Creating Portraits that Tell a Story

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

This evening, I attended another Canon Workshop. Photographer Stephanie Romero talked about shooting portraits that tell a story. Telling a story in photography involves using lighting, depth of field, focus, and lens type. Lighting should be used to emphasize and bring out the subject’s personality and emotions in an authentic way. Depth of field can also bring out the subject’s real emotions in a natural way and create drama. Lighting depends on the type of light and amount of light used to create a particular effect.

The most common depth of field used is f8 and higher. To focus on the subject, which will make the subject bigger in the photograph, f2.8 should be used. But the background will be blurry.

The three most common and must-have lenses for all photographers include 35mm, 50mm, and 70mm-200mm. The 35mm lens is wide lens, in which you can see the whole scene. The 50mm lens is a mid-range lens. The 70mm-200mm lens is a telephoto lens, which enables to focus on the subject and get a close-up photograph.

In order to get natural emotions from your subject, you should try to get to know your subject better. Ask your subject certain who, when, and how questions in order to evoke natural emotions. Talk calmly and in a positive way with your subject in order to connect. Evoking natural emotions creating authentic photographs.

In order to direct your subject, look at the angles of the location. Make the subject feel relaxed by playing certain music, telling jokes, or just hanging out together and chatting for fun. Then, place your subject in a certain way, in front of the camera. Use the “Push or Pull Method” of posing, where the subject might lean forward to camouflage a big tummy or leaning back to camouflage another body feature. There are also leaning to the sides, turning and doing other poses to appear slimmer and taller. It is all an illusion. Distort the image of the subject to improve the subject’s physical appearance by directing the subject to pose a certain way.