What photographers do people photography?
Most photographers will be involved in people photography at some time in their career, even if you are a dedicated still life photographer, there will always be that occasion where you are asked to shoot people.
What are the main types of people photography?
Probably when talking about people photography, most people instantly think of portraiture or headshots, but this is just a small fraction, I often get commissioned to go into a company to do headshots, but often after the headshots are done, we will spend some time setting up other scenarios, for example, a meeting situation.
This could be formal with the participants sitting around a boardroom table or it could be a very informal meeting with three or four participants sitting around a desk discussing something. Quite often I will switch to a long lens and wander around the offices shooting candid shots of people on the phone, chatting together, or using the computer.
There are many other types of people photography, such as fashion, which is quite specialised, PR photography, and Event Photography, which are very similar, as it’s usually a case of covering something that is happening which needs photography, usually quite urgently for a press release.
What problems do you encounter with people photography?
I think sometimes the most difficult part of people photography is organising large groups of people for a group shot, this quite often happens if I am covering a conference, where people from different parts of a company tend to meet in a hotel somewhere for a day or a couple of days conference, this has become a lot more common recently.
As you may be aware there are still a lot of employees working from home, so they have a catch-up every few months. I find quite often they will have headshots done, but there is usually a large group shot as well, so firstly you need to find a location that is large enough to accommodate the number of people, and work out roughly how many rows you are going to need.
Generally, hotels are very cooperative, and hotel reception areas are good locations. You then need to work out if you are going to need any supplemental lighting.
If so, hopefully, there are white or light walls and ceilings that you can bounce flash heads off then you will need someone from the client who knows the participants to help organise people, and be really firm with them, or they won’t listen, and then sort them into size order,
From experience, I have found that you can get some chairs for the front row, and then people standing between the shoulders of the person in
front, take several shots, as someone will have their eyes closed, then you can patch the face in from another shot, and hopefully, you will have a successful group shot.
What is person photography called?
There are several different branches of people photography, the obvious ones are portraiture, but that can extend into lifestyle, fashion, and candid types of photography.
How do I get good at people photography?
Make sure you focus on the eyes and try not to use harsh lighting, soft lighting is always more flattering, never use a direct flash on the camera, and always try to soften it in some way, for example bouncing it off a wall or ceiling, try to keep the camera at around their eye level, and certainly not be looking up at them, if you have a busy background, try using a wide aperture on a long lens to throw the background out of focus.
What kind of photographer takes pictures of people?
The obvious people photographers are portrait photographers, but also lifestyle photographers, fashion photographers, and press and PR photographers.
