Do you know how to take an excellent full-body portrait photograph?
You can achieve good portrait photography by applying the correct method and the model’s expressions and pose.
You need to use the correct camera setting, lightings and choose a suitable backdrop. It takes a lot of time and practice to get a good portrait photograph.
This article will give you a full-body portrait photography guide and help you understand the skills required for a perfect click.
Tips For Capturing Full Body Portraits
#1 Choose The Right Lens For Full Body Portraits
Are you thinking of which lens to use for portrait photography?
One thing you need to consider to capture a full-body portrait is to choose the right lens.
A 50mm lens is excellent for full-body portraits. You can stand a bit far if you go with a 100mm to 200mm lens and zoom it for a perfect click.
One thing you need to look at when using a long lens is its shutter speed. A low shutter speed might cause your camera to shake. You also need to be careful when using wide apertures, and you are standing far away to get clicked, as it will be difficult to find if the focus is sharp enough.
#2 Choose The Right Location
Choosing the right location has a significant influence on the final capture. When you shoot outdoors in natural light, it will give you great results. You may have to face some challenges along.
You will need to choose the right time to get clicked and look at the weather conditions. Try not to capture photographs in direct sunlight, as it will not give good results. Morning or sometime in the evening is a great time to get a good picture.
If you are capturing indoors, you need to plan your lighting and make other arrangements according to your need to get a perfect click.
#3 Look For Perfect Aperture For Full Portrait Photography
Wide apertures will help blur the background and make the model pop up. An f/2.8 aperture or more wide is an excellent option for full-body portraits.
#4 Get The Right Pose For A Perfect Click
In full-body portraits, the way you keep your hands is vital to consider. Most people who do not like getting clicked may feel a bit uncomfortable with their hands. Having a good posture is also essential. Also, have a look at the model’s leg position. Keep the leg in such a way that all the weight is on the back leg.
Help your model get a perfect pose that will complement them. Also, look at the lightings, background, camera lens, and angle to get an excellent capture. Try capturing different poses and from different angles and then select the best ones.
#5 Try Capturing Natural Shots
Some people are not very comfortable posing, and you won’t get good shots. Difficulty in posing is most common when you need to take a full-body portrait of a child.
Child photography comes out very unnatural if you force them to click.
To make them comfortable for shoots, let them do their activities and take great portrait photographs naturally.
#6 Know The Right Way To Use A DSLR
To get perfect full-body portrait photography, you need to know the correct technique and way. It takes a lot of time to learn and get an excellent click.
Once you learn the proper techniques to use the camera, you can go for a good DSLR and a lens.
There are a lot of cameras that give you perfect portraits. You need to know how to use it properly in different lightings and backgrounds.
#7 Learn About The Camera’s Shutter Speed, ISO, And Aperture
If you learn about the camera’s shutter speed, ISO, and aperture, you will find it easy to click any portraits perfectly.
#8 Look At Your Background
In a portrait picture, the main focus is on the model. If you look at some interesting background, the image will come out to be better and make it stand out.
You can even blur the background and get the focus on the model. Look at how the background has come out to be and adjust the shutter speed and aperture accordingly.
#9 Lighting
Lighting is essential to consider when clicking any picture. To get full-body portrait photography, the model needs to stand in front of a light source. Natural light outdoors gives excellent results.
If you are capturing indoors, you need to make use of the lighting and other artificial sources. You can make use of reflectors or buy an excellent portable flashgun. You can even use flash outdoors to balance the light.
The flashgun by Godox is excellent for Nikon DSLR cameras. It has a flash coverage of up to 200mm.
If you are looking for a suitable reflector, we recommend you a reflector by Neewer. The disc comes in different shades that will help you increase photography creation.
Sale Neewer Reflector 5-pack multi-shade reflector to diffuse the sun’s rays on the subject.
#10 Click From Different Angles
You can click pictures from different angles. You can shoot from different positions or get as close to the ground and look at your subject.
This way, you will get portraits from different angles and make all the pictures of your subject look slim, short, or broader. It depends on which angle you have shot.
To get a perfect full-body portrait, you can move the camera around and look from which angle you can get a good click. You can even tilt the camera to get some effect.
In full-body portrait photography, you need to choose the right lens along with the right angle.
#11 Go With A Pose And Style
It is not necessary to have all the portraits be formal. As for kids, you can let them play around and get them clicked naturally. You can click pictures of couples while they are talking to each other. This way, it makes it look like a natural picture.
#12 Have a look at the model’s expressions
A facial expression tells a lot about a picture. A bland look will not make the image look good. A smiling face or a slight tilt of the head will give a much better shot.
Some models might not be professionals and may not give any facial expression or get tensed while getting clicked. A great photographer will help bring out the best from the pictures.
Camera Lens For Full Body Portraits
To get a full-body portrait photography 50mm lens is a great option to go with for beginners.
If you are looking for a lens with good focal length, we recommend you Nikon AF-S. It is excellent for full-body portraits. It gives a good quality image having an aperture of f/2.8 and a focal range of 24-70mm.
Sale Nikon AF-S Very clear picture with no distortion at even short distances.
The lens by Canon EF, having a focal length of 24-70mm, is also a great option. The lens features a wide aperture and is durable and compact.
Canon EF Quick and superb focus for crystal clear portraits.
Full-Body Portrait Photography Guide In Manual Mode
- First, you need to set up the ISO according to your shoot. You will get a good portrait in natural sunlight. You can keep the ISO low to get a good effect of lighting.
- Then, you need to set the aperture. If you want to shoot a full-body portrait, you need to set the aperture to large.
- You need to balance the model and the background to get a significant effect overall. For this, you can adjust the shutter speed until you find it correct.
- You might find it challenging to shoot in manual mode if you are a beginner. Setting the aperture will make it easy to get a perfect click.
Group Portrait Photography Ideas
Getting a group picture clicked with friends and family is always a great idea. Be it any wedding, graduation day, or any reunion, you will want to pose in front of the camera and get perfect shots.
Having a good group portrait clicked helps you remember the special moments with your connected people.
But to get perfect group portraits, you need to look at certain things. The steps below might help you get things done with ease and perfection.
- First, make sure your camera and other accessories are working correctly and charged. Look up some ideas on how you want it clicked and where you will set up everything.
- Look if the location chosen is suitable for the specific event and is big enough for a group of people.
- Make sure tall people are at the back and shorter ones in front. Also, make sure the bride and groom or specific person are in the center.
- It would help if you also looked up at the lighting. Make sure the picture doesn’t look dull.
Related: Outdoor photography ideas for models
Conclusion
To get perfect full-body portrait photography, you need to get the right lens and know the proper techniques to get an ideal shot. Full body portrait photography is a creative way to capture the emotions and expressions of people.
I hope the full-body portrait photography guide has given you some ideas and inspiration to get a perfect shot.