Examples for Portrait Photography

Portraits are one of the most favourite topics, but one of the most difficult tasks for a photographer. One has to choose the right background, the best time of the day for a flattering light. Plus it´s more demanding, because one is working with human beings, so a minimum ability to empathize won´t be to bad.

Both portraits show a good approach: The persons are the focus of the picture and the background is blurred – that helps to put the focus of interest on the person. Though on the left picture I don´t like that the head is right in the middle of the shot – looks a bit like as if the photographer hasn´t thought about a nice picture design. The light is pretty bright, quite alright for a men´s portrait, but the model has to squint his eyes.

On the right picture the light comes from the side in a nice angle, but it is slightly softer. The tip of the nose is getting a bit of light, which makes it look bigger. The composing is nice, because the face of the model is not in the middle.

Left picture: Lens: 300 mm; ISO: 125; f-stop: 5.6; shutter time: 1/125 sec
Right picture: Lens: 87 mm; ISO: 250; f-stop: 4.5; shutter time: 1/125 sec
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Two examples for a nice light for portraits. Left a direct light (late in the afternoon), though the model´s got problems to open her eyes. The picture on the right´s got nice soft light, which I prefer for women.

Left picture: Lens: 180 mm; ISO: 100; f-stop: 3.5; shutter time: 1/1500 sec
Right picture: Lens: 50 mm; ISO: 250; f-stop: 2.8; shutter time: 1/800 sec

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Here it is demonstrated even better how the background and the short depth of field adds nicely to the picture composing. Left a really soft light, the background is nice, gives a contrast to the portrait, but not to much. Right – a dark backgound which ist a nice contrast to the color of the jacket. The difference in the depth of field is not comparabel because the pictures have been shot with different cameras with different sensor sizes.

Left picture: Lens: 110 mm ISO: 250; f-stop: 2.8; shutter time: 1/500 sec
Right picture: Lens: 180 mm ISO: 100; f-stop: 3.5; shutter time: 1/1500 sec

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These photos show the different depth of field with different f-stops.

Left picture: Lens: 85 mm ISO: 160; f-stop: 11 shutter time: 1/100 sec
Right picture: Lens: 85 mm ISO: 160; f-stop: 4,5 shutter time: 1/640 sec

 

 

 

 

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A portrait with a little bit more surrounding, which adds information and illustrates the shot. The glittering water is additonally an „eyecatcher.“

Lens: 120 mm ISO: 160; f-stop: 4.8; shutter time: 1/400 sec