What are the Most Important Tips for Taking Great Portraits of People?

1. 79

   J.S.Matthewposted 12 years ago

   What are the Most Important Tips for Taking Great Portraits of People?

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2. 61

   andyhudsonphotoposted 12 years ago

   Hi, thanks for getting in touch and asking a great question.
   
   I think there are many things but my own personal style is to try and tell a story.  If you look at my Avatar you'll see a guitarist upside down on a sofa... it's the back story the viewer makes in their own mind that brings people in to the picture and captures their attention.
   
   Many people will say to blur the background as much as possible to remove any distracting elements... there's nothing wrong with that, but what about trying to include the environment to create a scene?
   
   Using my avatar again as an example, a sofa tipped on its back isn't the most obvious prop to use in a photo, but instead of trying to get it as far out of shot as possible I thought I'd go for something a little more creative and see if I could use it as a positive element of the shot.  Luckily I had a willing model and the wobbly crates I had to stand on to get the right angle didn't fall over! 
   
   So for me the most important tip I can give is to always try and tell a story, or set a scene... and I guess find a model who is prepared to indulge any strange ideas you may have about hanging upside down on a scrapped sofa :-D
   
   Hope this helps
   
   Many thanks
   Andy Hudson
   
   www.andyhudsonphotography.co.uk

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3. 85

   DzyMsLizzyposted 12 years ago

   Taking good photographic portraits is explained in this article.  How to get natural smiles, use of backgrounds and poses are explained. read more

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4. 0

   paulgcposted 12 years ago

   My tip is to develop a good rapport with your subjects.

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