What a portrait photographer needs to be able to do

If you have ever tried portrait photography, especially with studio light, you may have felt like someone who suddenly has to keep track of many events at once. What makes them hard is that they are of different kinds, happen at the same time and you have to create all of them yourself from a blank sheet:

Technical – you constantly have to solve many technical tasks. In the camera: settings, batteries, memory cards, lenses, light metering, focus point, depth of field ... Light: power, colour temperature, triggers, mounts, stands, softboxes, cables, backgrounds ...

Aesthetic – no photograph does without the composition of the frame: order, accents, combinations of shapes, colour, light, filled and empty space, volume and perspective, the model’s position, the camera angle ...

Creative – all the previous skills make no sense if the author has not solved the content task "what will this photograph be about and how to convey it?". Once it is solved, you have to keep watching that the subject does not get lost or replaced by another.

Communicative – while the photographer is dealing with all these questions, the model must not feel bored or lonely. At the same time you need to keep in contact with the model and chat as if nothing were happening. As if all your thoughts were only about making the model feel good, comfortable and interested.

Unlike other kinds of photography, and even portrait photography in the street, none of this will happen by itself: in the studio a person will not stand in the right place by chance, the surroundings will not inspire them on their own, light and sets will not appear by themselves. These events have to be created and constantly controlled so that nothing falls apart.

The bad news – knowing about shooting is not enough, the skills have to be physically practised. Especially the skill of combining different kinds of thinking.

The good news – these skills can be acquired and practised.

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