Five Tips for Better Portraits

Quick and easy ways to perk up your people pics

For many of us, the first images we make are of people. When out with family and friends, the situation will inevitably give way to us creating photos of each other and everyone in the group. Make no mistake about it, images of those we love are a significant part of our lives.

This is why portrait photography is so important to us; it’s our way of remembering loved ones and marking moments in time. However, it can be challenging to get everything to work together right when the moment comes. After all, a portrait photo is almost always about making your subject look their best, right? There are lots of ways you can do this – here are a few to get you started.

Get in the Frame

Getting better portraits usually starts with making simple changes to framing, such as composing from angles that show off your subject’s best features. For head and shoulders pictures, framing from eye level or slightly above is a great start as it creates a natural feeling, elongates a person’s neck, and emphasises their eyes. As a rule of thumb, try to avoid photographing from below someone’s eyeline. It usually results in an unflattering angle for most people.

Photo © Bobbi Lane

Photo © Gareth Pon

Orientation of the frame can play a big role in framing as well. Just remember to choose whichever suits the purpose of the image. For example, if you want to include more of the surroundings, horizontal framing might be the way to go. This is often a good decision if there’s a great scene behind someone and you want to remember the moment in context. On the other hand, if the image is just about the subject, vertical framing can often give your image more impact.

If you’re framing half or full length, you can also photograph with the camera at waist or chest level. This is another way to give a natural look to photos, because without a camera covering your face, you can communicate with people better. All the latest X Series models have a tilting monitor, which helps you compose with the camera away from your eye, but try switching on the Face/Eye Detection AF so that you can focus more easily with the camera held in this way.

Finally, don’t forget to think about the edges of the frame. If possible, try to keep from cutting arms and legs off at the joints, like the elbows or knees, as it can often make the image feel awkward. Also, try to compose the image with some space to the side your subject is facing, or the image may feel too cramped.

Strike a Pose

Sometimes, it can be difficult for a subject to know how to pose themselves, so make sure to take charge and offer them some direction. This will help ensure you’re communicating with your subject and put you in the best place to make great images of them.

Generally speaking, fashion-type images tend to have stronger poses, while informal portraits are more relaxed. Casual poses that involve leaning on something or sitting down work really well. Just remember to encourage, compliment, and talk to your subject. Doing this will put you on the path to making a good connection with them. It’s a rapport that will be visible in the pictures and lead to everything looking and feeling more natural.

Photo © Alison Conklin

Photo © Kale Friesen

Something else that can help is turning the sound off on your X Series camera. This makes a picture without any shutter sound, so it’s a great way of stopping nervous subjects from blinking or tensing up. To do this:

Press the MENU OK button and navigate to the SET UP menu (spanner icon)

Now choose SOUND SET-UP and make sure AF BEEP VOL., OPERATION VOL., and SHUTTER VOLUME are all set to OFF

After doing this, the camera will still make a small sound when you make a photograph, but if you’d like TOTAL silence, select the electronic shutter. To do this:

Press the MENU OK button and navigate to the SHOOTING SETTING menu (camera icon), then choose SHUTTER TYPE

Next, select ES ELECTRONIC SHUTTER

Harness the Light

Natural light can be extremely flattering for skin, so photographing outdoors or in well-lit rooms is a great option. But you need to know how to use it right. An ideal time for outdoor portraits is the golden hour, which is just before sunset or just after sunrise, when the light has a lovely golden quality that adds vitality.

You can also get some great results by finding open shade and placing your subject there. Being out of the direct sunlight decreases contrast, gets rid of hard shadows, and leads to an evenness to the light that results in a beautiful softness to the photo.

Controlling What Is (And Isn’t) in Focus

How much of the scene do you want to be in focus? Just the subject of your portrait or their background, too? Or maybe somewhere in between? The answer to that comes from how important the surroundings are to your subject.

If the context is important, maybe because you’re photographing someone doing their job, try using a smaller aperture – a higher F number – to keep more of the scene in focus. A smaller aperture means a slower shutter speed, so you might need to increase the ISO in these situations.

If you only want the subject to be in focus, for instance, to blur out a distracting background, use a larger aperture – a lower F number. And if you’re struggling to get enough blur in the background, try zooming in on the subject, photographing closer to them, or moving them away from the backdrop.

“If you only want the subject to be in focus, for instance, to blur out a distracting background, use a larger aperture – a lower F number”

Make it Sharper

Your handling of the camera, the exposure settings you’ve used, where you’ve focused, how the subject is moving, and a variety of other things come into play when it comes to sharpness. It may seem stressful, but there are some simple things you can do when creating portraits to get it right.

Take advantage of your X Series camera’s Face/Eye Detection AF mode. This setting will find the subject’s eye and lock the focus there, so you can spend more time thinking about composition and direction. You can even use it in Continuous AF mode, which is a great way to keep focus if your subject is moving. To turn Face/Eye Detection on:

Press the MENU OK button and navigate to the AF/MF SETTING menu

Now choose FACE/EYE DETECTION SETTING and make sure it is ON

Finally, if you’re using a FUJINON lens with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), or one of the X Series cameras with In-Body Stabilization (IBIS), make sure to turn it on. This will help you keep images sharp as it compensates for camera shake, which becomes more noticeable as you zoom in or shoot at slower shutter speeds.