Today we share a very skilled photographer from our community. She is a South Florida based photographer specializing in fashion, portrait, and commercial photography. Her beautiful portraits and controlled lighting give you a sense of the stories she creates. Please welcome ViewBug member KendraPaige, follow her if you enjoy her photography!
Hi Kendra, Can you share 5 quick tips on how to capture awesome portraits?
Comfort is key. Ensure that your subject is relaxed and that they enjoy the session. Offer them direction and positive reinforcement. Humor goes a long way!
Flatter your subject. A trick I use is a ‘selfie pose,’ where I ask my subject to pretend to take a selfie. This allows me to see their favorite side quickly, as well as works as a good icebreaker.
Give them a narrative. Providing your subject with a character to play or a story to portray goes a long way in creating emotive portraits.
Review results with them. Whether you’re on-location or in-studio, show off-camera previews to your subject in order to reinforce behaviors you want, as well as boost their confidence in not only themselves, but in your own ability.
Have a vision, and deviate. Having a vision for your portraits is essential, but so is allowing yourself to experiment and explore new angles, poses, and techniques.
How did you capture the soft light in this photo?
The soft light in this photo was accomplished with a clamshell lighting setup. I placed a medium square softbox below the model pointed up, with a beauty dish placed slightly above the model at a 45 degree angle. I love using this lighting setup, because it essentially boxes in your subject with light, and is often very flattering for their skin.
What is your favorite thing about this photo?
For me, my favorite aspect of this portrait is the model’s personality shining through. She is an incredibly vivacious and glamorous woman, and I was proud of being able to capture her personality for this photograph.
Can you share a quick tip on how to capture a similar shot to this one?
Soft light is essential for creating a portrait like this, as you want to avoid hard shadows. In post-processing, I pulled out the shadows further and added a few radial gradients to create those blooms of light at the edges.
Can you share the story behind this photo?
Framing, what are you trying to capture?
For this shot, the key aspect was elegance. The story revolved around a young woman of royalty with a tendency for capricious and whimsical behavior.
How do you know if it’s visually interesting?
This is perhaps the biggest quandary for a photographer, and an aspect that I tango with often. As I continue to train my eye and hone my skills, I look for elements that are aesthetically pleasing, as well as aspects that differentiate the shot from others. More often than not, it comes down to a unique pose, or an experimental angle that impacts me when I first review the image.
Are you thinking about perspective?
When I want to involve the viewer in a more photojournalistic aspect, I will aim for a realistic perspective. For a fashion or beauty story, it often comes down to the impact or mood, and what effects may help to draw the viewer in. More often than not, the latter involves unusual angles.
Did you use a tripod?
I very rarely use a tripod for portrait or fashion work, as I find them too limiting. I enjoy the option of moving around my subject and trying various angles. Lighting can change drastically depending on the position of the camera, so this also plays into my strong preference for having the freedom.
What flash did you use?
I use monolights in the majority of my work, as is the case with this image. The lighting setup consisted of a beauty dish on a boom arm, floated above the model to light her face, with a medium softbox used for fill light toward the left of the frame.
What aperture settings are you using?
This was shot with a f/9.0 aperture.
How do you look for a model?
When it comes to casting my models, I look at the narrative, and then ensure that the model fits that character or theme.
How did you plan this photo?
When shooting editorials, I put together moodboards and storyboards in order to pre-visualize as many details as possible. While I knew that I wanted a pose with the model laying down, credit must go to the model, Katerina Marie, for the elegant placement of her arms and hands.
How are you choosing to stay close or far from the subject?
The overall composition of the image, as well as the effect the distance to the subject will have on overall perspective. I tend to shoot as close to my subjects as possible for portraiture and fashion work, as it is often the most flattering.
Are you thinking of rule of thirds/how?
The way I compose an image depends on who the hero of the story is. While that is often the model or subject, it can also be a dress, accessory, or makeup. As a result of this, I focus on leading the viewer to that destination through leading lines, color elements, or aspects of the lighting and wardrobe.
Are you paying attention on the subject only or also background and why?
It is absolutely a balancing act of all elements, as there are few things less frustrating than a great portrait that is ruined by distracting background elements. This is a contributing factor in my decision to shoot without a tripod, so I can easily readjust my shooting position to remove aspects of the background that I do not wish to have in the photograph.
We invite you to award the photos you liked and follow KendraPaige to see more of her photos!
