One of the most popular types of film-taking is portrait photography. Many people use a point and shoot camera to take still pictures of others, but what differentiates a hobby from professional photography is generally the quality. A good portrait photographer has the ability to not only capture the best of his subject’s face but also to bring out the personality of that individual.

If you would like to learn and excel at portrait photography, then the five points below will help guide you in that direction.

Rapport

Get involved with your subject while preparing for the picture. Engage the person in a friendly conversation so that there is comfort not only with you, but also for a naturalness in front of camera. Success at the “pre-snap” phase will help you to capture the natural expression of your subject and display it on film.

Personality

One of your main objectives should be to bring out the personality of your subject through your pictures. This can more easily be achieved if the person is relaxed. Since capturing personality is best done when an individual is least expecting a shot, be ready for those natural opportunities.

Lighting

Natural lighting is preferred by most photographers; however, an artificial light source can at times be more helpful to acquire the image you truly want to portray on film. Before using artificial light, take care for the amount of light and the angle at which it shines so that it provides an enhancing - rather than distracting - effect on film.

Background

The background color of a picture should compliment the subject’s color. For this purpose, light backgrounds are generally preferable to help with emphasis on the subject. If the background color is not given due consideration, it could distort the attention away from your picture’s primary target - the person.

Plan

You should always make a checklist of all the equipment you need prior to a photo shoot. Besides the necessary equipment, also come prepared with an interesting topic to discuss with your subject for a friendly and relaxed conversation.

Think through the job seriously before actually doing it and whether you currently have the skill set to handle it. If not, solicit the assistance of someone you trust and who has greater experience. Of course, if this is a hobby, then practice away.

Portrait photography can be enjoyed as a hobby or, with skill and knowledge development, adapted over time as a career. Either way, you will have many great opportunities to “stop time” with the push of a button!

Here is my favourite tip on how to promote yourself with groups.

Tell Everyone!

It may sound obvious, but do you do it?

The first thing I want you to do is to start talking to people, yes, start talking to people. Each day starting from tomorrow I want you to start to tell everyone you speak with what you are intending to do, and ask him or her to refer potential customers to you.

Don’t wait on people coming to you.

All businesses stand or fall based on the quality and quantity of their marketing. Once you get established people will start to come to you, you will however have to earn this. There is no better approach especially in your early days of business than the personal approach.

You can always find a way to drop your new activity into the conversation. Ask people if they are aware of any groups who could be photographed, ask them for contact names and numbers.

Go out of your way to go speak to people.

This is the phase of your business where you are setting out to create a network of relationships, which will be the foundation of your business for many years to follow.

Search out lists of groups from local Community Education Centres or from local libraries, there are notice boards full of groups in these places. Take notes of names and numbers and start to compile a list of people to contact.

First Steps

Make contact with the person in charge of the group, or better still the person who organises the events. When speaking with them you should offer them a personal benefit too. It may be a free print or a good discount on his or her reprint order.

You should endeavour not to cold call but to be in a position to say to the person you are approaching “John / Margaret or ?? gave me your name and suggested I speak with you”.

Be Up Front

When you call be completely honest and say that you are starting out in business as a photographer and that you are willing to come to where the group meets or to one of their special events and take some photographs at no cost to the group. Yes, no cost for you to be there to take some shots. This will get you the ‘foot in the door’ that you need.

You can then say that you will donate one photograph to the group as a whole and that individuals can purchase a shot for cost price plus expenses as a trial.

Remember you are investing in the future; you are sowing seeds for future profitable relationships. You will take countless bookings for other events as a result of photographing groups. It gives you the opportunity of marketing your other services to the group.

You need only do this two or three times to get the experience and confidence you need to get some momentum going and start to charge the going rate for your services.

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Digital photography isn’t only about clicking shots on the best of the days. Good clear weather, blue skies and lovely sunshine generally help you get good digital pictures. Everyone can get good shots on perfect days. Nevertheless, you may want to click on days, which though not perfect are still special. Storms, lightning, rainy days may afford you the photograph of a lifetime.

Your digital camera can work wonders on these days also, if you keep a few things in mind.

You may be an adventurous photographer. Nevertheless, keep your safety uppermost in mind before venturing on such a photographic expedition. Having said this, the more difficult it is to get a photograph; more will be its monetary value. Underwater photography also requires special skill and special digital camera. Therefore, before embarking out on an especially stormy night, weigh all your pros and cons. If you are new in photography, you can take digital photography courses also.

Why a rainy day is good for photographer?

A rainy day is a good day to take photographs, in the sense that it makes the scenery glisten. This is true for both the city as well as the countryside. The clouds in fact even out the effect of light. In bright sunshine, the digital image will turn out to be almost black in places. You can get some nice romantic landscape shots on a rainy day. The thing to remember is stray rain droplets can damage the lens therefore; use a protective accessory for that. You should take training on camera repair and maintenance.

Clicking a perfect shot of a sky lit up with a lightning streak may require some practice. The lag in cameras between pressing the click button and actual closing of the shutter may make you miss such unpredictable shots. A digital SLR is good to take such images. Increasing the shutter speed and using a tripod will help. The tripod saves you from blurring the image by shaking the camera at the wrong moment. Using the manual mode will be the best to reduce the lag period.

Pictures of snow-laden mountains, houses or melting snow on trees always have a special charm. Get your perfect Christmas picture on such a day. Snow brings out the contrast against its surroundings giving you a great background. Get friends to dress up brightly and click them enjoying in the snow. Snow melting off the trees will give you the perfect nature shot. Adjust the E/V value (exposure to light), if the day is too bright or dark. In some cases, you can also use digital photo viewer.

Now you don’t have to hide indoors in special weather. Having fun with your camera can be an on-going process.

The general purpose of under water photography is to bring sea life to the surface. Most people are curious about what lives underwater and what actually goes on beneath the ocean surface. Underwater photographers make it their mission to capture this hidden world on camera and bring to those people who will never get a chance to see it firsthand. The under water world requires a specific skills and techniques that are different from general photography skills.

The underwater world needs to be captured up close unlike wildlife photography for example. Since the water refracts and distorts images, the closer you are to your photography subject, the less distortion you will have. A great deal of patience is required for under water photography. You may be trying to take a photo a fish or dolphin, but than they suddenly swim away before you get a chance to. Also, water contains many particles like plankton that can cause the image to lose contrast and sharpness.

Using an underwater flash, or strobe, will help provide the proper lighting necessary for taking a great picture. Therefore, it is essential to use an underwater camera with a flash. This will help to bring in other colors and contrast them with the colors of the subject. A medium sized strobe is all that is necessary as a large strobe can end up getting in the way.

Composition is extremely important. The same basic rules apply as in regular photography, but you should shoot at an upward angle towards the subject. Because of the camouflage technique of most sea life, they tend to blend into their habitats. Since they do not stand out like this, they do not make good photographs. The key is to always try to get a clear shot whenever the subject blends into the ocean background.

If you are looking to improve your under water photography skills, you will first need to work on your photography on land. When you get to the point where you are taking great photos on land, than you can move into the more advanced world of underwater photography, where taking great pictures takes more patience and skill. Photography under water brings sea life to the surface which gives us more information about the mysterious marine world. If you are just beginning to have an interest in under water photography you should consider taking an underwater photography course to learn proper technique.