1. Mobile phone is the best entry tool for photography.

2. The difference between mobile phone and SLR camera photography

3. What is a good photo?

4. Talking about the art of photography

5. Key factors affecting mobile phone photo taking

6. Basic theory of exposure

7. Understand photographic composition

8. Master the composition of portrait photography

9. Composition of actual combat scenes

Many photographers, when learning portrait photography for the first time, often can't grasp the essentials of framing and composition as easily as facing landscape photography, and often take some photos with mediocre composition, messy background and awkward posture. After reading this article, you will know that it is not so difficult to take a beautifully composed portrait photo.

The biggest difference between portrait photography and landscape photography is that the subject is "alive". We can "arrange" the subject at will, interact with him or her, and capture the most vivid and vital side of the character through the lens.

When beginners learn portrait photography, there are often some common problems in composition, such as the main body of the character is not prominent, the ground is tilted, the background is messy, and the posture is dull. Let's give an example to illustrate them.

The theme of the characters is not prominent.

In the portrait photo of the park below, although the curved wall curve looks good, it occupies too much area in the photo, accounting for more than half. The viewer's eyes first focus on the curved wall, and then he will notice our subject-beauty, and the scenery behind the characters is also messy.

Horizon tilt

When taking pictures at the seaside or on the open ground, the horizon is often particularly clear and prominent. It will divide the picture into two parts, which will easily attract the attention of the audience. Generally speaking, to keep the horizon level, you should not tilt. Tilting the horizon is often used in photography with "movement" or impact. Give people a feeling of moving, express the trend of movement and the feeling of instability.

The picture shows a photo with the horizon tilted. The sloping horizon and wavy lines divide the picture into three parts, grabbing the viewer's sight.

Background speckle

When a novice takes a portrait, he sometimes only pays attention to the performance of the characters, but ignores the cooperation of the surrounding scenery, thus the background he takes is rather chaotic and unintelligible.

The picture shows a picture with a messy background.

There are four common forms of portrait photography: close-up portrait, bust, seven-person portrait and full-length portrait, also known as the formulaic composition of portrait photography.

Close-up portrait

Close-ups in portrait photography mainly show people's expressions and facial features. In other words, the picture only includes the head of the subject or a closer close-up. Because the facial image of the subject occupies the whole picture and gives a particularly strong visual impression, the choice of shooting angle, the use of light, the grasp of expression and the performance of texture are all rigorous.

The picture shows a close-up portrait photo.

For plain people, close-ups or recent photos should be avoided as far as possible. For people with chubby faces, they can cover their faces with veils, hands or other trinkets, and at the same time, they can increase the number of cameras and make their faces thinner.

The picture shows a photo of the face being blocked.

chest

The bust expands the shooting range of close-up portraits, mainly showing the upper body of the characters. The background environment is usually not the protagonist in the picture, but only serves as a foil for the characters. Generally, you can consider filling the whole picture with the upper body of the character, or taking a background into the picture to better contrast the atmosphere of the picture.

The picture shows a bust.

In addition to paying attention to the vividness of facial expressions, the chest circumference should also consider the naturalness of upper body posture. The gestures and expressions of characters should be in harmony with nature, and there should be no embarrassing situations.

Portrait of seven people

Seven-person portrait refers to the photography method of shooting characters from face to knee, which often includes hand movements. This kind of portrait can show more background environment and enrich the composition with more changes.

The picture shows the portraits of seven avatars.

In actual shooting, people can try to change the shape and form triangle, diagonal, S-shaped and other composition patterns, so that the composition of the seven members is no longer dull and unbalanced.

This photo uses the beauty's own lines and light and shadow to form a beautiful curve, which adds a lot of beauty to the picture.

The picture shows a group photo of seven people with S-shape.

Let the figure take a prone position and shoot the part above the thigh, which can show the curve and femininity of the figure well.

The picture shows seven heads lying prone.

Full-body portrait

A full-length portrait is a work, including the facial expression of the subject, the use of the whole body shape, and the surrounding environment. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the coordination of characters and backgrounds in composition, and the subject should choose the appropriate posture.

Full-length portraits are usually suitable for outdoor portraits. When shooting, you need to carefully observe the surrounding background, choose the appropriate angle and composition, so that the background can better highlight the main body of the characters and set off the theme service.

The picture shows a full-length portrait photo.

The core principle of full-length portrait is to pay attention to the coordination between the background and the characters when shooting, and to highlight the characters through the background and show their feelings. After mastering this principle, there will be no photos with unknown subjects, disorder and uncoordinated atmosphere when shooting full-length composition.

The picture shows a photo with shallow depth of field to highlight the character image.

Sometimes, you just need to move the camera a little, and you can significantly change the composition of the picture. The shooting angle includes the shooting direction of the character and the choice of background. We can shoot people from many directions, including front, side, oblique side and back.

Frontal portrait

In portrait photography, people with normal facial features and normal facial structure can shoot from the front. The form of positive composition can shape the positive characteristics of dignified face, and reveal the inner personality characteristics of characters through the expression of eyes and facial expressions.

The picture shows a close-up portrait photo on the front.

In addition to choosing the subject with normal facial image, we should also pay attention to the posture and gestures of the subject, so that our hands are in a natural state, such as grasping a nearby flower, holding a hat, opening our arms and other actions that are in harmony with the surrounding landscape and environment. When shooting, it is necessary to accurately capture the subtle facial expressions of the characters, which are often conveyed and revealed through the eyes.

Profile portrait

In portrait photography, profile composition can be used to shape the profile of the subject. Any person whose profile image is relatively correct can use profile shooting to show some characteristics of his profile and show his bodybuilding or beauty.

The picture shows a side portrait photo.

When shooting profile portraits, there are some people whose facial images are not correct enough, or there are some defects on the left and right sides of their faces. We can use profile composition to cover up the defective parts and beautify the characters.

The profile portrait has a strong three-dimensional sense and can produce a sense of space and line perspective. For example, profile portraits can fully show people's graceful posture and facial expressions. If we can use the contrast between light and dark at the same time, we can enhance the three-dimensional sense. It is a common composition mode for portraits in the studio.

3/4 profile portrait

Although the profile portrait can clarify the theme, it is difficult to fully express the characteristics of the subject. In figure photography, 3/4 side composition can not only clearly express the five senses of the figure, but also make the figure more three-dimensional and contoured.

The picture shows a 3/4 side portrait photo.

Back portrait

The portraits on the back are mostly used for the special needs of the content and can express special artistic conception. The back portrait can show the back characteristics of the subject, and the implied artistic conception in the author's artistic conception can be expressed through the back image.

It is not uncommon to see excellent photographic works that combine the figure's back with the scenery. In this kind of works, the figure's back posture is usually taken as the foreground, and the distant view, environment or background characteristics are seen through the back. Background composition usually has a strong sense of perspective and a good depth of field, because it needs a long-term perspective to express the thinking of the characters, so it can give people more imagination.

The picture shows a portrait photo on the back.

Portrait silhouette

Portrait silhouette is a silhouette of a person cut out like paper-cutting, with bright background and black shadow as the main body. When the light shines from the opposite side of the camera lens and behind the subject, it will get a very artistic backlight. At this time, when exposed, the subject will become a black silhouette.

The picture shows a portrait silhouette photo.

Portrait silhouettes are usually taken in the morning and evening when the light is against the light. The seaside and the top of the mountain are ideal shooting places, because the simple background can make the silhouette as the main body stand out, thus creating a concise and expressive image of Gao Fancha. The outline of the main body is illuminated by the light, and the rest are black shadows, which adds to the mystery of the silhouette.

The picture shows a portrait silhouette taken in the evening.

Portrait photography still needs to choose what kind of frame format in composition. The most common are horizontal and vertical frames. Which picture frame to use depends on the photographer's intention, the posture of the subject and the characteristics of the background.

Horizontal portrait

Cross-frame portrait photos are usually used to shoot full-length portraits or when there are multiple subjects at the same time. If there is only one subject, it is best to put the subject on the perpendicular bisector of the picture at this time, which can make the picture more stable.

The picture shows a horizontal portrait photo composed by three-point method.

Portrait photos with horizontal frames are helpful to show the emptiness of the picture and the loneliness of the characters. Try long-distance shooting, narrow down the characters, and then put them at the TIC-tac-toe intersection of the picture to see how the effect is.

The picture shows the horizontal portrait of TIC-tac-toe composition.

Vertical portrait

Vertical frames can prevent more irrelevant backgrounds from entering the picture, and images can shape people. Usually used for close-ups, busts or portraits of seven people. Although the photos of the vertical frame give people a relatively poor sense of stability, the subject is often clearer than the portrait photos of the horizontal frame, giving people a sense of strength and activity and a deeper visual impression.

In vertical portrait photos, people are usually located in the center of the picture to reflect their important position. You can also let the characters do certain actions or use certain companions to make the picture more vivid.

The picture shows the photo of the figure in the middle vertical frame.

The so-called shooting angle is the relationship between the person being photographed and the seat of the plane. Even if you shoot the same person, with the different camera positions, it will become a photo of the person who feels completely different. The shooting angle includes the line-of-sight height consistent with the photographer's eye height, from low to high, and from high to low.

The most natural Ping She.

Ping She means that the camera is at the same height as the subject. For human photography, the height of the camera is equivalent to the subject, so it is equivalent to the visual range of our human eyes. The photos taken are like observing with your own eyes, which makes people feel close and cordial. However, this photo can easily become an ordinary standard photo.

The picture shows a head-up photo.

Show the high backhand of the character.

Shooting up means that the photographer is in a lower position and raises the camera and lens to get the shooting angle of elevation. Shooting upward changes people's visual habits, and also changes the visual perspective relationship of human eyes to observe things, giving people a sense of freshness, making the lines of the subject converge upward, and the exaggeration effect is obvious.

This photography angle is usually used to shoot beautiful women to show the tall figure and attractive posture of the characters.

The picture shows a portrait photo taken upside down.

Prominent head photo

Overhead shooting means that the camera is higher than the subject, and the photographer shoots from the upper direction to the lower direction of the subject, which will enlarge the perspective of the picture, which is a suitable angle for shooting close-ups of people's faces, and can also better present people's sight and expression.

The picture shows a portrait photo taken from above.

A portrait photo that follows the principle of good composition can give people more aesthetic feeling and theme expression than a photo with random composition.

Triangular synthesis

Triangular composition is common in horizontal portrait photos. It refers to putting people in a third of the picture or the golden section. This kind of composition can get rid of the boring atmosphere of horizontal composition and make the picture more active.

The picture shows the comparison between the middle photo and the three-point photo of the portrait.

Put the characters in the center of the picture, and the whole picture gives people a sense of monotony and no impact.

Central component

Central composition refers to the composition method of presenting the subject in the center of the picture. If the background is too messy or not suitable to express the theme of the photo when shooting a portrait, you can decisively abandon the background and let the characters occupy most of the picture.

The picture shows the central composition photo in which the characters occupy the vast majority.

Triangular composition

Triangle is the most stable, and the photographic pictures of triangle composition give people a sense of stability.

The picture shows a portrait photo with a triangular composition.

Diagonal composition

Diagonal composition is a portrait composition method using lines, which can be formed by the characters themselves, or by the characters and other AIDS. The main contribution of diagonal to a photo is to bring movement and break the rigid photo structure. If we can make good use of diagonal lines in portrait photography, we can greatly increase the vitality of photos.

The picture shows a portrait photo with diagonal composition.

Frame composition

Frame composition refers to framing the main characters with objects in the foreground, which can give the photos a sense of depth and make them unique.

The picture shows a portrait photo of the frame composition.

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