Known by virtually anyone who loves photography, portrait photography is undeniably one of the most common types of photography. From couple and family portrait photographs to school and corporate ones, just to mention a few, portrait photography is a broad niche. Moreover, not all photographers are skilled at taking portrait photos because of the lack of portrait ideas.
With each click and every snap, your photographer does not only get to impress you but also tell a story never told and evoke feelings never felt. Is it sadness that you’re looking for? Is happiness untold? Are you looking for pictures that are simply right for your Instagram feed? Do they have that wow-effect? Admittedly, executing photography ideas is not an easy feat because many photographers don’t have the skill to translate what they’ve envisioned in their minds. People often seek photography tips from more than one source to fuel their creative photography aspirations. Capturing perfect photography poses is equally difficult, especially when you are going for portrait photos. Well, today, we’ll have a look at some 15 stunning portrait photographs ideas that your photographer can employ to deliver on all these. Walk with us. Will you?
Make Use of Props to Spice up the Pictures
Use of props both in family and couple portrait photography will always give your pictures that wow effect. For those who might not be conversant with props, props are simply things that are used to better or add support to the subject at hand in the photo and have proved themselves to be useful in creative photography in more than one way. With props, you can experiment with endless photography ideas and try poses that usually don’t work without the extra zing of props.
However, use props cautiously as they can make or break your photo. When used appropriately, you can be certain that your photographs will be captivating. Anything that compliments you as the main subject in the photo can be termed as a prop. Some awesome props you can have your personal photographer use in the photo session are umbrellas, books, hats, etc. Going through other artists’ mood boards on Pinterest can give you a lot of photography ideas, and if you follow the related topics, you’ll find plenty of portrait photography tips on your dashboard daily.
Natural Light Through a Window Works Like Magic
Your personal photographer will agree that there is nothing that comes in handy other than natural light when it comes to portrait photography. It’s one of the most used photography ideas, but things get tricky when you want to execute portrait photography ideas using naturally available light. Unlike studio light that can be dimmed to have a softer effect, when it comes to natural light, the situation is completely contrary. Worse even, if direct sunlight falls on you, it can be brutal and unforgiving.
The end results? Pathetic pictures that are even harder to edit. This fine line between a good portrait and a disaster gets quickly blurred when you try the sunlight effect that you’ve heard about in many portrait photography tips videos. Seemingly pleasing photography ideas can become a bane at the time of execution, and no other ideas can salvage the situation once it’s done. To do away with this, using light that comes in through a window can be a game-changer. It’s soft on you, and the pictures are nothing short of perfect as long as your photographer’s camera settings complement the surroundings.
Get Your Photographer to Frame You as The Subject
This may not be a unique creative photography idea, but you can definitely remember it as one of the most efficient tips. It needs less of photographer skills and more of your designing sense. No need to tire yourself trying different photography poses; instead, you can use simple decor ideas to make your portrait photos everyone’s center of attention.
With framing, your photographer is able to draw attention to one element of the image. Is it your eyes? Your lips? The side of your face? By framing you, it will give your photographer a chance to focus on an outstanding element, say your eyes. Eyes speak louder than the smiles on our faces. Through the eyes, we can see sadness even when we try to cover it up by put on big banana smiles on our faces. The eyes convey everything as it is; happiness as well as despair. A picture should tell a story; it ought not to be plain.
Among the many portrait photography tips, this one will help you grab the attention of onlookers with much less effort than any other portrait idea. It isn’t much food to those who are looking to see something akin to creative photography, but it has its own place in the buzzing world of portrait photography tips. Framing gives your photographer a better chance to tell your story. A good couple portrait idea would be both you and your loved one staring into each other’s eyes to bring out your love in the resulting pictures.
Introduce Some Movement to Give the Photos Life
While brainstorming for portrait ideas, you might think that the only acceptable portrait photography ideas are those that are still and don’t play much with photography poses. The misconception that portrait photos need to be still is where we see the policing of portrait ideas at play. Portrait photos are not synonyms with still life photography, and an abundance of portrait ideas and portrait photography tips online can attest to that.
By introducing movement, your photographer gets the chance to focus solely on you. How so? By simply blurring the moving objects or vice versa. Most of our local photographers around the globe will agree that a good picture ought to be free of motion. But if your personal photographer gets to focus on you as the main subject while blurring the moving objects, the end result is stunning photos.
Try Overexposure to Take Things a Notch Higher
Not many photography tips are as easy to implement as the one we are about to explain to you. It may not be one of the most exciting photography tips, but it can make a huge difference if you are stuck with the same old photography ideas. Moreover, it can make your seemingly boring portrait ideas stand out and make your portrait photos shine. In couple portrait photography, an overexposed picture can look stunning. As a matter of fact, the end result is clean, polished, and perfectly perfect pics as flaws tend to get lost. Have your professional photographer use it when necessary and avoid overdoing it at all costs. You know, proceeding with moderation for the best results.
Let Your Photographer Try out Unconventional Angles
Whenever we hear about the term portrait photography, one thing comes to mind, straight pictures. However, ever thought of trying out unconventional and unordinary angles? Not many photography tips will push you to try risky photography poses, let alone challenge your conventional portrait ideas. This may be one of the most neglected portrait photography tips, but it can add layers to even the most portrait photography ideas.
If you want to spice up your portrait photography, snapping your shots from unordinary angles will leave you with extraordinarily beautiful pics that will wow everyone. It’s simple. All you need is for your personal photographers to tilt their camera to a certain angle! For instance, let them take the shots down-up will leave you looking in control or rather intimidating and vice versa.
Let Your Photographer Capture Photos of You in Familiar Surroundings
Now, we are getting a bit daring with our portrait ideas, but we are at tip number 7, so we might as well go for the best of photography tips and not skirt in the safe zone. We all feel a bit uncomfortable and nervous in places we’ve never been to, and it’s all understandable. If the photographer you are working with for your couple or family portrait photography session wishes to make every snap count, letting his or her subjects choose the venue is always a plus for both. With familiar places comes easiness and zero nervousness. When you choose places that you are familiar with, you tend to be yourself and exhibit true emotions, be it happiness or sadness. This will be advantageous to you as you will capture every moment as it is and get to tell a story through the pics.
Try out Shadows
Shadow-play in portrait photography is always beautiful and is one of the most promising portrait ideas. By trying out shadow-play in photography, your photographer gets to experiment as much as possible with light. Better yet, with different objects. Shadow-play always brings out emotions as they are, especially sadness. If the portrait photographer wishes to employ shadow-play in their photography, they can try out curtains, hands, plants as well as window grills. Make sure that your photography poses artistically align with the shadows for a great portrait.
Taking Photos with Your Pet
Pet lovers will agree that pets are always sweet. They give their owners undivided attention, especially dogs. Bringing your pet along for a hot portraiture photo session is one of the most wholesome portrait ideas. A photoshoot with your pet, be it a cat or a dog, is always a moment of pure bliss. For the professional photographer, such are the moments that he or she ought to capitalize on. Capturing such stunning moments and getting to tell a story through a picture are moments to live for.
Convert Your Pics into Black & White
After an amazing portrait photoshoot, there comes the editing part. With editing, your portrait photographer can change the entire appearance and even mood portrayed in your photos. One way of going about this is by converting the pics into black and white and create a whole new black and white photography version.
Converting the pics into black white will more often than not convey a melancholic mood, especially when you as the subject are smiling at all. In some cases, anger can be portrayed. Better yet, if the background turns out to be not as appealing as what you had in mind, as your personal photographer to convert the pics into black and white as one cannot really tell the exact spot where the photo was taken.
Shooting Through Objects to Add on to the Spice
Having your photographer shoot through objects, especially when you are unaware, can result in some incredible photos that highlight feelings at their best. He or she can shoot when the door is slightly closed or through branches can be right up your alley if you are not eager to try complicated portrait photography ideas.
Hide Some Parts of Your Face
With portrait photography, you do not have to take photos of your entire face. Covering a part of your face can still exude emotions—any type of emotion. You can hide parts of your face with either a curtain, a book, or even your own hand. This way, you give your private photographer a chance to focus on one area and experiment with more than one creative portrait idea.
Create DIY Backgrounds
The background of your photos speaks volumes. As such, it is a big plus when you choose the right background. However, if you happen to not be in the studio, and there is an urgent need for an appealing background without going for an outdoor portrait, why don’t you create your own? Creating a Do It Yourself background is never really complicated and can add an extra zing to your seemingly simple portrait ideas. As a matter of fact, it might only take a few minutes. Go on. Try it out!
Do What You Love as Your Portrait Photographer Takes Pictures of You
You don’t always have to say “yes’ to your photographer’s portrait ideas; doing what you love best as you indulge in some amazing photo session is always a sound option. Are you a music person? Do you love surfing? Whatever it is that you love, you will always exude some real emotions while at it. Let your private photographer take advantage of this moment and capture some genuine shots of you having a blast.
It’s a Cloudy Affair!
You probably have seen some perfectly timed photos where the subject might seem to be blowing some smoke, but later, you realize it’s the clouds. That is the magic and power of innovative portrait ideas: freezing moments just in the nick of time!
Why Consider Portrait Photography?
Well, just like any other genre of photography, portrait photography has got an array of benefits pegged to it. The most common being its broadness but of equal importance is the ability to exude any kind of emotion, is it love, anger, sadness, happiness, or fear. Great stories have been told through portraiture photography. FACT.
Portrait photography is what you ought to do if you’re after getting splendid photos that tell a story all by themselves. It’s a road with no end. One made easier by your portrait photographer.
Pictures speak louder than words ever will. They will exude emotions more than anything will. Be it in the now or way later into the future. The best part is the moments captured will forever remain to be as they are. Is there a better way to keep the memories of the people and things we hold close in our hearts than in pictures? Absolutely not. But things become increasingly personal when you choose portrait photography ideas to express yourselves. The narration in portrait ideas is vivid and translates well to a keen and expectant audience. It has the depth and layered complexity that an artist aspires to achieve while photographing landscape and other non-living things do not allow the same fluidity of storytelling.
The trick with portrait photography ideas is that it doesn’t always have to be vague like other photography types. If you choose the right photography poses and props, you can always hit the nail with your portrait ideas.
With the 15 ideas above, storytelling through pictures just got easier. Why are you hesitant? Lights, camera, action!
