HOW TO… shoot portraits

Award-winning photographer LESTER V. LEDESMA explains “how to avoid cheese” when shooting portraits

THEY MAKE UP SOME OF OUR BEST TRAVEL memories, yet they can also be the hardest subjects to photograph. Most of us have, at one time or other, tried to take portraits of people we meet on our journeys, only to come up with a picture that doesn’t quite do justice to them. There’s a whole lot more to people photography, you see, than just raising the camera and asking your subject to smile. At its most profound, a well-taken portrait tells us something about a person – his character, profession, or perhaps even his social status. At its simplest, it provides us with a pleasing visual record of an individual. However we choose to define our portraits, one fact rings true: we all want them to show the subject the way we remember them. Here are sometips on travel portraiture.

Tip 1: Choose a good backdrop

What lies around your subject can make or break the picture. A good setting complements the subject and adds context to the picture. Before taking a portrait, scan the area for potential backgrounds. Also watch out for things (poles, wires, branches) “growing” out of the person’s head. The Buddhist monks in this picture were resting in front of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. I decided to include one of the temple’s towers in order to give a sense of place to the photo.

Tip 2: Use different zoom settings


These days, most cameras are equipped with zoom lenses that can either bring the scene close to the viewer, or pull back to reveal a wider angle of view. An easy way to create a variety of portraits of the same subject would be to take a number of shots using different zoom settings. The lady in these pictures was preparing my lunch in Hoi An, Vietnam, while I was photographing her. The image on the left, shot with my lens set near the “tele” setting, has a different feel from the picture on the right, which was taken with the “wide angle” mode. Which one is better? You decide.

Tip 3: Move in close

This is a good technique to use when your subject is especially interesting, or when a good background is hard to find. Simply use the telephoto end of your lens and move in close to the person. That way the person fills the frame and the background is minimised. In this portrait of this Balinese dancer in Ubud, I chose to emphasise her colourful costume by framing her in the classic head-and-shoulders portrait composition.

Pages: 1 2