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5 Best Travel Portrait Photography Tips
When you’re on your vacation or out on your travels through the world, portrait photography may be something you turn to for either leisure or professionally. Here are 5 tips to improve your portrait photography.
1. Three travel portrait types
The types of travel portraits can be broken into three kinds. The first is what can be called a ‘street portrait,’ a portrait where the subject may be unaware of being photographed. They may constitute a minor portion of the entire image.
The second is the head-shot, a portrait where you are right against the subjects’ faces. Perhaps their head will be a little cropped. This type of photograph could also capture them from the shoulder up.
The third type is what can be called an environmental portrait. In this type, you capture your subject along with their surroundings. It is a good idea to define your goals before you go out for a portrait photography session.
Decide which of the three types you want to focus on. Or perhaps you want to focus on a combination of all or some of them. It will help you learn what your individual style is.
2. Avoid bringing heavy equipment
Don’t bring out all of your photography equipment while traveling. It can be cumbersome to deal with and frustrate you. You will be surprised by how much you can accomplish using sunlight alone.
If you are insistent on having an extra source of light, choose an LED light rather than heavy speed lights. The reason you want to keep is light on equipment is that you will not have enough to set all of it up, especially when you plan on photographing strangers. You would do better to improvise and learn to work with and around what is already available.
3. Be careful when choosing backgrounds
When choosing the background for your portrait, take extra care, analyzing the textures, colors and the framing as it relates to the subjects. While you will probably want your backgrounds to be picturesque, you don’t want them distracting from your subject.
Rather, the background ought to always compliment the subject, bringing the subjects’ features into sharper relief, features including their faces and eyes.
4. Get as close as you can
In case your portraits don’t look interesting enough, consider getting closer to your subjects. Zooming in on a big lens cannot replicate physically getting close to your subjects. This will give you images that are sharper and crisper, telling a story, leaving your audience satisfied.
It helps capture your subject’s face in greater detail, with increased focus and sharpness on a couple of features. It will also give you greater control over other variables, such as lighting and background, making your portraits that much better.
5. Treat people with respect
When you are traveling, you will meet many different kinds of people, potential subjects for portrait photography. If there’s one thing you should treat them all with, it is with the utmost respect.
