Why Your Portraits Are Missing The Mark (And How You Can Fix Them)



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Photo by Russell Johnson

Photo by Russell Johnson

Shooting portraits may seem straightforward enough, but as with all types of photography, it often appears easier than it actually is. Even when working with fellow humans who are capable of taking direction–thus, making your job easier–there’s still plenty of things you need to be thinking about. Many of of which can make or break your portraits. So, today, we’re going to go over a handful of common mistakes and oversights that are often found in portrait photography.

Missed Focus

The quickest way to diminish the quality of a portrait is with missed focus. Focus is important regardless of what you are photographing, and some may argue it’s even more important in portrait photography. Having your subject’s eyes in focus is considered by most as an absolute necessity. This rule applies to both portraits of people and portraits of animals.

Photo by Nicolas Alejandro

Photo by Nicolas Alejandro

On a typical “How To Take A Portrait” checklist, tack sharp focus of the eyes should be given a high priority. But, what happens when your depth of field is too shallow to get both eyes tack sharp? If you don’t want to sacrifice depth of field, you should always opt to focus on the leading eye, or the eye which is closest to the camera. Take a look at the photo above for an example.

What Is The Subject?

Not all portraits are taken in the confines of a studio, free from distraction–that’s a good thing! Photographing your subject outdoors or in a busy setting can also help add interest to your portraits, so long as your subject doesn’t become lost among their surroundings.

There are a number of ways you can achieve this, with the most commonly used technique being to put the subject in sharp focus while forcing the rest of the composition to fall off into bokeh (the blurry area of the photo). Selective focus, however, isn’t necessarily the only way to go about drawing attention to the subject. Another creative approach to this roadblock would be through composition. Explore the scene a little bit, physically move around with your camera looking for the best angle to shoot your subject from that helps isolate him or her from the crowd.

Photo: Beefeater by Hernán Piñera

Photo: Beefeater by Hernán Piñera

Who Is The Subject?

I mean, at their very core–who are they? What makes them tick? What do they love doing? In a way, the purpose of portrait is to serve as a visual immortalization of that person–a way to record and show others who the subject was as a person at a specific point in time. If you can capture a persons essence and personality in a portrait, then future generations will be able to look at the portrait and pick up on just who they were as an individual.

For example, let’s take a look at the photo, below. As you’re looking at it, take notes of what thoughts are running through your head. If you’re like most people, your mind is hard at work piecing together all the visual cues that represent the personality of the subject. It is made obvious for us the subject is a photographer, and his expression leads us to believe he takes it pretty seriously. This kind of storytelling can make a huge difference in a portrait by adding interest to it.

Photo: Self Portrait by Oscar Paradela

Photo: Self Portrait by Oscar Paradela

Add A Touch Of Personal Style

Overtime, you’ll begin to develop a photography style that’s all your own. In some cases it will be subtle and for some of you it will be more bold. Regardless, the ability to leave your hypothetical thumbprint on your work–portraits or otherwise–will also really help your photography shine. We’ll touch on developing a personal style in an upcoming article, but for now spend a little time exploring the options above and see just how much paying attention to the finer details pays off!