Simple Guide to Taking Portraits by Johnny Quach

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JOHNNY QUACH’S GUIDE TO TAKING A

GOOD PORTRAIT

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Taking a good portrait only requires three things.

1. Framing / Placement2.Lighting

3. Personality

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FRAMING/PLACEMENT

Placement

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Create drama. When your subject is the only thing to look at (subject2) it’s “okay” but it’s a little awkward for most subjects. You’re goal should be to make the viewer always focus on your subject but never forcing them to look. Give the viewer the opportunity to explore the space around your subject and then eventually end up on your subject. (subject 3)

*PS don’t cut off arms (subject 1)

Subject 1. Wrong Subject 2. Okayish

Subject 3. Good!

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LIGHTING

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We want to always use natural light when possible. Photos do not need to be shot outdoors but they always use the sun as a source of light. You always want to shoot in the shade of the sun never directly in the sun. Direct sunlight is very harsh and can produce hard edge shadows. This is very unflattering (even for supermodels!). On top of that it can make the photo very difficult to edit in post because a lot of the details get blown out.

Things to try:1. Have subject stand in shade 2. Have subject stand next to a big window during a sunny day.

Extra tips*Always avoid indoor fluorescent lights at all cost. They’re naturally very green, aliens are not pretty.

Use natural diffused light Lighting

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Direct light produces harsh lights which create ugly shadows.Lighting

:(

ARGHH I AM BURNING OMG!

Direct : Bad

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Use bounced light / shade to produce flattering shadowsLighting

:)

I feel relaxed and diffused! My skin looks amazing!

Indirect : Awesome

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Window LightingLighting

Window : Awesome

:)

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PERSONALITY

Everyone single person in the world LOVES something. It could be collecting stamps, doing hard drugs, or dancing. Whatever that subject is, when a person talks about it they’re most comfortable. If you ask a obsessed stamp collector (typically a shy person) to talk about the intricacies of it stamp collecting, that is the point in which they become the most confidence. As we all know confidence is sexy regardless of the person displaying it. When shooting people who aren’t models (even sometimes with models) the moment it’s quiet is the moment the photos become awkward and unnatural. No matter what keep up the energy with real conversation. Genuinely listen to a person and you won’t take a bad photo.

You do what you love, they do what they love.Personality

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CAMERA SETTINGS

Camera Settings

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Shutter speed: Generally set it to whatever tones down the sun to a reasonable amount. But you never want to shoot portraits at less then “250”. Anything smaller then the suggest might amount cause some of your photos to come out blurry. If you’re shooting with sunlight you should have ample light to shoot at 250.

Aperture:From a general point of view smaller aperture numbers produced more flatter photos. It causes the background to be less distracting while making the subjects skin seem smooth. 90% of bad photos could be fixed by removing background clutter. Be sure to set yours to about 1.8 - 2.0

Iso:Since we’ll mainly be using day light keep this at the lowest possible setting. Probably 50,100, or 200.

Shutter, aperture, and iso

Samples

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