Portraits and Self Portraits preview - start planning

 Play with Eye Contact

It is amazing how much the direction of your subject’s eyes can impact an image. Most portraits have the subject looking down the lens – something that can create a real sense of connection between a subject and those viewing the image. But there are a couple of other things to try:

 Looking off camera – have your subject focus their attention on something unseen and outside the field of view of your camera. This can create a feeling of candidness and also create a little intrigue and interest as the viewer of the shot wonders what they are looking at. This intrigue is particularly drawn about when the subject is showing some kind of emotion (ie ‘what’s making them laugh?’ or ‘what is making them look surprised?’). Just be aware that when you have a subject looking out of frame that you can also draw the eye of the viewer of the shot to the edge of the image also – taking them away from the point of interest in your shot – the subject.

 Looking within the frame – alternatively you could have your subject looking at something (or someone) within the frame. A child looking at a ball, a woman looking at her new baby, a man looking hungrily at a big plate of pasta…. When you give your subject something to look at that is inside the frame you create a second point of interest and a relationship between it and your primary subject. It also helps create ‘story’ within the image.

 Experiment with Lighting

Another element of randomness that you can introduce to your portraits is the way that you light them. There are almost unlimited possibilities when it comes to using light in portraits.

Side-lighting can create mood, backlighting and silhouetting your subject to hide their features can be powerful.

Get Closer

The most common mistake made by photographers is that they are not physically close enough to their subjects. In some cases this means that the center of interest—the subject—is just a speck, too small to have any impact. Even when it is big enough to be decipherable, it usually carries little meaning. Viewers can sense when a subject is small because it was supposed to be and when it's small because the photographer was too shy to get close.

Environmental portrait

I really like that picture because in the background we can see what the man does, and what his passion or work is. It also is a really dark picture but its focusing on the man by getting lighter in his area. 

In this picture I really like the persecutive of showing the passion of this man. Its an interesting and exiting way. 

Photography self portrait

I Chose this picture because the lightning makes it really interesting. 

In this picture I like the perspective and colors. Also that her eyes are on focus. 

Casual portrait

I like that portrait because of the plain background, which effects the focus on the man. 

In this picture the pose is really interesting for me. 

For my portrait assignment I am thinking of shooting pictures of my mum because she is an interesting woman with great passion and an interesting face.  I will shoot the pictures in the garden of my house where we can see the horses and nature behind my mum.  I will wait for good weather because I am planing on an happy and bright picture. 

For my self portrait I will try to make pictures of me playing soccer, paining or drawing something. It depends on what I am gonna shoot but I will take some pictures in the Graffiti park at home and in my garden with a lot of light outside and at home I will try to make some dark pictures.