Hey Happy Scrappers!
Polly Liana here, with some quick tips about getting the most out of your portraits. Do you remember this iconic portrait by Steve McCurry that appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985?
When the world responded to this photo, it was not because of her hair or her outfit. It was of course those eyes that had everyone mesmerized. When you look closely at it, it’s clear that technically this is not a difficult portrait to photograph. But McCurry did a fantastic job at capturing the most spellbinding part about this young Afghan girl and it made all the difference in this photograph.
That brings me to today’s photography tip. When shooting portraits, consider putting your settings on “A” or aperture priority. In short, the aperture refers to the size of the hole in your lens through which the light comes. Among other things, it impacts how much of your photograph is in sharp focus and how much is lightly or heavily blurred (such as the teal background of the above photo). A lower number will mean less will be in focus, a higher number will mean more will be in focus. I find that when I’m shooting portraits, I try to keep the aperture around 2.0 so my subject’s face will be in focus but everything else will blend together smoothly and blur softly into the background.
When I’m shooting, I set my focus on centered metering and focus on my subject’s eyes. If necessary, I hold the focus there and then recompose the photo. To really make the eyes pop, I use post processing to sharpen and slightly lighten the eyes. Here are some examples of photos I’ve done that emphasize the subject’s eyes:
I hope you’ve learned a bit about how to make your portraits pop using selective focus. I leave you with one more portrait that has become one of my favorites…
Happy Snapping!
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