From the course: Introduction to Photography

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Exploring basics of a good portrait

Exploring basics of a good portrait

From the course: Introduction to Photography

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Exploring basics of a good portrait

- In this chapter I'm going to ask you to study portraiture for a couple of different reasons. One, most of us just end up shooting a lot of portraits throughout the course of our photographic life, whether they're simple snapshots or more formal pictures that people ask you to take. They're also a great way to study, because they require all of the things that any other type of photograph requires: good composition, attention to lighting, attention to lots of different kinds of detail, good exposure theory. And, there's probably someone around you so it's easy to find subject matter. I'm going to give you a few very basic rules of portraiture that you can start to work with and later you can add on top of those and build up to a more sophisticated level if you find that portraiture is an area of photography that you'd like to pursue. Right now, you're looking at a decent head and shoulders composition of me. I'm being cut roughly in the middle of my arm. That's your first rule. In…

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