Let’s talk about portrait photography.

When I got into photography, I tried to stay away from doing portraits. I thought it would be difficult for me and that since many photographers do it, I wanted to do something different. Both of those points still stand but my view on portraits has changed since quarantine started. Being stuck at home brought me to try new things, like self-portraits and product photography which have helped me grow as a photographer. I realized that even though portrait photography was difficult for me, I still enjoyed it and many people are always looking for portraits. I started to use my friends as models for my pictures so I could practice. Then one day a few weeks ago, my friend from New York, who is a big supporter of my work, had an idea of meeting in Charlotte to have a photoshoot. So after a little planning, we made it happen.

We met up this past Wednesday and I absolutely enjoyed it. Leading up to the photoshoot, I was actually really nervous because I felt like there were high expectations for my pictures to come out good. In the weeks before the photoshoot, I would review the previous portraits I took, possible poses, and tips/tricks from other photographers. I was also worried because it was supposed to be rainy, which would’ve been something very new for me. However, it was the exact opposite and I still had some challenges. The sunlight was harsh and there were barely any clouds around, but I used my general knowledge about photography to work with the lighting.

Working Around the Sun

Throughout the day I had to work around the sun, but it was nice to see that the city was mostly empty and most places were closed to the public. This made it easier for us to be safe and get to places without worrying about bumping into people. To balance out the sunlight, I first started off by playing with the Exposure Triangle. I made sure my iso was as low as possible and set my shutter speed to something fast like 1/1000, while I adjusted the aperture as necessary. This worked some of the time but I had to find another way to get pictures that weren’t over or underexposed. I tried to find some places that provided shade and shot from those angles so that I wasn’t shooting directly into the sun. A polarizer for the camera lens would've been helpful but I did not have one with me. Due to the harsh light, I was forced to try things I haven’t done before and shoot from angles that helped me avoid the sun. I do normally try to find different angles, however I was at the point where I would have to continuously change lenses or get close to a ledge to find a better shot and angle. The weather that day was not my ideal photoshoot weather, but I did learn a lot and got to try new things. Here are a few pictures from the day!

Stay safe and let me know how I did!