Tips For Creating Great Woman Portrait Photography Los Angeles Students Need To Learn

By Frances Rogers


If you think you might want a career as a photographer, and love people, you should consider concentrating your efforts on becoming a portrait photographer. The clients who are posing for you probably won't be professional models. You will have subjects that come in every shape, size, and color. The professionals have some tricks they use to create the sort of woman portrait photography Los Angeles clients love.

You need to meet with the clients in advance. This meeting should address what the client wants to accomplish with the pictures you take. That will help determine the most appropriate background, pose, hair, makeup, and clothing for the shoot.

You need to get to know the client a little bit by asking about her interests, hobbies, work, and family life. This gives you a feeling for your client's personality. The information you get will inform the pictures you take.

Everybody has a good side, and most women have opinions about which one hers is. You don't have to agree with your client, but you will have to work with what she believes. If you don't, you can take wonderful photos that you believe to be some of your finest work, but your client will never be happy with them. With experience, you will learn how to adjust the camera angles and lighting to maximize your client's most flattering features.

You have to pay special attention to the subject's legs. You want to avoid awkward angles that give the appearance of stiffness. If you are photographing a mature woman you might have her seated with her legs crossed. This is usually flattering and makes her look graceful and poised. Younger women can be posed sitting on the ground or leaning against a tree with their ankles crossed for example. Bending the leg in some way softens the pose.

In the same vein, you have to give women something to do with their hands. Since your subjects aren't professional models deciding where to put their hands can be hard for them. You might suggest interlacing their fingers in front of them, bringing their hands to their faces, or playing with their hair as a way of solving the problem. Once women know what to do with their hands, it's easier for them to relax and enjoy the shoot.

Looking fat in their pictures is a universal concern women have. If you are going to succeed as a portrait photographer, you have to learn how to use camera angles to avoid that. A trick used by many photographers is photographing the subject with the camera looking slightly down on them. This elongates the neck and defines the jawline. You can't create an angle so severe the subject has to look straight up into the camera however.

You should use the environment to your advantage. A slightly windblown look and sunlight reflected in the iris of the eye are always compelling. If the weather cooperates, you should try to shoot outside in open shade.




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