Nailing a portrait is difficult. Nailing a self portrait is another thing altogether. I think the key to this is to first develop a style of your own. In this photo series Ziqian Liu has a very strong sense of colour, composition and consistency. The consistency element is that of a 'theme'. The images included in this particular photo series are recognisable by that theme.
Mirrors and reflection/distortion of reality
The human body
Simple colours/tones for the main scene
Flowers and fruit for small pops of colour
Natural light and shadow
Depth via foreground and background blur
A certain amount of ambiguity
Not every portrait contains all of these elements but they do tend to stay within these guidelines making it very easy to spot which photos fit within the photo series and which do not.
Time to find your own...
Finding your own style isn't going to happen over night so a certain amount of experimentation and making mistakes is to be expected.
I keep a folder of images that I like aesthetically and would like to do my take on them at some point.
This is a really good way to get an understanding of the processes involved in the design, set-up and capture phases of the image.
Usually you will come across an issue that hadn't planned for or realise that there was more involved than you initially thought.
This shoot in a boxing gym was the first instance that I'd set up a meet-up with the only goal of walking away with some great portraits. These situation can feel a little high pressure at first. This shoot made me realise that I needed a proper flash set up or a faster lens which would be better suited to low lighting conditions. I had to compromise with the shutter and ISO and in the end a majority of the images came out grainy or blurry or both.
I will never forget the things that went wrong in the shoot and I will not make the same mistakes again.
Take Away
There are lots more images in my 'Portraits To Try' folder that I will execute when I get the chance. There are plenty of mistakes that I am yet to make and learn from.
It's all part of the process. Go make some mistakes...
The 6 images in the first gallery are property of Ziqian Liu. I lay no claim to these images. Images are not my creative product, nor do I intend to sell or profit from the images. My sole goal is to appreciate, educate and promote awareness.
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