough sleep last night I wonder if he
can see it in my eyes? So as you can see
even though as a photographer you might
be thinking that they're not really
worried about anything, or they're ready
to go, you know they are going to be
thinking about anything and everything
under the Sun! And you want to keep them
from doing that because you're not going to
get good expressions out of them. You
want to get genuine expressions, and in
order to do that you have to constantly
be talking to the model. Telling them
they're doing a good job, just reassuring
them and reaffirming that everything is
going to be okay. Now the second mistake
that I see that is really common when it
comes to shooting portraits, is not
getting the eyes in focus. Now I was
guilty of doing this when I first
started in photography. I would use the
center focus option, and oftentimes when
you're taking a portrait, it's center is
their chest, or their stomach, or you know
some other part of their body, and not
their face! And so as a result what would
end up happening is you get the eyes
soft and out-of-focus, so it's very
important that you use your camera's
features. Whether it be selective focus
or if you're shooting with a Sony Camera
using the I Autofocus feature, to make
sure that your eyes are tack sharp, and
in focus every single time.
Alright let's talk about the third
common mistake that I see when it comes
to shooting portraits, and that's not
having the eyes looking in the right direction.
So I'll give you an example of what that
looks like! It's very common for either
models or subjects when you're
photographing them especially if they're
kind of nervous and shy, they won't look
at the camera. They won't engage directly
with the camera. So you tend to get a lot
of poses that kind of look like this.
Where they're looking away from the
camera or they're looking in this
direction, away from the camera and what
also tends to happen is they'll look
this way, and then their eyeballs will
look in the opposite direction. I'm going
to show you guys an example on the
screen of what that looks like, but what
ends up happening is - if they're looking
away from the camera, and their eyes are
looking away from the camera as well,
You're going to see a lot of white area on
the eye, and it's going to be one of those
things where once you see it, you can't
unsee it as a viewer. So you want to make
sure that you tell your models that
whatever direction it is that their nose
is pointing, that the eyes are pointing
in that same direction as well! You don't
want to have the nose going in one
direction, and the eyes shifted going in
a different direction, because it will
create too much of a white space in the
eyes, and it's not going to look good. So
tell them look in the same direction
that your nose is pointing, and you will
get much better portraits. So that was
three common portrait mistakes that
photographers make all the time, and
hopefully some different ideas and ways
for you to be able to alleviate that.
What are some common mistakes that you
guys see? Or maybe that you make yourself
when you're shooting portraits? Leave
that in the comments section below,
because I'd love to hear it and possibly
make a video about that later in the
future. By the way while you're here
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all in the next episode bye everybody.