CAPTURE & CREATE ATMOSPHERIC PORTRAITS

From lighting to editing, learn how you can add drama to your people pictures

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Atmosphere is a term that’s often used to in landscape photography, but it rarely gets a mention in other genres. That being said, every photograph has an atmosphere, whether it’s obvious or not. Talking about atmospheric portraits conjures up a wealth of visual cues – think low lighting, soft blurry focus, dramatic shadows and added textures. Creating atmosphere is all about tweaking the tone and mood of your environment through exposure and other factors to make your portraits more engaging; think about images that stay with you, and it’s rarely just the subject matter. Generating atmosphere involves making conscious creative choices that enable the viewer to share in the ambience of the scene. Even if you’ve got a striking face to work with, it’s important you know how to get the best out of both your model and your environment.

In this feature we’ll look at what’s needed to create and capture faces that evoke feelings in the viewer. We’ll start as you’d expect, by covering the quality and quantity of lighting sources both indoors and in nature. Next, discover how posing can add drama to your scenes, then finish off the journey in the digital darkroom to tone up images. Atmosphere refers to the pervading tone or mood of a creative work, but what marks the difference between an atmospheric portrait and a normal face-on shot? Read on to find out…

USE LIGHT FOR DRAMA

Learn how to utilise soft light, contrast and strong shadows