When you take a portrait of someone, you want the face to be the first thing people are drawn to. The face should be well lit. Clothing should not be distracting. The body should be positioned correctly in the photograph. If your subject is looking somewhere, make sure there is negative space in the direction they are looking. To give you some examples of portraits, take a look at the following pictures of back lit, front lit, and side lit/ available light.

Back Lit: The key to backlighting is to maintain adequate lighting on the face, while having the strongest source of light come from behind.

Side Lit/Available: Light from the side creates great tonality.

Front Lit: Strongest light source focuses on the face, which can be aquired by using artificial light.

Take the portraiture quiz.