In focus - Portraits

The Photo Challenge is sponsored by Hyosung Camera (English: 010-7203-9599) and Babo Shirts (www.baboshirts.com). Winners of the weekly competition receive a 50,000 won store credit at Hyosung Camera and a Babo Shirt. To take part in the competition, simply upload your photo at www.flickr.com/groups/seoulphotoclub -- Ed.



By Aaron Raisey



Last week we talked about things to avoid in our photography. This week we`ll address some of the "should do" things, but with special regard to portraits. Portrait pictures are at once easy to take, yet difficult to do well. Here are a few easy tips and techniques to help you make your subject look great.



1. Get close. I don`t necessarily mean make them feel uncomfortable by invading their personal space, but typically you want to fill the frame with your subject. And not with just their body, we need to get closer than that. Fill it with their head and shoulders -- close enough to see the twinkle in their eyes. Be very careful though, if you are using a lens of less than about 50 mm, distortion can become a factor. While this can look amusing, it usually isn`t very funny for the subject.

2. Focus on the eye. The point of focus should be the nearest, or both. The eyes are, as they say, the window to the soul, so let your subject`s personality and mood shine through. Having the eyes out of focus is the surest way to kill a portrait, and it doesn`t matter how good the rest of the picture is. Also work to position the eyes in the upper third of the frame, as this helps the image look more natural.

3. Eliminate distractions. We looked at some of these issues last week -- Background elements merging with the subject and pictures that are too "busy" being a couple of examples. In short, remember to pay equal attention to the background and ensure there`s nothing going on back there to take attention from your subject.

4. Blurry backgrounds are good. Use a larger aperture to give the area behind the subject that nice blurry look. This effect -- bokeh as it`s often called -- is one of the hallmarks of a great portrait. What this "out of focus effect" does is reduce or eliminate many of those distractions in the background and focus the viewer`s attention onto the subject. Creative use of this effect by say, seeking a background with colors complementing the subject, or with an attractive distribution of bright and dark areas can really enhance an image. Use an aperture of f/4 or less for portraits. Be careful though -- at small f-stop values (larger apertures) nailing focus on the eyes becomes critical, especially if you are very close.

5. Relax! If you are a relaxed photographer, your subject is likely to be more relaxed too. Natural, relaxed subjects are always better than cheesy grins and hard eyes.

6. Rules are made to be broken. This week`s challenge winner breaks some of these tips. Small aperture (f/8), eyes in the middle of the frame and a large space at the top of the image, yet the portrait is successful. Offsetting these "broken rules" are a very natural, relaxed subject, no background distractions and an interesting, complementing cloud-filled sky. The point of view is also different. Changing the point of view -- be it higher or as it is here, lower than usual -- is another technique to make your portraits more interesting.

To see some fantastic examples of portraits from all around Korea, join up at the Seoul Photo Club on Flickr.

<**2>

(raisey@hanmail.net)