A Simple Exercise to Improve Your Portrait Photography

Photography is a gear based pastime, and because of this, it’s easy to overcomplicate a shoot by taking more equipment than you actually need. To shoot simply, you may benefits a lot. When I surf on the Internet, I find some interesting tips which may facilitate you to make a perfect portrait photos.

Simple portrait exercise

The idea is to shoot in black and white, with just one camera and one lens, in natural light. The aim is to keep your approach simple so that you can concentrate on your rapport with your model and posing and composition. Using black and white will test your composition skills.

                                                                                                                                              

Here are a few ideas to help your shoot run smoothly:

Build rapport with your model. This is really important, for fairly obvious reasons, especially if you don’t know them well. If you show a genuine interest in your model he or she will respond to your ideas and become involved in your shoot. They are more likely to be willing to help you out with future shoots. You might even make a good friend.

Communicate your ideas. You can do this by showing your model any sample photos you have prepared, and also by showing the images on the camera’s screen at intervals during the shoot. The more your model buys into your vision of what you want to achieve with the harder they will work to help you achieve it.

Pay attention to what’s happening behind your model. Keep the composition simple and try to avoid messy or bright backgrounds.

Relax. Have fun. Enjoy yourself.

(pictures&tips below are quoted from Andrew S Gibson's blog)