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I have been asked this question a few times on Instagram and the answer is big enough to deserve a blog post. I’ll be sharing some Portrait Photography tips in the post, ready for the ride?

I want to make some things clear first, these might not the best of the best tips out there. It is just a collection of what process I have been through as a Photographer.

All of the suggestions that I’m going to share are from my own experiences. I’d be glad if even one of them helps you improve your portraits.

One more thing. Don’t judge a Photographer from his or her gear. I use the most basic camera you can find of Nikon, Nikon D3400 with kit lenses and a 50mm f/1.8G lens. Despite some minor things, I have loved shooting it and I won’t say that the quality of my work is restricted because of the DSLR I own.

Portrait Photography TIPS from my own experience as a Photographer

Shoot a bit under-exposed

You can get back details from shadows but not from blown-out highlights. Shooting a little under-exposed also preserves the sky in your pictures. Don’t go overboard too though.

The picture you see above was shot under-exposed to preserve the clouds behind.

If you’re shooting on a day where the clouds look just perfect, alter the ISO, shutter speed and aperture at a combination which shows the perfect amount of sky.

Keep the background in mind while setting everything up and not the subject. If you maintain the overall exposure according to your subject, you might end up losing details in the background.

I wish someone had told me this earlier in order to take better portraits, lost so many clouds!

Shoot in RAW to get better control in post-processing when you bring back details from the darker regions of the pictures. Pull up the blacks and shadows to get some light back into them.

If you want to check out more of my work, drop by my Instagram.

Don’t get too excited with Lightroom

Too much of contrast, clarity and saturation can look odd

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When I first installed Lightroom on my system, I was excited as hell. It is very easy to get carried away with all the tools available.

From what I have seen on Instagram, Beginner Photographers apply contrast, clarity, dehaze, and vignette in excess. They make the picture look far from a professionally shot one.

Dehaze affects your picture to a great extent, increase it very slightly to create dimension in your pictures. Don’t meddle with contrast, avoid it wherever possible. Instead, you can pull down the blacks.

Increasing contrast harms the color saturation in the pictures. Increasing the clarity too much can create weird outlines around your subject. I don’t even use vignette now. Initially, I liked using it too,

To create a more focussed light effect in my pictures, I would vignette at the corners. But through learning from tutorials and seeing works of other amazing Photographers, I have learned to stay away from it.

Lightroom is great but Photoshop is a BIG step-up

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If you’re willing enough, you can start with Photoshop directly. But starting out from Lightroom and then gradually shifting to Photoshop is what I did.

Photoshop is overwhelming. Understanding and getting the gist of things in Lightroom first reduces the ‘overwhelming’ to some extent.

In Photoshop, you have so much more control over the tiniest details in your picture. It will take time to get accustomed to the tremendous amount of tools available but it will be worth it.

When I compare my pictures edited out of Lightroom and Photoshop, I can see a difference. I hope you’ll too.

I’m not telling you to make the jump right now. Learn at your own pace and when you’ve nothing new to learn in Lightroom, make the switch to Photoshop.

Also Read: What are leading lines in Photography and how to use them

Choosing the shoot location

You have to know your city well. If you don’t then look out for other Photographer’s pictures who are from your city. Check out the locations they have tagged in their photos.

You can even contact cafes, they let people shoot before they open in the morning. Sometimes it’s on a barter basis and sometimes it is paid. Another good option is the interior stores.

BoConcept Studio in Sultanpur

From what I know, there are interior stores like Nivasa, BoConcept in Sultanpur in Gurugram. I’ve shot in the BoConcept studio once. It is at a walking distance from the Sultanpur metro station. Get the directions here.

The easiest way to contact them is either via mail mentioned on their official Instagram accounts or through DMs.

Some of the shoot locations in Delhi-NCR where I’ve shot to want to shoot are mentioned below, (they are free of cost)

Places to Shoot Portraits in Delhi-NCR for free

Don’t cut off hands or feet

Cropping the hands or feet from the picture looks odd. Make sure to only crop the body parts from the part where are there are no joints. For example, not from the elbow or knees. Anything above or below them is fine.

Don’t leave too much of headspace and use the grid on your camera or always straighten your picture in post-processing. A well-aligned portrait is a better portrait.

Tilted pictures are an instant off. Try to follow the rule of thirds while composing your pictures. It looks more appealing when the eyes are placed at the meeting points, as shown below.

Also Read: Sharing my editing process in Lightroom and Photoshop

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Third-party image source

Color grading and toning for better portraits

Great and well-balanced tones can really make or break a picture. To create aesthetically pleasing photographs, you need to understand the color theory in Photography.

Every color has an emotion, a feeling etched on to it. In Lightroom, curves, camera calibration and split toning are some of the ways to create different tones. In Photoshop, you can use curves too. There are additional options available like adding a solid color layer, gradient or Channel mixer.

No matter what kind of tone you’re going for, make sure the skin color remains intact. The color grading should revolve around the skin tone in such a way that it doesn’t become alien-like.

Adobe Color CC is a free color wheel, check it out here! The colors extending from yellow, orange, and red, to red magenta, are considered as warm colors.

The colors extending from magenta blue, blue, cyan, and green, to yellow-green, are considered cool colors.

There are 5 different types of color harmonies covered below which provide a nearly infinite number of color combinations.

Types of Color Harmonies

Direct or Complementary Color Harmony Analogous Color Harmony Triadic Color Harmony Split-Complementary Color Harmony Square Color Harmonies

Read in detail about the color theory here.

Things to keep in mind while retouching

I used the frequency separation method in this

Some people choose not to retouch and keep the picture raw. That’s totally up to you. People are beautiful either way. Retouching is just a personal preference.

Just like over-doing the contrast, over-doing the retouching is also very common. Plastic skin isn’t the goal. Pores should still be visible after you retouch your portrait.

Most widely used ways to retouch are frequency separation and dodge & burn method. Following tutorials have helped me understand these.

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