Making Dramatic Portraits

So often when doing pictures of people, we forget that we can really cook up some cool images by incorporating the environment, making what has potential to be a distracting background an advantage.

I shot these photos this past weekend while working with Brogan Flemming. We were at one of the coolest places to shoot in downtown Macon, one of my favorites anyway. I began by placing her against the rail, using the stairs behind her as background. I shot these using off camera flash so I could let the background go a bit darker.

The first picture was with a telephoto so she was isolated, and the background consisted only as interesting patterns. A nice portrait with shallow depth of field. Brogan really stands out.

I swapped the telephoto for my wide angle and moved in closer using the lines in the background. The second photo was with a 24mm lens. The lines have a nice flow to them, and the photo has a lot of depth, but no distortion. The lighting and background make for a dramatic image.



The third image I really got dramatic. I went to the 15mm lens to have some distortion, but used it to my advantage. I went to a really low angle of view, cranked the camera sideways, and Voila....we really have a eye catching photograph



So, take a look at your backgrounds, not just to be sure you don't have tree limbs growing from your subject's head. And don't be afraid to shoot with a wide angle. Just don't make 'em look like freaks.