Portrait Photography

Portrait photography. When people here this they will most like think of photos of peoples faces. Well, it is actually more than that. Portraits can be whole figures, with multiple people. It can also be objects, that symbolize someone, or something. My example is literally just a portrait of a friend's face.

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/10-ways-to-take-stunning-portraits

The above link has some great tips for doing portrait photography. These include:

• Changing your perspective
• Playing with eye contact - looking within frame and looking off camera
• Breaking the rules of composition
• Experiment with light
• Move your subject out of their comfort zone
• Shoot candidly
• Introduce a prop
• Focus on one body part
• Obscure part of your subject
• Take a series of shots

My photography professor actually introduced me to those tips above. This was after my portrait assignment however. Although now when I have friends over to take pictures, I keep such things in my mind now, and think about them often when I go out to take pictures.

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/tips-portrait-photography

http://blog.epicedits.com/2007/12/10/16-inspirational-portrait-photography-techniques/

The above links have even more tips as well.

The ones I myself have experimented with are framed, off center, and unfocused shots. I really like out of focused shots because there is a movement to them. When I look at such shots I kind of drift into a day-dream type of state. That's the best way I can explain it. SOmething I need to do that I always forget is to play around with different angles. I've recently obtained a tripod and I forget that I can move it around. There is a lot you can do with portraits, it just depend on how creative you want to be, or the mood you want to capture.