Be the hit of the holidays with some nifty photo skills.
There are many things that contribute to the perfect portrait: lighting, makeup, poses, etc…. So, during this holiday season, we thought we’d offer a few simple tips for the novice photographer when snapping photos of family and friends.
SUBJECT VS BACKGROUND
Have you ever seen someone taking a photo of a loved one, only to hear them say, “stand up against this wall and I’ll take your photo?” This can really separate a good photo from a great photo. Moving your subject away from a wall will give some depth to the photo and make the subject stand out.
Another thing to keep in mind is the scale of the subject. For example, what if you’re trying to photograph someone in front of their new home? Because the house is so much larger than your subject, you’ll need to move the person closer to the camera to keep them from looking like an ant in the photo. Try framing up the house first, then having your subject move toward you until you’re only seeing them from the waist up. This way you’ll see both their new home on one side of the frame and some good detail of the person in other half of the frame.
ZOOM IN = FLATTERING
Most digital cameras have a built-in zoom lens. By pulling a little lever (usually marked W & T) you can change from wide-angle to telephoto. When taking a portrait of someone, they will almost always look better when photographed in telephoto vs. wide-angle.
See for yourself. Take a portrait of someone with your lens at full wide-angle and then reframe the shot and take another photo at full telephoto. Compare the photos and you’ll notice that the wide-angle version distorts the face, pulling the nose out and away from the rest of the face – not very flattering. The telephoto does just the opposite – it flattens the face and makes for a more pleasing look.
So next time you grab the camera to snap a holiday memory, remember to consider your background, scale and when to use the telephoto setting.
