How to take beautiful photos of people

Photography is your greatest passion. You would spend days taking pictures of breathtaking landscapes, funny and curious looking animals and, of course, the people you care about. Speaking of people: you would love to learn how to take more beautiful photos of this type of subject, but you don't know what precautions to take.

Well, if that's the case, know that you've come to the right place at the right time! In the next paragraphs, in fact, I will be able to provide you with various tips on how to take beautiful photos of people: if you put them all into practice, I assure you that you will be able to refine your shooting technique and become better and better at immortalizing human subjects. Clearly you will not become a photography wizard right away, but you will certainly be able to improve the situation compared to now.

Since I already hear you "pawing", I would say not to get lost in further chatter and immediately take action. Strength and courage: make yourself comfortable, take all the time you need to concentrate on reading this guide and try to strictly follow the "tips" I am about to give you. There is nothing left for me to do but wish you good reading and, above all, have fun!

How to take beautiful photos with your mobile

How to make beautiful photos for Instagram

Tips for taking beautiful photos of people

Let's get straight to the point and see what the tips for taking beautiful photos of people that you can put into practice. These are practical measures, very simple to implement and which, if followed, can make a difference. Try it for yourself!

Find the right equipment

Find the right equipment it is the basis from which to start to take good shots: this is true whether you want to take them with a camera or with a smartphone. The most important part of your equipment, of course, should be a good DSLR and / or a camera-phone, i.e. a smartphone with an excellent camera.

If at the moment you do not have a quality camera or a smartphone equipped with a noteworthy photographic compartment, take a look at the buying guides that I have just linked to you to find out which devices are right for you, taking into account your needs and of course your budget as well.

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In addition, you may find it useful to use some to take pictures of your subjects accessories to combine with your Reflex and / or your smartphone, for example tripod e selfie stick. Before buying any accessory, however, make sure it is compatible with your device. Understood?

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Choose a good location

Before taking a photo of any subject, I recommend that you choose a good location. Above all, take into account the "brightness" factor: if possible, avoid taking pictures in excessively bright environments or in too dark environments.

If you have to take a photo outdoors, where the sunlight can be very intense, at least try to choose a place where there is some shade or, even better, try to take the shot at a time of day where the sunlight is less intense: the ideal is in the early hours of morning light and in the last hours of daylight (so not at noon!).

Also try to find a location that is interesting. You don't necessarily have to be in a breathtaking place: look around and also try to find a corner in which to place your subjects. You will see that, with a little spirit of observation, you will be able to find the right place to take the photo.

Pay attention to the light

Pay attention to the light it is one of the most important things you can do to take beautiful photos of other people. Without the proper lighting, in fact, you run the risk of frustrating any effort you make later to try to make a photo that is correctly exposed.

When you have the opportunity to do so, then try to choose a location that is adequately lit (as I have already suggested you do a moment ago), so as to avoid underexposed or overexposed shots. But what can you do when you find yourself shooting in a location that isn't adequately lit? You can adjust some shooting parameters to correct exposure.

To get more into the merits, if you are in a dimly lit place, you can get a correctly exposed shot by increasing the ISO value (i.e. the degree of amplification of the electrical signal sent to the sensor cells) and also raising the shutter speed (i.e. the time the camera's shutter stays open to allow light to reach the sensor).

If, on the other hand, you are in a place that is excessively lit, to avoid the risk of getting an overexposed photo, try closing the diaphragm, decrease the shutter speed and lower the ISO value.

In adjusting these parameters, however, try to use common sense: increasing the ISO value too much, for example, can result in excessively "noisy" photos, while increasing the shutter speed too much can increase the risk of having shots that have blur or blur. micro-moved.

Putting people at ease

If the subjects you want to photograph are nervous, tense or even worried about the photos you are about to take, their mood will negatively affect the quality of the shots - that's why you should try to put people at ease you want to take the photo of.

How can you do it? Try to be positive and enthusiastic about what you are about to do yourself. Don't get straight to the point - try to build a friendly relationship with the people you need to take pictures of, especially if you don't know them well. For example, try to play some humor, talk about this and that, give a sincere compliment to the person being portrayed or simply tell some funny anecdote that happened to you recently.

All this will certainly contribute to creating a pleasant and informal atmosphere. When the subjects to be photographed seem relaxed enough to start, take pictures of them, trying to make them take natural poses that fit their personality.

Pose the subjects

Pose the subjects it might seem like one of the hardest things to do when taking pictures of people. In reality, you don't have to pay too much attention to the position your subjects take: what really matters is that their posture is natural and spontaneous. This will give your shots a genuine flavor.

If, however, you want your subjects to take a particular pose or position themselves elsewhere in the scene, you just need to kindly tell them exactly what to do.

Try to be specific and clear in your requests, also explaining why you want them to assume a certain posture (eg to create plays of light, to bring out the features of the face, etc.). This way, you will encourage the subjects you are photographing to collaborate with you.

Compose the photo

Compose the photo it is a phase that cannot be overlooked, especially when taking a portrait or group photo. A great way to be able to compose a photo that is interesting and beautiful to look at is to follow the note rule of thirds.

According to this "rule", to obtain a shot that makes the main subject stand out (or subjects, if there are more than one), it is necessary to ideally divide the image using a grid composed of 9 rectangles: the main subject must be positioned in one of the intersection points that are generated by the grid in question (i white dots present in the image at the beginning of the chapter).

This technique can be used in particular when you find yourself making portraits: by making the intersection points of the imaginary grid coincide with the eyes, mouth and some of the main features of the subject's view, you can get really interesting shots.

As for group photos, however, you can use other composition rules: some of these consist of using symmetrical criteria, according to which it is necessary to arrange the subjects to be photographed on the same plane, making sure that they are equidistant from each other.

When you are about to take a photo of one or more people, however, feel free to "break the mold" and compose the photo as you see fit. After all, that's how you can express your creativity, right?

Take lots of photos

It will seem like a trivial piece of advice, especially if you already have the habit of putting it into practice, but take lots of photos it is essential to be able to get good shots.

I say this for at least a couple of reasons: first of all, taking more photos significantly increases the chances of taking home at least some decent shots. When you are about to take pictures of people (especially with regard to group photos), in fact, the risk that they "ruin" the shot by closing, for example, your eyes or keeping your mouth open, is real. 

Secondly, taking more photos of your subjects allows you to try out various framing and composition techniques, which gives you the opportunity to experiment and improve your skills as a photographer.

If you have a Reflex available, you can use the "burst" shooting mode which is also integrated on low-end models and which usually allows you to take at least 3-4 photos per second. On some smartphones, the same result can be achieved by holding down the shutter button; alternatively, when the burst is not supported, fair results can be obtained by repeatedly pressing the shutter button.

Other useful tips for taking beautiful photos of people

To conclude this part of the tutorial, I want to recommend other guides dedicated to photography, with tips that could certainly be useful: how to look good in photos, how to smile in photos and how to pose for a photo shoot.

How to take beautiful photos with your mobile

As you may have noticed, in the previous lines I mainly referred to the use of a camera. If you wish take beautiful photos with your mobile, you can add to the advice I have already given you also those you find below.

• Clean the camera lens - if you want to avoid that the photo is damaged by halos and traces of dirt on the camera lens, it is better that you clean it thoroughly before taking the shot. More info here.
• Do not use digital zoom - unlike the optical zoom, the digital zoom is a simple digital enlargement of the image, which means that if the latter is used the photo will be grainy. To overcome this problem, I recommend that you get as close as possible to the subject you want to photograph or use the optical zoom, if your smartphone is equipped with it.
• Use manual shooting settings - in this way, you will be able to manually adjust the ISO, shutter speed and other parameters, following the criteria I have already given you in one of the previous chapters: to do this, you will need to use third-party apps, such as Camera FV- 5 for Android (free) and ProCam or Halide for iPhone (both cost € 6,99).

For more information on how to take beautiful photos with your mobile, I suggest you consult the guide I have dedicated to the subject.

How to make beautiful photos for Instagram

You came to this guide with the aim of learning how to make beautiful photos for instagram? Well, following the advice I gave you in the previous lines is certainly a great starting point.

In addition to this, you can adopt photographic techniques that allow you to come up with original and interesting shots, which is essential to be able to be successful on the famous photographic social network.

Therefore, I suggest you take a look at the tutorial in which I talk in detail about how to take beautiful photos for Instagram: I am sure that this reading will also be useful for you.

How to take beautiful photos of people