Snimanje ljudi
Photographing Individuals
Person's portrait needs to express emotions: laughter, anger, determination, grief, even dullness. Popularity of portrait photography rests in a successful ability to capture someone's expression at a certain moment and in a certain situation. One of the hardest accomplishments of the portrait photography is discovering someone's character and personality; person in its ambient or special occasion, gatherings, weddings, birthdays
, situations or with face expressions that will never reoccur in the same way again.
Prior to a photo shoot
Most people get scared of a camera. They become stiff because they wonder how they will look on the photographs. Unbounded conversation prior to shooting will relax the person; conversation about things they are interested in such as hobbies, sports, the last good movie or a play they watched, brief chat about cheerful topics. Avoid political subjects and matters that can only upset the person. Just start a conversation whether it's a kid or 80 year old grandpa, because this way they will relax more in front of you and the camera. If you don't know the person you're photographing, during your conversation look at their face. That's the way to best perceive their face grimace, reactions and body language. Very common mistake photographers make is becoming quiet when starting to photograph the person. You don't need to shoot all the time, take a moment to chat with the person from time to time. Of course, move the camera away from your face when doing that otherwise the person will not understand what you're saying.
Beginning
When photographing a person tend to express the kind of mood best suites your model at the time. Before photographing them select the background, too heavy and congested background will dominate the photograph. Try making sure its compatible with the person you're photographing.
kratko Briefly, start with simple things, white wall has the biggest advantage and that because it's easiest to lighten it up. If shooting outdoors, make sure it's in the park as green color is very pleasant to the eye.
When starting to photograph, don't pressure your model into specific poses, because you might get just opposite of what you wanted and those are bad photographs with stiff face and body expressions. If your model is restless and tries to pose their own way – let them have it. When they relax you can expect good portraits. Try changing angle and level of your camera. By changing level of your camera, you're also changing the impression of the photograph. With a low shooting angle, you're enhancing your models height but also adding its authority to the photograph. Avoid complicated poses; if you don't have many ideas browse trough a few fashion magazines and see the way other photographers do it.
Avoid full shots. Learn to frame a close up first; starting with maximum frame stretched all the way to the waist. However, everything depends on what you like. Like full shots, face close ups or face to shoulders close ups are essential as well. Keep in mind when shooting face close ups you don't need to fill the entire frame. If we position the model in the unexpected or small part of a large scene, we'll increase the effect on our photograph.
Do not forget, when photographing small children kneel down to “their level”. The rule is to photograph in the level of your models eyes, however, you don't need to delimitate yourself with rules. When photographing female part of the population avoid saying: “That's it baby, show me some a**” or “when my gang sees these photos” etc…first of all, your model will feel uncomfortable, and second, you'll sound like a fool.
In case you need to photograph someone who's not in the mood or had a bad day, rather postpone it because the photographs will probably turn out bad. And also, your model is likely to refuse posing again because
the photos didn't turn out well the first time. The same goes for you; if you don't feel like photographing, rather postpone it for another day, of course, only if possible. If shooting outdoors, remember that on sunny days from 12 – 3 pm is the worst time to do it. That's when the light drops strong shadows under eyes and chin. Also, people have trouble keeping their eyes wide open at such light conditions so you often get squinting looks. Position your model in a shade and use flash.
If it's cloudy, use flash as well. Using fill flash will lighten up the face of the person you're photographing.
Lenses
The most popular lens is 135mm, as well as any above 50mm. Under that, you get distortion, i.e. wide angle lenses like to distort a face when photographed up close. Try photographing using shutter aperture 2.8 or max 5.6 because here the model is important, not the background and by using small shutter aperture you will separate him/her from the background.
There are some pros and cons when using tele lens in portrait photography. First advantage is that you don't need a lot of flash lights; there is no need to light up the background, not even the other light. You only need to use one source of light (flash or natural light) and a light reflector. Second advantage is avoiding bad backgrounds and other elements in the scene. The flaw is losing many framing variations when photographing your model.
