Shoot the perfect portrait picture - the best tips

Shoot a natural portrait

The easiest way to shoot portraits is to keep them natural. Your portrait should reflect the character of the model:

Find an environment that fits your model. The background shouldn't be completely empty, but it shouldn't be crowded either.
As a beginner, use the 'Avaible Light', the light of the environment. A sunny day is advantageous. However, as a beginner, stay in the shade for now.
If the 'Avaible Light' is not enough, you need a flash or a reflector. If you don't have a lot of experience with lightning, you should use eTTL.
The image section is particularly important for portraits. Never cut the chin off.
Tip: Watch Hollywood films and pay particular attention to the dialogues used to select the sections of the picture.

Portraits work particularly well when the model and the background are clearly separated:

Make sure that your background (the bokeh) is nicely out of focus. You can achieve this if you use a shallow depth of field.
Make sure you use fixed focal lengths (50mm). These are very suitable for portrait photography because they rarely show distortions.
Take a picture with your eyes open. However, make sure that the model is completely sharp. An aperture of 1.4-2.8 is optimal.
Focus on the model's eyes. That works personally.

If you already have some experience, you can get creative especially with portraits:

Shoot your photos against the sun. That makes the picture look more alive.
However, make sure that the subject and important people in the picture are sufficiently illuminated. You can use the fill-in flash.
Don't forget the sun visor. Without it, the camera has problems focusing properly.

In another practical tip, we will tell you what you should consider in order to shoot the perfect landscape.