Practical Photography - UK (2020-04)

PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 39

25 Portrait Tips

MEETROSS

HARVEY

Rossis an award-winning

weddingphotographer,

re gardedas oneof the

bestin thecountry.

Al thoughheis a busy

man, photographing

weddingsall overEurope,

heprideshimselfon

havinga genuineloveof

capturingthefinerdetails

th atmakeeachwedding

dayunique.

rossharvey.com

DON’TWORRY

TOO MUCHABOUT

BACKGROUND

#8The rightspot

Light, coupled with

emotion, is the elixir of

great photographs. Learning to

see or to find the light – with

soft and directional being my

preference – will empower your

confidence and skills, as you need

not rely on a beautiful background

or the environment. Beautiful

vistas are, of course, very handy

to have on location, but if you

struggle to shoot beautiful

portraits without them, it’s

because they are actually

missing something else instead.

Identifying that is the key to

success. A background should

cradle the subject, not support it.

FOCUSONTHE

ESSENTIALS

#7 Simplicity

KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

I’ve found this acronym’s

usage to be ubiquitous, no matter

the subject or industry. A simple

solution is always the best. It’s

easy to forget that in a creative

field such as photography, and to be

distracted by adding this and adding

that. Here’s a favourite quote of mine

from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:

“Perfection is achieved not when

there is nothing more to add, but

when there is nothing more to take

away.” That’s simply golden! Strip it

back to the bare essentials and then

you can focus on what’s important

• the connection.

TIP

UTILISE

NATURAL LIGHT

Look out for any natural light
shining through a window
that can be used to
illuminate your
subject.