I started off to learn photography with a prosumer digital SLR camera. My initial thought was to learn basic portrait photography, without spending much on equipment. Back then, this equipment was new to me, and I don’t have a good background of which portrait lens is best for me. Neither do I know about the term ‘aperture’ and ‘focal length’, nor knowing how this 2 terms affect the photographic results.

Are you one of the self-starter, yet troubled by deciding what is best for you?

You may say, “This is not the main concern, because purchasing a new digital SLR usually comes with a general purpose kit lens”. I agree, it is either a standard zoom lens or a telephoto zoom lens. Even today, I have also noticed that most amateur photographers use kit lens as well. There is nothing wrong with this, and this was what I did back then.

After months of diligence learning in portrait photography, I realized that the results of portrait shoots does not has maximum emphasis. In particularly the background, it looks equally as sharp as the subject. Shouldn’t the background supposed to be blur? Have you experienced this before?

Please read on to learn about the causes and basic criteria for good portrait photograph.

1. Using telephoto zoom lens, wide angle lens, or macro lens is not the key factors for blurring the background. However, it does contribute to the portraiture composition. The main criteria for good portrait is selecting wide aperture for your lens.
2. The aperture of lens refers to the round mechanical openings located at the center of lens. It control the amount of lights passes through and into the digital SLR sensors.
3. Aperture is expressed as F-stop, e.g. F2.8 or f/2.8. The smaller the number, the larger the lens opening.
4. Most of the general purpose kit lens comes with aperture of f4-5.6 or f3.5-5.6.
5. Be selective. Always shoot at the widest aperture setting. Recommended to own a lens with adjustable aperture. At least f/2.8 or lower.
6. This basic feature enable the photographer to create a shallow depth of field. Capable of blurring the background, thus, emphasizing a sharp focus on the portraiture.
7. Simplest settings on for the camera’s body is to use Aperture Priority auto-exposure mode, also know as AP mode. Otherwise, select fully manual mode and experiment it with low F-Stop.

After all, just be reminded that selecting the right lens with wide aperture is very important for good portrait photography. Below portrait photograph has clearly demonstrated the use of  widest aperture setting.

Baby Portrait with Wide Aperture Setting. Specification: 50mm, f1.8

Flickr Photo credit to R.Gringo’s photostream.

Viewpoint for shooting portrait refers to the best position from which you photograph the subject. This is one of the basic aspect that most amateur photographer has neglected. It is so easy to hold the digital SLR camera and photograph the subject at eye level. The outcomes of having a humdrum photography maybe effective, provided your subject is spontaneous, experienced to modeling, and constantly having different pose in front of the camera. Think twice, do you want to hire a high-paid model just to learn basic portrait photography? So how to achieve the most effective viewpoint for shooting portrait? Simply put it, which shooting angle is best to produce a more flattering result in your composition? Below showing 4 methods for using viewpoint that enhance your portrait shooting.

1. Experiment with different height and angles. Be proactive. If the your subject is static, you should be the one to move and try shooting at different position. Shooting at high or low angle can drastically change the effect to improve the overview results and creativity. Try kneel down and shoot at waste level, or from extreme low ground to produce majestic statues-alike. Viewpoint can also have a subtle effect on how the subject appears – looking up can make them appear submissive or cheeky; looking down can make them seem dominant or even naughty.
2. Identify the unique facial features that characterize your subject. In caricature for portrait drawings, key features are intentionally exaggerated to make a face more easily recognizable. Likewise, have an extreme shooting angle for a portrait close-up will also achieve a whole new dynamic. For example, shooting from above will accentuate the feature of high cheek-bone, portraying one with stern look and strong character.
3. Use wide-angle lens for portrait close-up. Most versatile zoom lens for that I have used is Canon’s EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM. For more professional, I would recommend EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM. For ultra-wide, use EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM. Or EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye, for unique and intriguing effects. As a beginner, would you choose to invest on a good SLR lens with resale value or to hire an experienced model who has to pay hourly?
4. Its always better to have eye contact. Your subject without eye-contact in portrait will reflect your composition with voyeuristic feel, than with intimacy mood. Re-quoting from a popular photography blog “Without eye contact, the whole mood of the image changes – the camera is now simply an ‘observer’ and this is a great opportunity to show a subject in a different way.” Source from http://digital-photography-school.com/eye-contact-in-photography

Here is an examples for shooting at side angle and slightly above eye-level.

Viewpoint of Portrait Photography. Source from Flickr: "TheHopscotch's Photostream"

Well, who will believe me if I tell someone that I have drawn the portrait of famous pop star, Madonna. That was 25 years ago, and I did it using just a small passport-size photo cut out from an old magazine. Spending 3 days to transfer the portrait onto 14” x 14” paper, with graphite, free hand technique, without grid lines and magnification. Adding to none of my portrait work posted in this blog, it is not convincing enough on my portrait drawing skill. I am not exaggerating how good I’m capable of, but wanting to share with you why portrait drawing using grid lines is still the best practice for beginners. At the same time, below points may serve a good reason to motivate anyone who want to be a natural portrait artist.

Why Portrait Drawing Using Grid Lines is The Best Practice?

1. It is a proven technique since the Renaissance period. Famous artists using grid system to transfer scale drawings will help to produce portrait art work, that look natural and without distortion. Michelangelo gridded the Sistine Chapel, in fact he got his students to do it for him.
2. This is definitely not cheating. Drawing using grid lines is not the same as tracing or projection. There is no originality in tracing and does not help a beginner as a stepping stones. You will be comfortable, if this is just a simple school assignment. However, you will not be able to develop good drawing skill.
3. The purpose of using smaller squares helps the artist to isolate shapes of subjects, thus making it easier to define and draw accurately. Logically thinking, any shapes appear within a small square grid will not mean anything. And that is the main reason to makes drawing less complicated and help focus on smaller scale of shapes. Have you been troubled about where should be the starting point of the portrait drawing? Use grid lines, anywhere can be the starting point.
4. Another name for drawing using grid lines is called graphing technique. Its helps to make it easy to enlarge or reduce a drawing based on photograph. To enlarge the portrait, simple make the grid on your drawing paper of a larger scale than the one on the photograph. Bear in mind that you only use 3H pencil to draw the square grid very lightly on the paper.
5. Do you want a distorted portrait drawing? Proportionality is one of the key element in portrait drawing, and using grid lines will definitely guide the artist strategically. Eventually, portrait should resemble the real person, their features and facial expression.
6. Develop a strong skill in drawings before one is able to paint. This is true! With lot of practice, justification to draw accurately comes in hand when you start painting a photo portrait.
7. It is still a piece of natural art work, even with the aid of grid. Though shapes are define in a smaller squares, you are still using free hands to draw. As your skill improve, you may just focus on using this smaller grids for drawing the eyes.

Perhaps the next post, I will show my portrait drawings using grid systems. Do you think it will work?

With the use of photographs, portrait artists is able to paint accurate and realist paintings. As a means for providing static references can be priceless. Especially, in situation where portrait is taken as a candid shots in a party or at the peak of the snowy mountain. These occurrence can never be repeated as exactly as it was, or will you takes another tiring effort to climb the same mountain again?

Below you will be reading 10 reasons on why compact digital camera is worth buying, typically for an amateur who learn oil painting from photos, and not for techies or geeks.

1. Design to have point-and-shoot capabilities with automatic setting, for specific subjects such as portrait and landscape. I always named it as “post-and-shoot and ever-ready cameras”
2. Have basic features for digital zooming, focusing and macro shots. Most of the newer compact camera has 3x to 5x ranges of zooming. Suitable for portrait and closeup.
3. Small, lightweight, compact and sleek. Best for smaller bags or even in pockets. It is as good as pack-and-go item. Some of the girls are carrying it everyday, taking it out from their handbag as and when there wanted to have a snapshot of people.
4. With advancing technology, these gadgets are becoming more affordable with an easy-to-use operating interface. Remember that your purpose is to take reference photograph for portrait paintings.
5. Technically speaking, compact cameras are less sophisticated and easy to learn. Otherwise, painters will have to start flipping those thick operating manuals on How-to topics. Spend more time on learning how to achieve better painting skill is more worth doing it.
6. Unlike the bulkier and heavier digital SLR cameras, this is much lighter. Hassle-free and doesn’t require special storage, such as the dry cabinet. In addition, you don’t need to carry loads of detachable lens and filters in your sack. I personally experienced that when I was in Tasmania, doing a 10-hours bush trekking; it was more of a burden than a pride that I wanted.
7. You don’t have to invest on an external flashlight. Compact camera have integrated with flashlight. In fact, I personally encourage user to do shooting without flash lighting. It does make your portrait photograph having hard edges, due to harshness of bright flashlight. Please read “How to have portrait photography without lighting studio”
8. Higher end compact camera give better quality photographs. CCD sensors of 8-10 megapixels; perfect to print up to A1 paper size. Do you still consider camera phone with 3-5 megapixels? Just for your info in today’s technology market, an iPhone has 3 megapixels and Nexus One only has 5 megapixels.
9. Much faster processing time than your camera phone, that is why compact camera are capable for taking burst-rate. Imagine how many portrait shots can u take, if the subject happen to be a hyper-active child?
10. Make you stay focus on using the compact camera. At times, function of phone camera will be disabled when there are interrupted by incoming calls. I’m trying to say, “Don’t miss your best shots!”.

Below are a few guidelines for portrait proportion, while drawing a typical adult head. There are a few standard view in portraiture, however, here in this post, you will be reading basics references to a person who is looking straight ahead. These generalities apply not just for your graphite drawings, but also as a rule of thumb for basic fast sketch in starting portrait oil paintings.

1. The eyes are about halfway from the chin to top. This is the usual starting point in portrait drawings. So always check back with reference from the chin. Make sure you don’t begin drawing the eyes level to high, and leaving forehead too small.
2. The inside corner of the eye lines up with the outer edge of the nostril on a vertical axis. There are times, when this point is very slightly overlap for people who have broader nose.
3. The corner of the mouth lines up with the inner corner of the iris on a vertical axis. Since the eyes are the most important features, its worth the time spent on placing the iris on the right position. Otherwise, the result of your subject may appear to have squint eyes, instead. This is true to most of the portrait sketches.
4. The lower part of the face from chin to base of nose measure about the same as the area from the base of nose to a point between the eyebrows above the bridge of the nose. Proportion will differ, if your subject is drawn with a laughing mouth. In reality, your subject would not be able to pose with a laughing mouth for hours, however, do you know that some artists practice drawing directly from a candid photograph in realistic portrait? So always keep at least 2 logical references, to maintain every features are in the correct alignment.
5. The eyes are usually separated by a further eye’s-width across the bridge of the nose. The only difficulty in this proportioning, is when your subject is wearing spectacles. The outline of frame, particularly small over shape, may tend to distracts your attention in justifying the gap correctly.
6. Ears are generally on a level with the nose. No artist wants their portrait to looks like elf, with ears drawn too high.

There is a simple illustration below that I have sketch out, based on the above-mentioned points. Image may not look perfect to be realistic, however, you may want to give feedback if it does not relate well to the context here.

Proportion of Face drawing

The most accepted placement uses ‘Rule of thirds’ for composing portrait photograph. It is the basic and a proven method used by professional and amateur photographers for many years.

The design is very simple, yet requires some imaginations while taking photographs of people. A simplified ‘Rule of thirds’ divides the rectangle frame into 9 smaller ones by placing two lines across the rectangle horizontally and two lines across it vertically, creating a grid. Each set of lines divides the rectangle’s horizontal and vertical sides into three equal parts. Some camera’s feature includes imaginary grid lines when you look through the viewfinder or the display panel. It allows you to focus on the subjects and composition, instead of figuring out where to create the lines by yourself.

By understanding and applying the fundamental rule of thirds, you will not bind onto problems of where your subject should be placed in the photograph frame. This is typically useful when portrait become tighter within designated area, and probably includes one-third or less of the background for a complete composition. Examples are half-length portrait.

To photograph great portrait, always take note of the level of subject’s eyes contribute to the essence of the composition. It is also most central feature out of the facial landmarks that beautify people. The closer the portrait is, the more important the level of subject’s eyes is.

After placing your subject within the frame, adjust your view slightly so that the level of subject’s eyes is placed just above or intercepting the higher of the two horizontal lines. Next, make use of the 2 vertical lines as boundaries to help centralize your subject, ensuring that the portrait is not one-sided. Lastly, engage your subject and take your snap shoot with confidence. On top of these steps, just in mind that you are photographing people and not a pattern design. So be creative and alive, and not make your photography too symmetrical. Challenge yourself to take candid shots, it provide you with natural pose.

Rule of thirds is worth knowing and practicing, thus, regards as the cornerstone of many great portraits for beginners. Technique is also very suitable for any amateur, well pleasing to an average viewer. The resulting effort can be considered simple and ‘clean’ portrait. It’s not very unique and certainly not daringly creative. If were to evaluate and compare to the standards of ‘good picture’, in the aspect of photography art, you probably have to learn the advance methods

Most of the beginners who learn to draw realistic people are not natural artist. They don’t see the reality of the world around them, they also don’t place the portrait features in correct proportionality. You may encounter problems at the start of every practices, while staring at the piece of white drawing paper. At times, asking yourself questions as in where should be the starting point in drawing people, the features of the portrait, the eyes, nose, facial, etc. Its mainly about finding causes for why it is so difficult to draw realistic people. How should you organize visual information into understandable patterns, or fundamental knowledge about perceptions. There are two factors to understand about perceptions,

1. Perception as filters through which you see the people, and

2. Perception changes on how to make you see and draw accurately.

Perception as filters through which you see people. It comes naturally to every learners. You will recognize every people looks differently. Looking at the photographs of your close friends, you know the one standing on your right side is Billy, where the one on your left is Jane. Memory plays an important role as well. You are able to differentiate their facial features and shapes clearly. Processing the visual information through memorizing, recognizing and filtering what is necessary, while others are refer as redundancy. The more identical any two person are, the more specific you have to segregate, absorb and memorize the right information in your perception. Are you able to distinguish the difference between 2 identical twin siblings? That will be a challenge to every portrait artists who wanted to perceive and draw out the correct features of people.

Thus, for an untrained mind will based on memorized patterns or shapes. Features like people must have the nose, eyes, mouth, lips, etc. Memorized patterns are rather standard and simple drawings representing the portrait faces. These that I have mentioned are the fundamental requirement to understand how a non-artist process information, not about techniques to draw accurately.

Perception on how to make you see and draw accurately. Second factor is about how you should change and improve the drawing from the way you have memorized. Perception don’t change easily, unless there is a drastic difference that make you realize the way it looks. The idea must be in tangible manner; factual and not fictional. Real people that you are seeing, not based on memory from the past, or the standard patterns on how kid doodle a face with a pencil. It involved more technical aspect and detailing to achieve realization, thus, allowing perception to change. Two best methods are to look at the real person, face-to-face in a realistic way. And drawing people from a clear photograph in your album. Never try to imagine, look at it constantly. Breakdown and analyze the way you perceive, repeated comparisons between features of realist people and your memorized patterns. Realize and correct; improve and assemble only the filtered information in your thoughts. Then interpret the visual information into drawings. Then you will be able to draw it accurately. Always look at it.

Through this, you will improve naturally without having troubled thoughts on why drawing people is difficult. With the above two factors on perceptions of drawing people, what comes next is about disciplines and practicing. Eventually, its makes you perfect.

Below showing my pencil drawing, practicing drawing right eye of a portrait. Just having a thought of wanted to do some study and sharing in this blog. If you look closely, some of the area has sharp pencil marks pressed onto the paper. I didn’t use the correct pencil, this is drawn with a mechanical pencil.  Free to give comments.

Right eye, Pencil drawing practice

Full length portrait in photography, allows you to show your subject in an entirely different way from the more classical, tighter, close-up compositions. The key difference from other type of portrait is to capture the wholeness of subject, while keeping the subject focused from the surrounding. Detail of facial expression will be less emphasized, however, it allows you to incorporate with the environment as background, be it indoor or outdoor. Additionally, it provides the freedom to explore stance, posing and body language.

The list of possible poses and variations on those poses is almost endless. The challenge to compose a full length portrait is how to creatively fill the frame. Below, I have highlighted 3 key points.

Firstly, subject does not necessarily restricted to standing position. Other poses that you may want the model can be sitting, lying down, or kneeling. Perhaps, the arrangement of your model’s limbs and the angle of shoulders and their position in the frame.

Legs can be straight or crossed, hands can go into pockets or behind the back and arms can be stretched out of folded. Other poses, like making use of wall or posts, and asking your model to lean against it. All this makes up good composition for full length portrait, conveying body languages in an outwardly expression. Whatever you decide to do with your subject contributes to the same factors for close up composition can have, that is detail of facial expression.

Secondly, challenge on creatively fill the frame depends on the relationship between your model and the background. When the composition is tight it is relatively easy to make the background incidental, but when you have the whole person featured it becomes more difficult. Beside engaging the use of depth-of-field for SLR camera, basic photographic composition still applies. Such as inclusive of the foreground, mid and background will impact the composition of full length portrait as an entirety.

The last one that you have to take into account of is the costume the model has to put on, in order to feature an appropriateness with the selected background and theme. For examples, portrait depicting an Elizabeth era; your subject should not dress up in an 21^st century fashion that totally not fit into the theme. Basically, this may be subjective because it also depends on what you intended to convey the message to your viewer.

In all types portraiture it takes time to establish your own style. With fewer conventions about this kind of portrait you are likely to feel a lot less certain, when you start to experiment, but most photographers quickly learn to enjoy the freedom presented by full-length portraits.

Full Length Portrait (Standing, with High Contrast Background)

Full Length Portrait (Sitting, with a Simple Background)

Image Credit: Flickr