A Portrait from your portfolio is more or less solid in determining the character and vision of you the photographer. Shooting a good portrait is no easy task for even the professionals, one may be much proficient with handling lights and composing the picture, but what strikes most in the case of the portraits is to capture the essence and soul of the character within. If you ask me how, sometimes out of the odds, it just happens.
Both Street and Travel Photography have found their charm within our younger generation, and people are ready to experiment as well as travel for the surprises it keeps throwing at them.
In this post, I wanted to underline some of the interesting aspects behind successfully shooting a perfect portrait be it street or the travel category but utmost the most natural one. The stereotypes, rules, do’s, don’ts, and what more. Portraits are always a charm and can surprise you when you hit them right.
Photo Credit: Siddharthan Raman
#1 The Right Character
Choosing the right character or the most suitable subject for a classic travel portrait should be your foremost concern. What you shoot almost determines your photograph, there can be a brilliant light but let the light fall on the right subject to enhance the overall feel of the photograph. As a photographer, watch closely along to determine that peculiar face or the unseen character.
Shooting a beggar or an ailing person is always going to be easy for any photographer but that doesn’t prove any cause. There is always this wonderful and significant face which would thereby stay in the memories of viewers, recognizing such a face and identifying a genuine character would prove vital for any photograph.
Photo Credit: Devansh Jhaveri
Photo Credit: Arun Titan
Photo Credit: Anthony Pappone
#2 Vision and Discovery
Vision in simple words is knowing what to shoot, once you identify a character inside a person, there shouldn’t be a second thought towards capturing the photograph of the person. Your insight is very necessary, which would then convince, this is the right person whom I wish to portrait through my lens.
To attain this level of thought process and impact, it might take you some years of dedicated hard work and a theory designed by yourself towards your personal liking’s and regrets. But wait, how would you approach such a character for your portrait, how could one point a camera straight away at someone who is totally unknown and a perfect stranger.
Photo Credit: Mitchell Kanashkevich
Photo Credit: Marji Lang
Photo Credit: James Hervey
#3 Approval
Hence you found a perfect character with a specific face for your portrait, so how would you seek their approval or what are those initial steps you would rely towards capturing the portrait without losing the soul of it. This part is real tricky for any photographer, because this approval happens out of pure trust and behavior. One false step and all over you will lose the charm of the character, the ultimate quality of the soul, you wanted to shoot would disappear in seconds.
Have a warm smile and caress them through your slow actions or subtle camera movements, this is almost parallel just like being a snake charmer, act briskly and boldly in accepting their trust or vice-verse. May sound complicated but just happens naturally and once you can do that quiet often, you are already a pro.
Photo Credit: Anthony Pappone
Photo Credit: Brigidabrito
Photo Credit: Christophe Stramba-Badiali
#4 Emotion
The right mix of facial expressions, a simple action, hearty smile, a sad face or a tuning melancholy is what makes the portrait stand out and lie within our memories forever. To capture that quaint essential portrait is to capture the state of being, rather than shooting the state of action. This wonderful sense of being and the very essence of emotions through their eyes will elevate your works to an eternal stage.
You being the first admirer and appreciator of such a character, should make sure to translate the same emotions on to your photograph, so that every onlooker appreciates such a portrait and acknowledges it. Try doing this to get a personified gratefulness and immense satisfaction towards photography and you will start loving yourself.
Photo Credit: Mio Cade
Photo Credit: Devon Cummings
Photo Credit: Eric Lafforgue
#5 Practice & Patience
Practice and Patience are two most important words for any photography genre and with portraits it just gets even stiffer. Being consistent and having the flame to flow from right will reflect on your work, keep surprising yourself in every aspect of photography. Never listen to words of compromise within when settling for any art medium.
Traveling and exploring should show you wonders, numerous faces, wonderful smiles and a lot of untold stories. Show them and we all are waiting, show us what you have witnessed through your scintillating photographs.
Photo Credit: Alireza202
Photo Credit: Joey L
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2 comments
amazing set of photographs! I’m always fascinated with those crystal eyes people make. I am curious to know how do they make it? I mean I do Photography but basically not overdoing my post-processing but I just can’t seem to find a way to produce the same crystal – like eyes and sharp facial face (well focusing is one part I can do, but not as sharp as these photos are). I presume that this cannot be done naturally? (without post-processing).
Try to shoot in good light.. This is the biggest secret to best portraits..
Good light mean direction light , soft light, light through any passage which illuminates the face.. if the light is not good no camera or great lens can capture crisp sharp images.. if the light is good even a cheap kit lens can do wonders.. look for catch lights in the eyes before your shoot
and apart from that the image is sharpened during post processing…
focus is another things which you need to master.. make sure the right shutter is used in respect to your focal length… and finally practice a lot shooting in natural light before moving on to flash..