PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

My main goal in portrait photography is to capture the personality and essence of the subject, which requires getting to know something about them. Sometimes it helps to conduct the photoshoot in the sitters home, or workplace where they feel more comfortable and at ease. Better still is to get your subject to hold something familiar to them, such as a pet, musical instrument or something personal. Find out what their passion is and get them involved with it, and then start taking the photos. When I want to visually isolate the sitter from their surroundings, I use a fast (wide aperture) telephoto lens at around f2.8. I may want to show the surroundings, and how they relate to the sitter, so I often use a wide angle lens and a higher f stop, f16 or f22 to bring everything into focus. Lighting is a very important consideration and adds to the mood of the photograph. Soft or dramatic light, low or back lighting can be very effective. Following are a few examples of my portraits...