The Fundamentals of Portraiture is a blog about how to take your portraiture skills up a level. It’s for photographers who want to hone their craft, but it assumes no previous knowledge at all.

It talks about the fundamentals of lighting people: what it means to be a portrait photographer, and why good portrait photographs are so hard to make. It looks at the way light works in portraiture, and why some portraits work better than others. It looks at posing and facial expressions, clothing and backgrounds. It’s full of ideas you can use in your own photography.

The Fundamentals of Portraiture is hosted by  TheFundamentalsOfPortraiture.com .*

The blog is written by me, Dave Black (that’s me on the right), a pro photographer based in London. I’ve been shooting people professionally for over 10 years, and have taught portrait photography at all levels – from introductory evening classes to a two-year college diploma course. I’ve also written books on this subject (see below).

I’ve worked with everyone from corporate CEOs to soccer stars, politicians to porn stars, drag queens to mums. I’m fascinated both by the practicalities of making great photos and by the underlying theory

The Fundamentals of Portraiture is a blog about how to take your portraiture skills up a level. It’s written by an art model and photographer, and covers two main subjects: posing and lighting. Both are vital if you want to take great photos of people. I hope that you enjoy it!

Ruby

Brief History of the Portrait

The earliest known portraits were drawn on cave walls as early as 25,000 years ago. Later, ancient Egyptian and Greek civilizations created the first portrait art.

Since then, portraiture has been a popular art form, with many famous portraits by great masters such as Titian, Rembrandt and Manet.

Portraiture is generally used to create a likeness of a person on a flat surface such as canvas or paper.

In this art form it is common to use human models, rather than live ones. The artist will sketch out the person’s likeness based on their own perception of the subject, creating a recognizable image that is in most cases flattering to the person being depicted.

Portraiture can be done in many different styles, from realistic to impressionist or abstract. There are also many different mediums people can choose such as pencil or charcoal, to acrylic paint or oil paint.*

Since portraiture is so popular and has been for centuries, there are plenty of talented artists who have taken up the challenge of mastering the skill set needed for this type of artwork.*

To take your portraiture skills to the next level try these strategies:**

Practice To perfect your skill at drawing a

A while back I came across an interesting article by a professional photographer. He was talking about the most common mistakes that portrait photographers make, and one of them really stood out for me.

He said that most portrait photographers take photos that are too close up — so close that you can’t see the subject’s entire body. (See the image to your right.)

I couldn’t agree more! I think that this is such a cardinal error.

But it got me thinking … I’m a professional artist, and I use my portraiture skills to help me create my art. So how does this affect my approach to art?

The answer is: it doesn’t matter. The fundamentals of portraiture are the fundamentals of any type of painting or drawing you might do. These fundamentals are absolutely critical if you’re going to learn how to draw well, even if your goal isn’t to paint or draw portraits specifically.

If you’re an artist interested in painting or drawing people, then read on! And even if you’re not an artist, we’ll still be focusing on some important principles that apply to all types of art: composition, color theory, value theory, etc.

So let’s figure out what it takes to make a great portrait. It all begins with the subject and their personality, so lets talk about that first.

The biggest complaint I see about portraiture is lack of variety. The same basic head shot is used with different props, backgrounds or poses. This isn’t just boring, it’s selling your subject short. Photographers should be making their portraits a true representation of who the subject is.

Tone:innovative

Art models are people who pose for artists. The term may apply to a professional model or to an amateur (someone who does it for fun). The word “model” also has a special meaning in the world of sketching, as opposed to painting.

But whether you’re a professional artist or just someone who likes to draw and paint, there are some things you need to know about how to be a decent art model. Here’s how to get started.

As a rule of thumb, you should never do anything when posing for another artist that you wouldn’t want them to do if they were posing for you. Even if they’d never ask you to do such a thing, and even if they’ve done something different when they posed for other artists in the past, you have no way of knowing what their intentions are now. And any time either one of you is uncomfortable, the results will be less than optimal.

There is also nothing wrong with telling your model what exactly it is you want them to do. Say, “Please rotate your hips toward me,” or “Could you tilt your head back just a bit?” If there’s something specific you don’t like, say so: “I don’t like the way your face looks when you’re looking at

The idea of making a model for yourself can seem daunting, but it is actually very simple. The secret to making a model that will help you paint better is to keep it simple.

The first and most important part of the process is to find a subject that interests you. As an artist, your job is to interpret the world around you, so choose something that you find visually fascinating. If you have no interest in your subject, the model will show through in your painting.

If you are worried about choosing something too complex, remember that even the simplest subjects can be interesting if done well. A few years ago I had a painting instructor who was an accomplished artist, who told me that she sometimes still struggled with portraits because she always wanted to make them more complex than they needed to be. It takes practice to develop your skill at simplifying a subject and still capturing its essence.

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