Tips For Taking Better Portraits

When composing a portrait I like to experiment with different angles rather than just doing a square, straight on shot. To me, the key skill in portraiture photography is to focus on the eyes. If the eyes are in crisp focus everything else in the shot will fall into place naturally. Don't be afraid to experiment with cropping your image either. I find that a square crop adds super dimension to the subject's face.

If you are going to shoot a portrait it is absolutely essential to get the flash/strobe off your camera. Often I will combine a flash or strobe on one side of the subject's face with natural light on the other. If you get your settings correct, this method can produce stunning results. As can be seen in the image above.....getting all of the face in the image is not a prerequisite. Most of all, try to get your subject to relax, have fun. The shoot should be enjoyable for both the subject and the photographer.

http://www.jameschristiephotography.com

Hello World

In addition to my web site http://www.jameschristiephotography.com/ I decided that I should start a blog. I'm not that sure at this stage what format it will take, so please bear with me and my musings.

I've been doubting my ability as a photographer recently, so I decided to send Steve Simon (Incredible photographer) http://www.stevesimonphoto.com/ an e-mail. To my complete surprise he telephoned me from New York to me in Edinburgh. What an honor to speak to him. I had asked him for brutal honesty about my photography and he was very positive about my portrait photography.

He did give me some generous advice and I will be modifying the content of my web site tomorrow. Feel free to check it out now and then perhaps again in a few days and let me know what you think.