The background in the portrait is very important, his main task is to create the emotional atmosphere of the photo. The monotonous background (for example, a bare wall) is boring and uninteresting. If the photo is taken in nature, a wonderful background is obtained from the leaves, illuminated by the sun. The combination of the play of light and shadow on the leaves and bokeh (blurring lens) make the picture more emotionally saturated.

Some portrait lenses can be found here - https://www.bestadvisers.co.uk/portrait-lenses

True, not all lenses can really beautifully blur the background, so that it "plays." Best of all this is obtained with aperture fixes with a focal length of 50 mm. The blur of the background in most zoom lenses is not so interesting - most of them are not intended for this. The principle works for lenses - the narrower the specialization, the better the result when used as intended. That is why many photographers acquire a separate lens for portrait photography, for macro photography - a macro lens, for landscape - a good wide angle, etc. The zoom lens in this case is a compromise solution. Nevertheless, it is possible to practice with a zoom, to understand whether it is necessary and, if necessary, to consciously choose a real “portrait”.

Background blur is enhanced by the following things:
1. Up to maximum open diaphragm. Portrait lenses allow you to open the aperture to a value of 2, 1.4 and even 1.2! The depth of field with f / 1.2 is a few centimeters. All that is closer and further - goes into a blur.

2. Increased focal length. Portrait lenses for crop have a focal length of 50 mm, for a full frame - from 80 mm. The greater the focal length, the stronger the lens will blur the background at the same aperture value.

3. (this is often forgotten) The distance between the model and the background. The greater the distance, the farther the background from the focus point and the stronger its blur. It makes no sense to try to blur the background strongly if the model is half a meter away from it.

What if there is no technical possibility to blur the background strongly?
How to blur the background and what is needed for this, we figured it out. But what if we do not have high-aperture optics or do we even have a camera-soap box? What if you want to blur unwanted objects in the background, but does not work? In our case, this is solved only by choosing a viewpoint in which unwanted background objects are outside the frame. Important note! With the inept construction of the composition, the background can harm. Agree, portraits, with poles or road signs sticking out of their heads in the background look extremely unprofessional! Therefore, take it as a rule - when building a frame, concentrate not only on the model, but also on the background.

Where to direct the sharpness when shooting a portrait?
With blur, we will consider, understood. But the question remains - what should be sharp? Someone will answer - "Of course the same face!" Indeed, it is difficult to argue with this. And many beginning portrait painters bring sharpness strictly along the center of the face, that is, at the tip of the nose :) As a result, the nose turns out in all details, and the most expressive part - the eyes go into a slight blur. Because of this, the whole picture seems blurred. Conclusion - the sharpness in the portrait should be directed to the eyes. But the trouble is that the front face is quite rare, most often the portrait is photographed from some angle. In this case, one eye is closer to the lens, the other farther. In this case, the sharpness is directed to the eye closest to us.

Author : Scott Drumd Views : 26

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