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Old 09-21-2017, 07:40 PM   #1519
Disco King
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Anynody have tips for getting portraits to look natural? I usually ask before I snap a picture of somebody, but the thing is that you can't do that without them instinctively posing. So, I get a lot of boring shots of people doing your standard weight-shift pose, looking directly into the camera, and smiling. I'm never as satisfied with my portraits as I am my photos of inanimate objects and scenes. But photographing people is more fun.

One of my best portrait shots was this one that was rushed, because I had to snap it quickly before her train came. In the photo, she's looking off-frame to her approaching train. Another set of good ones, I just snapped photos as we were talking and she was unlocking her bicycle, rather than having her stop and pose or anything.

I read that "directing" subjects with emotions, motivations, attitudes etc. is more effective than "put that arm there, this leg here, look to your right," etc. But I tired that once, and it was really awkward and the photos were terrible. The only good one was the one where I caught them off guard.

I don't know how to get more like the good ones I took. Those weren't the kind of instances you can just recreate on command.

 
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