Informal portraiture - advice and inspiration please!

Deleted user 26 March 2006 13:10:39

I've been asked to do some portraits for someone - but not very formal as such - we're going to go down by the river and All Saints Church in Putney and just 'brainstorm' shots. I'm a bit nervous about it as I haven't done a lot of work with 'people', especially people I'm not good friends with already (this is an actress I met on a short film that is happy to pose for me, as long as we get a few nice headshots out of it). I know you havve to be very communicative with them to get them to open up and try new things but I always feel like I sound like a twat directing them. Just my neuroses I suppose. I'll get over it.

In the meantime, anyone got any links to good informal portraiture to get my inspiration going?

Cheers!

patlike 26 Mar 2006 14:31:26 920 posts
Seen 14 years ago
Registered 18 years ago

It's all about light, I think, and natural light is always more flattering than flash. Standard practice is to shoot from slightly above the eye and make the subject look into the lens. This opens the eye. To be honest, though, it really depends on what she's actually going to use them for.

Wedding peeps usually reckon the most flattering setting is "open shade," as the subject will squint in bright light. I'd use a wide aperture to get a nice, small DOF, hit the eye dead on focus and consider using a prime. otto has some very nice examples of his daughter and father in law someone shot with a 50mm prime.

And you can never go wrong with making people laugh, especially if they're trying to be serious. Even a small joke will make them beam. Like I said though, it depends on what she's going to use them for. You'll be fine, innit. Your other shots are awesome, so you can't go wrong

terminalterror 26 Mar 2006 14:58:19 18,932 posts
Seen 2 weeks ago
Registered 20 years ago

Just remember that once she isn't wearing any clothes you've taken things too far...

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