Shooting Photos Outdoors: Tips and Tricks of the Trade
Beset with both challenges and opportunities, when you hire a professional NC photographer to handle a photo shoot that is outdoors, it can produce some incredibly impressive results. Conversely, if you don’t know the special considerations for having your photo session out in natural surroundings and in natural light, you increase the likelihood that your outdoor photo portraits will be interspersed with a mix of everything from great to awful. Here is how to produce a more dependable outdoor photo shoot, to get the look you want.
The Three Photography Basics
Your photographer is going to be trying to capture the best photo opportunities, especially when it comes to portraits, and he or she is trying to adhere to essentially three elements that can not be ignored. These are making sure to set the proper exposure, having the proper balance of white, and exacting the sharpest focus possible. While you are sitting there, waiting for the photo to be made, your photographer is going through a mental process that is staggering, with all sorts of algebra and math that would make the head of the amateur swim. But this is what you are paying for: the education, wisdom and talent necessary to make your photo session outdoors just as good as it possibly could ever be. Try to be patient. It will result in your complete satisfaction.
Maintain Your Focus
Your photographer is going to want to capture your face, but not in any semblance of being posed or forced. This is not a time to seek for some kind of control in how you are presenting yourself. Actually, if you trusted your photographer enough to hire him or her, you really do need to trust their ability to recognize when you look your best-something you yourself just can not do, especially when you are relying on the effects of natural lighting as your “extra makeup.”
The “Eyes” Have it
Long described as the windows to the soul, the eyes should be the focal point of any portrait. The eyes are the sharpest component of the face and they reveal so many elements and feelings that other facial features simply cannot express. While most photo subjects think that the commands “smile,” and “say ‘cheese’” are prompts to spread their lips to the max distance of width possible, what this does is produce a really weird and fakey presence. You could try and try, for the rest of eternity, to smile singularly with your mouth alone, and never convey any type of an authentic smile representation. On the other hand, it is completely possible to smile with the eyes alone. If you take a look at many photos shot outside, the best ones involve “smiling eyes”, whether or not the mouths are stretched widely or in default mode.
Clothing for a Solo Shot
When you alone are the subject of an outdoor photo session, try to avoid stark white without something to break it up, like a scarf, necktie or bow tie or a necklace that is bold and serves as a demarcation between the skin of your neck and the bright white top. Bright colors are ok, but if you are not careful, they will dominate the photo in a way that will detract from what is really important. Black and dark navy or brown tends to obscure all details, and they will really contrast the out of doors setting of the photo. Try to select colors to wear that first look good on you, but also pair well with an outdoorsy setting. You don’t want to fight the ambiance too much, while you do want to appear to be a separate entity.
Outdoor Group Shots
Much of the same advice applies to outdoor group shots. With the specific advice to arrange all of the clothing that everyone will be wearing in advance of the session to make sure that they are all relatively within the same value range and don’t compete in any way. You don’t want any one person to stand out from the rest. Matching colors are acceptable but if you choose to dress everyone in the same hues, select colors that actually fit the season. Try to select two or three colors in the same value range for everyone to wear, and then position everyone well-spaced, according to the specific color they are wearing.
I hope you have enjoyed these Photography Tips from Scala Photography! Please visit us at https://scalaphotography.com/