Who does not know this situation: You do your job and at some point you have the feeling that you have reached a dead end. The routine has you firmly under control, lightness and inspiration have fallen by the wayside somewhere in everyday life. Then you urgently need new ideas and starting points. Our ten tips will help you take other paths in your portrait photography and develop yourself further. So get out of the comfort zone and into the adventure portrait!“!
Tip # 1: Leave your studio and take a picture of the model in a previously unfamiliar location
Take photos, for example, in your personal environment, in the great outdoors and sometimes in the rain. This presents you with completely new challenges and helps you to leave the beaten track. At the same time, there is a good feeling of having mastered difficult conditions.
Tip No. 2: Look through your portfolio
Have you photographed more or less women up to now Always the same type, heavily made up or in the same age group Then change your style and look for male models, people of different ages, people outside the usual model profile or highly extroverted personalities. Dealing with them sharpens the eye for their character, their very personal charisma and enriches photography with many new facets.
Tip No. 3: Elaborate productions
Nude pictures occupy and challenge you in various ways, for example. On the one hand, such an intimate situation demands professional and sensitive handling of the model and the line between aesthetic and tasteless act is narrow. In addition, nude photography trains the eye for the composition of an image and prevents absent-minded photography.“
Tip No. 4: Spontaneous recordings are good, but a storyboard also has its advantages
With such a schedule, you give your model a small role for natural-looking portraits that she plays in front of the camera. Instead of possibly unnatural and cramped poses, you are much more likely to capture a relaxed and natural look.
Tip No. 5: Work in black and white more often than in color
Color likes to distract from the essential, the light. Without distracting color, you train your eyes for the light and how it models the motif. This makes it much easier to concentrate on how to illuminate a motif.
Tip No. 6: Use different perspectives or exposure times, apertures or focal lengths for your portraits
Use a 35 millimeter wide angle, even if or just because it has a completely different image effect. Use a ring flash instead of the standard portrait lighting, choose different sections, use different recording formats, change the ISO or white balance setting. Break the usual photo rules for image design. Just do it differently than usual. Everything that is new or that differs from the usual animates the work.
Tip No. 7: Open yourself up to the ideas of others
Stylists, makeup artists or graphic designers often have a different, undisguised view of the scenery. Take suggestions and think about them instead of rejecting them in advance. It is often the tiny little thing that gives new impulses.
Tip # 8: Look over the shoulder of other photographers
Take a look at their homepage, their pages on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, analyze their pictures and develop new picture ideas from them. If you have the opportunity, visit another portrait photographer’s workshop and learn from them how to approach and implement the topic. Learning from the best does no harm!
Tip No. 9: Very important: stay open to new impressions!
Watch films, flip through magazines, get to know new poses, lighting, staging. Train your eye for the people in front of the camera, how they move and when they develop their fascinating charisma. And don't question everything, because only then will you be open to new inspiration.
Tip No. 10: And finally, turn off the computer or television
Internet or TV permanently flood you with stimuli that unnecessarily block creativity. Incidentally, good ideas cannot be forced; they come when you least expect them.
