3 practical tips for portrait composition

Monday 17 May 2021, 20:10 by Elja Trum | 6,503 views | 1 comment

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Composition is often made more complicated than it needs to be. A good composition makes your photo, but you don't have to make it harder than it is. In this article, you'll find three basic rules for an excellent composition in a portrait photo.

1. Your model's position in the frame

You determine a large part of your composition by where you place your subject in the frame. What I often see going wrong is that there is too much empty space above your model's head.

The simplest and quickest way to position your subject well is to apply the rule of thirds: divide the frame with 4 lines into 9 sections and place the most important parts on one of the intersections.

The most important part of a portrait is usually your model's eyes. So place them on one of those intersections and you'll almost always be fine. And it really doesn't matter if they aren't exactly on an intersection. Getting close is good enough.

2. Distance from your model

The distance from your model also plays a role, as well as their position. In many cases, the composition becomes stronger when your model appears larger in the frame. By this, I mean that the face is the only thing you can still see of the model.

Many photographers stand a few metres away and want to photograph their model from head to toe. But that only makes things difficult for the viewer. What is the photo actually about? You solve that by simply leaving a lot out of the frame and only photographing what the photo is about.

Of course, you don't actually have to get very close to your model. You can also simply use a telephoto lens. Between 70 and 135 mm is usually just right. This also helps prevent unflattering distortion of your model.

3. Look at the background

Before you take the photo, always take a good look at your background too. Sometimes you are so focused on your model that you forget to pay attention to what is happening in the background. It is annoying when you see a tree trunk sticking out of a head when you look at the photo on your computer.

With portrait photos, you often blur the background to reduce distractions. This of course helps prevent distracting elements in your background. But blurred areas still contain lighter and darker parts, shapes and lines, so it remains important to pay attention to the background.

You can use lines visible in the background to guide the viewer's eyes through the photo. For example, by having the lines lead towards your subject.

You can often influence the background quite a lot by taking a small step to the side or adjusting your height. Usually, you don't even have to ask the model to move to remove distracting elements from your photo.

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