Ken’s Tips On Your Pics: Natural v studio?
Frank has sent in this very nice picture of Morgan. He tells me that he has been taking portraits for six months and that he has recently started using Photoshop. This is a very accomplished photograph for someone so inexperienced and wouldn’t look out of place in most High Street photographers’ windows. He has used two flash lights (you can tell by the highlights in the eyes) and this and the use of Photoshop is what gives it the professional look.
Morgan
The composition is simple and effective and getting Morgan to throw her hair back adds interest to the image. Because of the movement of the hair, some of it has gone out of focus and this, combined with the colour, gives it a flame like effect that I really like. A very successful image.
I’m now going to look at why we take portraits and what we are trying to achieve. There are many reasons for taking portraits from passport photos and police identity shots to high art portraits with most of them falling somewhere between, photographs that are meant to capture who we are and as we age, to act as reminders of who we were at that moment in time.
The photograph that Frank has taken falls into the category that has become known as Lifestyle photography and is practised by most of the commercial family portrait photographers working today. This is an aspirational style that uses lighting and Photoshop to glamourise and idealise the subject, often attempting to create the look of models in adverts, showing the sitter at his or more often her ‘best’. When photographing children they are usually shot on a white background, jumping around playfully and the colours are manipulated in Photoshop so that they are very bright and exciting. This is now the standard studio portrait style, replacing the old cliches of the child on the furry rug and the family formally dressed on a leather sofa with bookshelves in the background. It has proven to be very popular.
I prefer to photograph families in their homes, in a style that is more natural and hopefully shows more of the personality of the subject. I like to include details of the house and furniture in the pictures as I believe they will be visual reminders to the children of where they grew up. When they are in their forties and look at a photograph of themselves sitting on the end of their parents’ bed, I hope that it will take them back to when they would get up in the morning and rush through to waken mum and dad. Or a photo of them sitting on the sofa that will take them back to the hours sitting watching TV or reading a book. For the parents, I want the photos to be a true reflection of how their family is at that point in their lives.
That is not to say that the photograph of Morgan doesn’t show her personality. I am sure that she will be very pleased with the result, it is a very nice picture and in the end it all comes down to personal preference.
The only advice I would give to Frank is to be very careful with Photoshop. I use it on most of my photographs but mainly to remove small, impermanent blemishes (spots and snots), but my aim is to create natural looking pictures. When looking at a photograph your first thought shouldn’t be that it has been Photoshopped.
Exceptional photo for a beginner Frank. I hope this helps and keep working on your photography, I will be interested to see how you develop.
If anyone has any ideas or comments that they would like to make then please do. Or if you would like any advice on a family photograph that you have taken, please post it on my Facebook Page or email it to me at: ken@kensharp.com.
I’d like to thank Ken for his excellent comments on my photo of Morgan. It is very difficult to comment on other peoples work but Ken is a very fair man indeed. His professionalism and drive is commended as he is going out of his way to help others better themselves in their photography (without financial gain I might add). So, thanks again Ken. I’m off to take some more photos.
By Frank Mac at 5:07 pm on Aug 10, 2010
Thanks Frank and keep snapping!
By Ken at 5:13 pm on Aug 10, 2010