How to Make Portrait Photography Outcomes More Impactful?

Portrait photography is a subjective exercise, similar to a composition. An angle that works with one model may not work with another and lighting that suits one photographer may be completely rejected by someone else. It is however good to be aware of the conventional approaches and then be willing to try something different from what others are doing.

Therefore, when you rent a photography studio for some portrait pictures, build a system that can bring consistent results while also giving you the flexibility to adapt as per requirements. Here are some ways to go about it:

Optimise the way light falls on your subject

Lights play a critical role in outcomes of photography. Hard light will create harsh shadows and poor exposures that can spoil pictures of even photogenic models. Therefore, when you opt for studio rental in London, ensure that it has a range of umbrellas and softboxes to bounce and diffuse artificial light as required.

Round, octagonal and square boxes are good to use for close portraits. The beauty dish is another equipment to bring out good results in portrait photography. Its characteristic impact wraps light around face and makes cheekbones look chiselled. It also leaves a striking catchlight in eyes.

The magic of a black background

With a black background, you can add a timeless effect to your portraits. It helps to centre the attention on the subject and add more elegance to the picture.

You can create an inky-black background with the right materials in your studio – one of these is velvet. A thick, dark velvet curtain becomes a uniform soft background to highlight the subject sitting in front. Alternatively, you may use a roll of seamless black paper to produce good results. Just ensure that there is adequate distance between the subject and the background while astutely managing spill.

Ways to make the subject prominent

At times, you may face a peculiar problem while using dark backgrounds – some subjects can get lured into its obscure hold even though they look separated. There are two ways to stop this from occurring. You can position a hair light above and slightly behind the subject to ensure that the model’s dark coloured hair or clothes do not dissolve into shadows.

Based on the placing of your key light, you may be able to take a good picture without needing a dedicated light. In this case, just apply adequate power for sufficient separation. The idea is to ensure that the subject does not appear to have halo around their head and also that there is no lens flare from an inappropriately placed light.

Keep experimenting

As with many other aspects of photography, there are no stringent rules for lighting. Therefore, do not hesitate to move your lights and modifiers around when you are looking for unique results. You can get as unconventional as you want. If one strategy brings poor results, try another.

Photographers tend to get trapped in the science of lighting, especially while shooting inside studios. However, they should keep experimenting and not worry about the small mistakes that happen while taking portrait pictures.

Finally, it is nice to maintain a diary wherein you can pen down all your setups, just in case you want to re-use some settings in future.

Author Bio: Founded in 2006 by photographer Francois Boutemy and Designer Chris Charalambous, Simulacra Studio has worked with a number of individual and high-calibre business clients for more than a decade. It also coordinates workshops and artistic development courses to give budding photographers the best of growth opportunities in the industry. For more information on the studio and trainings imparted visit https://www.simulacrastudio.com/

Michael harley is a writer at Search Engine.