Portrait Tips
Location shoots often provide very nice portraits. It's best to schedule these on overcast days during the hour or so before sunset, when the natural light is best.
Here are some answers to the most common questions we hear from our portrait clients. If you have additional questions, please feel free to give us a call, at 781-721-0626.
What should we wear?
Our advice is usually for you to wear a color that is darker than your face. White is usually a bad color for portraits.. You want the eye of the person viewing your portrait to be drawn to the faces of the subjetcs, not to their clothing. For professional portraits, blue shirts are better than white ones. Family portraits often look good if people wear cordinated colors, like khaki pants or bluejeans.
What about glasses?
Under studio or bright location lights, glasses often cause distracting reflections. We can remove minor instances of this as part of standard print prepartion, but editing-out heavy reflections may have an extra cost. We usually try some poses with glasses and some without.
What's the best age for our child's first portrait?
Small children are usually the easiest to photograph when they don't scamper (or toddle) around the studio! You might want to consider scheduling their first sitting after they can sit up on their own, but before they are walking. We have special cushions to prop up our smallest subjects. If you can, you might also want to bring a friend or helper to the studio with you. This can be helpful in assuring that your child keeps their attention focused and doesn't bump their head during the session.
What's the best time of day for our child's sitting?
You tell us! We usually schedule babies and small children for studio portraits at the time you tell us they're "at their best". One of the advantages of a professional studio like ours is that during your sitting, you're the entire focus of our attention, with the studio all to yourself. This usually makes it easier for kids to adjust to the studio situation.
What about portraits outdoors?
We love to shoot outside. Outdoor portraits often look more natural, although they make the light a little harder to control. If we're doing your portrait outdoors, we like cloudy days the best. Direct sunlight makes for a harsh look in portraits. Open shade works fine, however. The best light usually comes late in the day, in the one or two hours before sunset.
Can you fix ____ in our pictures?
Digital techniques make it much more feasible to "retouch" images in post-processing. Minor blemishes, stray hairs, slight glasses glare, etc. are routinely taken care of in our darkroom. Other edits are more complex, and may mean extra cost. These things include changes in image background, swapping people's heads from one image to another, major glasses glare, etc. If you'd like certain changes made, please consult us. We will get your permission before performing and extra-cost edits.
