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People and Portrait Photography Basics

Taking photography of people whether it is family members, friends or even strangers requires a certain amount of awareness, a quick and steady hand to capture a candid moment.

And of course you may need to stand up to some amount of embarrassment as you pick up your DSLR camera and point towards the intended subject with or without their knowledge. Some situations are easier, with friends and family members who are not too camera shy, as well as when you are hired to take wedding photography reception events.

While other situations like when you are out on a street photography session, taking pictures of strangers requires a certain amount of stealth and quickness to snap that photo.
Street photography requires a certain amount of awareness and camera at the ready to grab that shot. In low light condition, some blurness from movement may be expected especially using a compact camera to take a shot like the above.


Street photography requires a certain amount of awareness and camera at the ready to grab that shot. In low light condition, some blurness from movement may be expected especially using a compact camera to take a shot like the above.

Posed position for portrait photography would be easier, as the person would stand still for you to take a proper shot. Some people are rather photogenic and will pose nicely for you to get a superb portrait shot. While some people would stand rather straight like a Redwood tree and the shot would end up looking rather wooden. Times like this, if you know some good portrait posing position, you could give the person some tips on how to stand to enhance the portrait photograph.

Taking pictures of people requires a different technique as compared to taking travel and landscape photos. The scene would not run away from you when making travel and landscape photography, however for portrait photography, people would not stay still in one spot and would move their heads here and there, and in a crowded place, people might walk in front of your camera and block your shot. You get as many bad photos, to mediocre ones as well as good pictures.

In a low lighted environment like in a bistro or restaurant, getting the right amount of lighting from your flash unit without creating a too harsh and hot photo is quite a challenge in itself. You need situational awareness and need to think in advance and prepare the camera to take a quick shot to get a good candid moment.

Keep your ears open, sometimes loud laughter and boisterous bragging from a nearby table could signal a photographic opportunity. If it is your friends and family or a hired photography job, there should not be any issue in taking the pictures. If they are strangers, you will need some discretion to take their pictures. Especially in a low lighted condition, your bright flash would give your game away.

All in all, taking pictures of people portrait can be real fun and interesting, showing off their range of emotion from happy faces in a celebration, or emotional teary eyed expression in a touching wedding service. It could also be one of the more rewarding aspects of photography when you are also hired for a wedding reception photography session.

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