Photographing Strange Portraits
Sunday 2 August 2026, 14:41 by Elja Trum | 1,479 views | 0 commentsThis article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.
At the photo club recently, we were given the task of making a photo on the theme of 'Absurd'. I prefer photographing portraits, so I translated this theme into 'strange portraits'. A fun theme to play around with.
Within this theme, you can of course take it in all sorts of directions. I found it fun to make relatively simple portraits using a simple prop. Combined with some relatively simple Photoshop work, you can quickly create a striking portrait.
Like the portrait above, where I edited out Noa's head, or the photo on the right, where Noa held a loose zip against her face.
For Letizia, I used a piece of broken mirror, and Photoshop to place a second photo in the reflection. Something as simple as some sweets can also create a strange effect.
It's fun to think about how you can use everyday things in a strange way to create an absurd portrait.
What's the strangest portrait you've made?
About the author
Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.
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Elja Trum
Photofacts; everything to do with photography!
Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about PhotofactsPhotofacts is made possible in part by
