Exciting Portraits
Exciting Portraits
Exciting Portraits
HIGH KEY
Creating a high key portrait appears to be a
lot more difficult than it really is, which is why
a viewer looking at your portrait gets more
excited about it; theyre not used to seeing
the world that way.
To start off, lets define what a high
key image is. A high key image has a
preponderance of white or light tones. BUT
and this is really important it should also
have a deep black tone somewhere in the
photograph! Youll see a lot of supposed
high key images on websites like Flickr that
do not have a dark black tone somewhere in
the photograph. These images tend to look
washed out and overexposed. They are not
a true high key shot. A true high key portrait
requires the deep black tone to give the
appearance of a full tonal range image.
In this photo (Image 001), where are the
deep black areas that give this portrait a
true high key effect? They are located in the
shadow areas of the hair, along the eyelid
of her right eye (camera left), and below the
chin.
Image 001
Image 002
LOW KEY
Whats this?
You can probably guess
A low key image is one that has a
preponderance of dark tones. And, what else
does it need? Thats right! It must have some
area of bright white, or near white, to give
the illusion of a full tonal range portrait.
This photo is a great example of a low key
portrait. It has a preponderance of darker
tones with just a hint of white around the
womans eye.
When setting up for a low key image, your
mindset will be exactly the opposite of the
high key image. In this situation, you want to
select a background, wardrobe, and props
that are all dark in tone. The major difference
between high key and low key photography
is the location and lighting.
In the high key situation, we wanted a broad,
even light source. In the low key situation,
we want something a little tighter and more
direct in the lighting pattern. You still dont
have to have any extra lighting. Youll just
Image 003
Image 004
Image 005
Image 006
Answer Key
1. The subject is the infant.
2. The parents create the frame.
3. The focal point is the flower.
Image 007
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Answer Key
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Image 008
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Image 009
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Image 010
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Image 011
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INTRODUCE A FOCAL
POINT
Its funny; youll see the use of focal points
everywhere when it comes to landscape
photography. Its not as common in
portraiture. I dont understand why
because its just as powerful a tool of
composition.
Image 013
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Image 014
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Composition in portraiture
is important but often
overlooked.
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COMPLEMENTARY COLORS
What are complementary colors? Well, color
theory deserves a book all of its own.
Thus, Im going to simplify things and just
give you an illustration that shows you!
Complementary colors are the colors that
sit on the opposing sides of a color wheel.
The color chart that Im showing you are
complementary colors when referring to the
RYB Color Model.
There are different color models out there in
the world that have different complementary
color schemes. The RYB Color Model is the
one that is most often used by painters and
other artists. So, thats the one that we will
be referring to.
Using complementary colors in a photograph
creates the effect of providing a slight
slap in the face of the viewer. (I mean that
figuratively, not literally!)
They are colors that arent often found
together in nature. This creates a visual
stopping power!
Image 015
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Image 016
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Image 017
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Image 018
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Image 019
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BACKLIGHTING
Backlight can be super-dramatic. Here are
the reasons that many backlit portraits fail.
1. The backlighting is too bright
and burns out areas of the
photograph.
2. The backlight creates a lens
flare that lands in an undesirable
spot thus reducing the
subjects dominance within the
photograph.
3. The subject is underexposed.
Image 020
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Image 021
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Image 022
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Image 023
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PROPS
Image 024
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SUMMARY
As you can see, its pretty simple for you to spice
up your portrait efforts. I hope youll give these
tips a try. But for right now, lets revisit Image 014.
Here it is again.
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