These ideas on how to make your portrait photography better came from Photo.net (
http://www.photo.net/learn/portraits/ ). I didn't include the complete article because a lot of it had to do with equipement for professional portrait photographers. But these points apply to anyone trying to make a good picture of a person.
Sharon
1. The most important thing about portrait photography is an interest in your subject.
2. A controlled background. You want to focus attention on your subject and avoid distracting elements in the frame. If you absolutely cannot control the background, the standard way to cheat is to use a long fast lens, e.g., 300/2.8. Fast telephoto lenses have very little depth of field. Your subject's eyes and nose will be sharp. Everything else that might have been distracting will be blurred into blobs of color.
3.Controlled lighting. Park your subject next to a large window and put a white reflecting card on the other side. Don't forget the tripod, because you'll probably be forced to use slow shutter speeds. The most flattering light for most portraits is soft and off-camera. A large north-facing window works. If your subject is outdoors, an overcast day is best. If the day is sunny, make sure to use a reflector or electronic flash to fill in shadows underneath the eyes.
4. If you want to flatter your subject, you'll probably want to deemphasize his nose. That means you want to stand at 10 or 15 feet away from him so that his nose isn't significantly closer to you than the rest of his face. However, at such a large distance from the camera, filling the frame with just your subject's face will require a high magnification (i.e., telephoto) lens. Typical "portrait" lenses are therefore between 90 and 135 millimeters long (for 35mm cameras).
5. If the photo captures something that you remember about a person, there is no need to show the whole face clearly. The photo may have a lot of meaning to friends and family even if it doesn't communicate much to a stranger.
6. Give your subjects some room. Don't crop too tightly.
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Comments are always welcome!
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The Ginger beer is very good . I'm hanging by a thread with the smoking at the moment Tom, it seems to be getting harder instead of easier & I'm a weak sod. Still onward & upward
