Let’s be friends!
The best pictures tell stories. One look and you mind starts asking questions – who is she? What is she thinking? What does she want?
You cannot really pose a picture like this. At least most of the time. You have to be ready to catch the moment when it occurs.
However, the recipe for capturing this sort of picture is simple. Even if you need some luck you can be ready.
So let’s analyze the picture a bit and see what we see.
The first element is shallow depth of field. The only thing in focus is her eyes and the area of her face around her eyes. The background is blurry and only shapes and colors. This shallow depth of field is a trademark of a wide aperture lens and great portraits.
The next element is her outstretched hand. It is prominent in the foreground even though it is blurry. Her hand catches your eye because it is bright (our eyes are naturally attracted to bright objects). Then your eye follows her hand into the frame and lands on her face and eyes. And there you attention stays.
Next are her eyes. Her eyes are deep and the pupils are open – not a lot of light in the room. There are a pair of catch lights in her eyes. These were from the lighting fixtures and add dimension and contrast.
The final point is that this picture was made with a very low cost lens and camera combination. There is no need to spend a lot of money to get interesting and beautiful pictures. The lens was Canon’s EF 50mm f/1.8, about $125. The camera was a Canon XSi Rebel – about $100 on Cragslist.
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 | Canon XSi Rebel | 1/90s at f/1.8
My 50mm Portrait Portfolio
