I am not a portrait photographer. But I take portraits pretty often. And I enjoy it. Over the last couple of years, I photographed a lot of portraits, studied a ton of portraiture gurus and mustered some experience.

What I am writing down here is a reminder (to myself in the first place!) of common problems connected to portraiture that I have encountered and that I face every time, both in my work first, and on the web.

So here’s a top ten of things that we, as portrait photographers, should make sure of, before we press the shutter.

1) Location

This one single point has caused me more problems than all the others combined. You can have all the gear you want, the best models, the best props. If your location has crappy light, if you can’t mount/use your light, if it’s very dirty, dangerous, crowded, it will definitely impact your shooting. Thinking about it beforehand, would save us from a lot of distress. And if you think you’ve got this, I’d still invite you to check each time you go for a specific framing: there could be weird colors in the back, strange shapes merging into our subject’s silhoutte , the time of the day you have chosen could be too late, too sunny, too early and so on. I rarely find a scenery/location that doesn’t affect in a nasty way my composition. If there is no way to avoid this, either photoshop or a shallow depth of field could help you.

2) Get to know your subject

Which literally means out-your-camera-down, when you first meet. It gives him/her anxiety at best. You are not there to take pics of food, or products. You are there to offer your subject your perspective on him/her, based on who that person is, what he/she thinks, what he/she hopes, etc. Those people in front of you are not a source of gratification, big likes makers, self moving bangers and what not. Those are people: treat them accordingly. If you like talking, to them, talk to them. It’ll pay off much more as you start shooting. (I only give you to break this rule if it’s getting dark; but see point number one)

3) Does it make sense?

This is the question I ask myself for every single picture I take: am I shooting just because? Is there a purpose for this image? A story? And if not, am I just shooting based on my instinct?

4) Clothing/Make up & Environment relationship

This is where things start to get more subjective, but I think we can establish some basic rules: if we are looking for a delicate, soft portrait, we may avoid aggressive colors. That also applies to make up. White, Black, Grey, colors, past colors usually always work. Conversely, a more energized portraits should display a bolder palette of colors (ever heard of David LaChapelle?). What the talent is wearing should also match where the talent is located. Put a body builder in a countryside environment with his gym clothes on, or a girl in bath costume in a library, and you’ll see what I mean. Nope and nope.

I mean, there is nothing wrong with breaking the rules, if it serves a purpose.

5) Posing

One thing models often tell me is always quite surprising to me:

I like shooting with you because you give me hints, you direct me and it helps a lot, because I learn things. Other photographers just tell me to do my own thing and I am confused.

I am not a master at posing. Not even close. But I don’t even think it’s that hard and when you understand what the purpose of posing is, there is really no going back. The point is: I am the first one that likes natural stuff, but there can be such thing as natural posing. Otherwise, you don’t look for natural look, it’s random look that you are after. And you can get lucky once, or have a great model that literally makes your shots look great.. But… what about the rest of the people you are going to shoot? Again, I am no Jerry Ghionis, but there is so much material online to truly understand why a little bit of posing can make a huge difference!

On the other side of the spectrum, there can be who hyper-poses models, going for such weird/stereotyped poses that all I can ask myself is: why? But at least there is an attempt to create something. Again, the way out of non-sense is simple: does it make sense?(see point n.3)

6) Angles/ lenses/focals

Up until not long ago, I was a big fan of 35/50mm and crazy shallow depth of field: 1.4 or death. And I have been one for the longest time. Now I can see the limitations with both this focal and such a shallow aperture and I am not that addicted to the f 1.4 anymore. I mean, I like it, but there is so much more to shoot with than with f 1.4. Having more in focus helps the photographer tell the story. It’s not just a matter of having the subject pop out of the background: it is having background that actually means something. There can be instances where we want to “melt away” the background and focus on the subject. I get that and it’s absolutely cool and flattering for the model. But making that your only way of shooting, you are missing out quite a lot!

Also, lens choice: I know that lenses cost. Jeez they cost a lot of money. And different focals for different purposes is a luxury that few can afford. I can’t. But if you know what genre you are into, you can at least focus your money on the lenses that you need. I remember when I was starting out, I didn’t have clear ideas in mind on whether to get a 35mm or a, say, 85mm. Or for over a year I genuinely thought that I could shoot anything with a 35mm. I literally mean anything. I would have been awesome, but one fine day I realized that things weren’t exactly like that and that I needed specific lenses for specific purposes. Today I only have 3 lenses, and they cover exactly the range I need. Nothing more, nothing less: from 24 to 85mm. What’s wider than 24 is not strictly necessary for me at the moment, so it can wait. What’s beyond 85mm is not strictly necessary for me at the moment, so it can wait. Generally speaking, lenses for portraits work like this:

24-35 mm are for full body portraits. You can get closer, but watch for distortion. And even when used full body, watch for distortion. (which means: don’t tilt your lens! And watch for the corners of the frame!)
35-55mm: full to half body portraits. My favorite range. Very “true to life” kind of look”, just don’t get too close on the model’s face, it will be distorted a bit. You can do it with kids tho! Sometimes with elders. I wouldn’t try it on your significant other tho. Unless you wanna break up.
56mm to 85 : this is the range to half body to head and shoulders, but honestly, you can get away with pretty much anything, if you are using this focal in a portrait. The con, IMO, is that it’s harder to incorporate the background elements, if that’s your goal. So if you want that nice compression of a 85mm and a creamy background, you have to walk a little distant from your subject and that can be a little weird sometimes. I mean, it is for me. Other photographers may love it. Or would not care about the background at all.
85mm to ♾: headshot territory. Do it at your own risk. Headshots are tough. Unless you have lights. And cool modifiers. And photoshop. And your model has a nice hair day. And the best skin. Or make-up and hair stylist. Then yeah, do headshots. Or do full body portraits with ultra compressed background blur. I know photographers that do that with a Canon 200mm f2. They shoot directly from home. I would miss being in touch with my subject. I need that closeness.

For each of these focals, you will find a cheap f 1.8 option. I do mean cheap. I believe it’s better to have three cheap lenses that cover three different focals, than only great lens that can only do so much. Unless it’s a zoom obviously. Then, get a zoom.

7) Natural Light Only (NLO)

There is nothing wrong with NLO. I use NLO a lot. As long as the light is good, NLO can be very flattering. There are limitations tho.

Like the time of the day. Or the location. The quality of light (it’s either soft, or harsh. It can hardly be both). The temperature.The consistency. Long story short: NLO is just a style of shooting that can work in certain environments, under certain circumstances. And a Full Frame sensor also does help quite a lot, as you’ll have to rely on post production more than with strobes. So portraits with NLO can work, but you will be limited. NLO photography is like going out fishing: you don’t know what’s going to happen, you choose the right spot, the right time, the right place and hope for the best.

Flash Photography is much more creative. You choose everything. The limit is just your equipment and your skills, as you can do pretty much anything you want, wherever you want. Yes, it will slow you down, and it’s a pain to learn how to use it. But experience will make everything smoother.

I am sure, when LED continuous lights will be strong and cheap enough to illuminate a daylight environment, many “natural light only” heroes will appreciate artificial light much more. I’d love to shoot NLO. But there will never be a substitute for strobes. It’s just the way photography works, we have to embrace it.

8) Editing (a.k.a. the damn filters)

I love post processing. I hate post processing. I am glad I discovered it right away and practiced a lot with it. And more than that, I am glad I didn’t know I could buy filters online until last year.

I had to practice a lot by myself. Just toggling the slides left and right, practicing random adjustments to see the results. My results where mediocre at best. Then they improved imitating other photographers. Then I noticed that a lot of photographers all had the same style of processing pics and thought that they were absolute wizards of post production and I sucked. And finally I discovered the simple truth. Filters. They were all using filters. One button, a couple of sliders and boom, the magic was done.

I jumped into the filters bandwagon right away, started doing exactly what other photographers were doing and felt a cool kid. It was a breeze: full frame, eye af, random posing and sun condition, 1.4, spray and pray. For the most part, it worked. Until I realized that I had become exactly like all the others. And started implementing flashes. And to increase the f. stop. And go with other filters, and then without filters. And then just adjusting my pictures based on what I was doing. And that’s where I think I’ll stay even in the future: don’t solely rely on filters. Adjust the image by looking at it, not by making it look exactly like all the others. It’s important to have a “signature look”. To be consistent in our photography style. As long as it’s our own look; our own photography style. Let’s ask ourselves what mood we want to convey, what colors are in the scene, those that fit and those that are distracting. Filters can help when used like that. If one applies the same filters regardless of the kind of pictures to edit, I don’t know how often it’s going to work.

If it’s a matter of luck, there is something wrong with our photography.

9) Learn from the masters.

Let’s go back to the source, to those who established photography as art. And beyond that: painters! Create something new from there. Surprisingly enough, I found it much easier to be inspired by them than to come up with something unique by scrolling IG!

10) Be Humble

The last point is the most important and difficult of them all. Let’s be humble about our work and help each other. Share. Appreciate beauty where it is, especially with other people’s works. And, no, that doesn’t mean bragging on your own work. That only shows how insecure and in need of validation you are. Please, don’t.

Instead, let’s give a nice compliment to someone else. It will make us all feel better and grow, as both photographers and human beings.

I recently uploaded an Instagram Story to see if anyone was interested in purchasing a Sony a7r3. While some people replied asking about the cost, a surprising number of followers just Dmed me asking why, or were just sincerely surprised that I would do such move.

I get it. The a7r3 is, hands down, one of the best cameras you can get to this day. Especially if photography is your main activity, you can’t beat it. I have used it extensively for the first six-seven months. And when I say extensively, I do mean it. From events to portraits, street, weddings (well, one. But still…). I covered many situations with it and it always worked great.

It is so incredibly fast and (for the most part) accurate, that all you need to do is tell a subject to do something and the camera will take care of everything else. In Sony’s intentions, the camera is projected to literally disappear in the hands of the user, so that all that is left to do is to unleash one’s creativity. And right there, the very strength of the camera becomes, IMO, its biggest flaw.

Sony’s concept works so great that you don’t need to do a thing. In fact, so little was my engagement that, one fine day, I realized I didn’t even want to shoot with it anymore. Which is, I believe, the most natural outcome of such a smooth shooting experience.
I had bought the A7r3 because I wanted to push more my files than what I could have possibly done with a Fujifilm XT2, my previous camera. Heck that camera wanted to be used so bad. Only the files were “delicate”. I love to shoot with deep shadows, mess with the tones, all that Photoshop goodness. I thought that a camera with a similar to the A7r3 combined with a full frame sensor were just going to be the perfect mix!

Except, photography is not just technicalities and specs. It’s also about telling a story (“also” is provoking). Back in my college days, I had been told that the company which had built and ran the school, had chosen a specific color to visually help the students relax and immerse into the studying experience. Heck it was just a detail, but it mattered. And rightly so. Everything matters; gear matters and so does the process of taking pictures. Every single step of it.
Just as much as the thought you put into a shot, your gear helps you shape the final result of that shot.

Shooting with a camera meant to disappear in your hands sounds great. In theory. And, I must admit, in certain boring work situations, it’s a godsend: focus, click: nailed, repeat.”
But when there is more to it than just “getting things done”, when such fascinating theoretical of “unleashing your creativity, we’ll take care of everything else” is put into practice well, the outcome is not so great. It’s actually quite boring.

Obviously, this is a highly personal experience and some may have a completely different user experience. I loved the Sony a7r3 to death. I think Sony has made impressive progress in the photography industry and, more than that, has forced other camera manufacturers do the same. Which is the highest goal a company can achieve: set the bar a little higher; creating a tool that makes your work a little easier. I am just not convinced it makes it a little more fun anymore. And we all know how that goes:

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

Ten Things I Learned About Portraits

“All real living is meeting” (a.k.a. the beauty of taking portraits)

The camera that wasn't there