Portrait PhotographyDay 1

Portrait Photography

“A portrait! What could be more simple and more complex, more obvious and more profound.” - 

Charles Baudelaire

“Portraiture is a window to the soul”

Holding Virgina - Sally Mann

Types of Portraits

Candid PosedFormalCoupleEnvironmentalSportingChildrenGroup

When we speak of portrait photography in general terms there's a tendency to overlook the sub-categories. From the strictly formal to the candid street shot. Here is a range of the more common types of portrait photography.

Candido un-posed andunplanned photo 

Posed Communication

between photographer and the subject about the body position and expression

Formal Communication between

photographer and the subject regarding clothing, location, style and mood

Couple Interpretation of a relationship

between two people

Hiroshima, August of 1945

Small Group Interpretation of a

common bond between members of a group

Environmental An environmental portrait shows the subject(s) in their own

territory.

Sporting shows the subject with their uniform, equipment

in their sporting environment. The important factor is to let the equipment and

location tell part of the story.

Children

HOMEWORK Look through magazines for your favorite

musicians or actors Bring 3 photographs to class that you feel

show their true character.

Portrait PhotographyDay 2

Looking at Examples from Magazines

Answer the question below for each example you brought in: What type of portrait is this? Explain your

answer.

Portrait Tips Choosing the Right Background Focus on the Eyes Lighting, Lighting and more Lighting Change the Format Framing Alter Your Perspective Experiment with Subject Expressions “Play” with focus Give Your Subject Space to Look Into Reflection & Shadow Movement Get serious

Choosing the Right Background

Focus on the Eyes

“the eyes are the window to the soul”

Lighting, Lighting and more Lighting Lighting is the most important element in any photo composition

and sets the mood, feeling and character of your photo.

Change the Format Framing Mix your framing

Alter Your Perspective completely

change the angle that you shoot from

Experiment with Subject Expressions

Same shot+different focus=different story

(UN)Focus It adds

some mystery to the image

Give Your Subject Space to Look Into

Reflection & Shadow

Movement Use movement

to show action, even if it blurs out the subject entirely.

Get serious Not all

portraits need to have a smile, capture the serious emotions too

but not too serious….

Now it’s your turn! Brainstorm what type of portrait

photographs you would like to take for your project What do you want to capture about your subject? What makes your model an individual? What message do you want to get across to your

audience?

Portrait PhotographyDay 3

Next Steps: Sketch out how you are going to create a

successful portrait. Take at least 30 photos of your model. Make a contact sheet of all of your photos. Choose 3 that you would like to enlarge for

printing. Enlarge your 3 photos and turn in to be

printed in color.