Whoever had a camera in his hand made a portrait, I can assure you almost 95%. It is very difficult to escape the portrait, practically impossible, because of its appeal, because we feel identified with other subjects, because we have it at hand, because they ask us, you have made portraits, of course. Do you stop to analyze the error or mistakes that led you to the failure of your portrait?Today I present to you the most common compositional errors that are very easy to solve, because the composition of a photograph, whether portrait or not, is the key to it working. The way you organize the elements in the frame will make the difference between a good image and an image of the heap, of those that go completely unnoticed. Do you want to know these mistakes so as not to do them again?Do they come with very illustrative examples?
Dare with these close-ups without fear of scissors, that is, don’t be afraid to cut. Completely fill the frame, don’t let the air circulate if it’s not necessary and you’ll see how much more impact your portrait has, you can take more than one viewer’s breathless. Is this the magic of Fill the frame?
- Light is not only necessary to take a photograph.
- Nor is it just an element that you will have to control to be well exposed.
- Light is also a composive resource.
- Ignoring this is something most of us who love photography are committed to at first.
- Either out of ignorance or lack of practice.
- Help yourself with the light to make your composition much more interesting.
- You can play with her to coprotagonista.
- De the scene.
There’s nothing worse and more widespread than a distracting background in a portrait, well yes, there’s another mistake that goes hand in hand and is to center your eyes (now I’ll tell you later). A distracting background will carry your portrait, no matter how sharp, expressive, personality or difference. Never photograph your model in front of a distracting background. Never. This does not allow exceptions (in my opinion, of course). Look at the following image, one on the left, I love the expression of the child, I love the moment of having crushed every last hair, however, it is a pity that the doll bibs and butterflies in the high chair distract so much attention. on the right you can tell, don’t you, how do we fix it?If you can’t move the subject or put something behind it (such as a common cloth), completely blur the background or change perspective. Here are some tips for awesome funds.
Sometimes there’s no need to blur the background because it doesn’t distract, it’s normal not to do it if you’re interested, what’s a mistake is never to stir it. Playing with blur in a portrait, taking pictures with very large apertures is a very simple resource that allows you to get fast and impressive results. Here’s an example of a distracting background and an example of a blurry background. The difference is important, isn’t it?
The soul of a portrait is in the eyes. Whether it’s aimed at the camera or not, that’s why it’s a mistake not to give it the importance it has, not treat it as a real focus, it’s very, very typical to place your eyes in the center of the frame because that’s how we think we give it more importance (important – center), but it doesn’t work that way in photography, if you know the three-thirds rule , you will know, you must look at a point of interest, away from the center It is important that they are in an appropriate position in terms of interest and well oriented.
And speaking of looks? When photographing it is essential to know this rule, apply it or skip it (but knowingly, always). Here’s everything you need to know about the law of gaze in portraiture.
Just as you don’t have to focus your eyes, it’s not very practical to focus too much on the subject, it’s better to put it on one side, be careful that another mistake also takes it too far to the extreme, in this case, what you get is suffocating. Look at the difference between the three cases, which one do you find most interesting?
Cutting is good, we do it in certain planes, when filling the frame, etc. What to avoid is cutting an ear (photo above left), fingers or toes, just at the ankle, elbows or just below the knee. These are the lines you shouldn’t cross, I mean cut?
On certain occasions, in a hurry, so as not to warm our heads, we go fast or gently and ingest the subject from the environment, there is nothing wrong with doing this when he has nothing to say, has no appeal or has nothing to do with otherwise, if the environment counts for something, if it does not distract, if there is something interesting, if it has an attractive composive , it is better to include it in the framework and incorporate our theme. great in many cases, but in others, as in the case of this guard, it is better to let him see or at least intuitively.
When we talk about portraits, the first thing that usually comes to mind is a close-up, a portrait of the face alone or at most with a part of the trunk, staying alone in this foreground and middle plane is a mistake, because it turns out that there is life beyond, remember when composing your portrait because it will help you on more than one occasion , both to record a frame and to improve the appeal of the image.
Especially in standing portraits, it’s easy that, being so aware of the subject, you forget what’s around you and the result is an unbalanced photograph. There are elements that, depending on their position or certain characteristics, “weigh” more than others and It is important that the composition is balanced or if there is some imbalance, that at least the balance lays on the subject represented, which is what should be the focus, not as in the next photo in which the bike steals the whole star to the model Here is an article on how to achieve balance in its composition.
Do you recognize that? Now I suggest you take a look at your last portraits and analyze if you have committed any of these eleven, if this is the case, so that this reading will really serve you, take your camera and make portraits with this checklist. And the other one, and you’ll tell us!
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