7 Tips for Photographers Who Never Photograph People – Many wishes to persuade photography as a hobby or profession. The catch is without enough amount of technical knowledge, it may seem to be a bit difficult. So, to be a practicing photographer, one must acquire some necessary skills that would help you to take a proper picture. Because photography is more of a skill than a talent to be called. If one wants to be a photographer with no technical knowledge regarding it, he must be acknowledged with the basic techniques of photography and follow the primary grammar of it. So here go some essential tips of photography for those who usually do not photograph people.

 

Keep It Realistic

If you want to take a proper picture of a person, you must keep this in mind that the photo must be taken in a realistic form. You don’t need to exaggerate things around them or make them look unreal. It’s better kept in a sensible yet straightforward version. Being an amateur, you shouldn’t expect too much out of yourself.

For example, you want to take a portrait you don’t need to make the person look something extra-ordinary. You better try to take the picture in a way so that the person seems like the way he or she is. That is what is going to make the portrait look more beautiful and appropriate.

As an amateur, it’s better if you don’t go for experimenting with a lot of things at once. It would be more appreciable if you follow the primary directions or composition rules to take proper portraits. Once you learn the composition rules accordingly, you will be able to see the improvement in your work thoroughly. Till then, keep things simple.

 

Let There Be Light

Proper usage of light is one of the most crucial things regarding photography. And while talking about taking portraits, a brief discussion about the appropriate use of light is a compulsory thing. Without the proper use of light, a picture cannot be even judged. And while discussing the use of light, there can be two kinds of light. One of them is artificial, and another one is natural. And learning to use both properly is a compulsory thing. 

Artificial lights are generally very directional. For taking a proper picture of people in natural light, it also needs to be very directional as well. And that’s the trick to learn about. For a good photograph, the natural light also should be directional accordingly.

While shooting outdoor, the direction of light is essential as well. The subject must be faced with the source of light, and that is going to help to take the proper and beautiful kind of photograph for sure. For example, In the case of open fields, most of the time, the light comes from above head. In that case, if the face of the subject is slightly upward toward the light, then you could see the picture to be perfect, and the use of the sun is going to be effective.

Regarding light, the time of the day is another important thing for taking good photographs. And the golden hour is a real existing thing. Most importantly, it’s free and possibly the best quality light any photographer will ever use only if one can use it appropriately. An hour before sunset, the entire sky is one substantial soft box. And that gets you the best pictures with no doubt.

On the other hand, Harsh light that results from direct sunlight is complicated to work with. These are the very primary concepts regarding views but must be dealt with as the most important ones. So, these concepts regarding the proper use of light shall be adequately learned if you wish to learn to photograph people accordingly.

 

Simplicity Is the Best

As an amateur, when you wish to take a photograph, you must try your level best to keep everything simple. From the background to the props, the outfits, accessories, everything is better kept simple. You must not go for exaggeration initially. Give yourself a running start out of the gate by having a solid foundation to work with. Try to keep the background flat; so is the horizon line. Make sure they don’t run through people’s heads. Try to keep the colors simple and the lights appropriate.

The focus shall always be on the subject. And all the other focused details shall be related to the subject. Whether it’s a portrait of just the face or a figure, everything else lying out there shall either complement the subject or just some extra decor. If not so then make sure that is completely disappeared in the viewer’s eyes. In a word, stop experimenting too much and keep simplifying.

 

Shooting from Eye Level and At an Angle

To take a proper photograph, it is highly recommended to capture it from an appropriate angle and capture it from the eye level. For the best kind of shot, you better shoot it from the subject’s same eye level or above.

It is often seen that people kneel and look up at the subject while it remains standing. But this is certainly not the appropriate thing to do. So, the practice of taking pictures from the eye level is an essential thing to acquire as a photographer.

Another important thing is, taking a picture of the subject straight on is something which is really unflattering and often may lose interest. Following the face directions of the subject is going to be no only much more forgiving to the issue, but also will make a more professional finished portrait.

 

Commanded Expression Never Works

Remember the time someone asked you to smile at a camera, you did and later you found out that the portrait was not even close to your expectation? That was not for you being not beautiful enough, that was mostly for the forced expression. An authentic portrait is genuine at its very least.

You must make sure of the comfort zone of the subject. If the subject is not comfortable enough, the picture might not come out to be good. It is going to come out well if the expression is more natural than made up. It would be best if you never forced or command your feelings or agenda onto the subject. For example, let a smile come from the subject themselves. Even if you are going for a serious tone and the subject is not being able to understand or least expect it, you better off engaging them into a conversation than putting them under pressure for a single second of utter perfection.

And when a photograph comes out with natural expression, it is going to be more realistic and perfect because it is real itself.

 

Check Your Camera Settings

Photography gears are amazing and it is always fun to doodle around with the settings. Initially, it is better if you take just one lens and one camera body on the shoot. The less equipment you are carrying, the more you will be able to concentrate on every other aspect. People are more into seeing a creative portrait than seeing a technically perfect picture, don’t they?

Every DSLR comes with an aperture priority mode, f-stop, and ISO that can be chosen by the photographer. In contrast, the camera wants the right shutter speed to expose the image properly. So, it is less time consuming than re-adjusting all the manual settings every time the location is switched.

 

Photoshop: Not Right Now

It might be fun to use Photoshop on the pictures you have taken, as it is full of options and diversity. But as a beginner, it is better if you don’t involve too much of Photoshop in your photographs. You are a beginner and you are supposed to make mistakes. Let yourself see the mistakes, don’t overshadow it with the black and white filters every time.

If you must, you can just clean up blemishes with the spot healing brush tool, run a basic sharpen, and adjust your color and levels if needed.

 

Last Words

Hopefully, this gives you a very beginner level of instructions for taking a decent photograph for now, more precisely a portrait for the people who are not much acknowledged about photography. By following these primary instructions, you might not win any portrait photography award by the next month, but it gives you the lead to the right path. So, what are you waiting for? Go out with your camera and take some amazing portraits of the beautiful people around. If you think your friends should also know about these, please do share with them as well.

 

7 Tips for Photographers Who Never Photograph People

Published by
Clipping Path House – CPH Graphics Media
https://www.clippingpathhouse.com

 

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