If you want to learn how to take good pictures of people, you need to start to learn more about the shape of people first. This article will attempt to provide that information for you.

When taking pictures of people, you really want to focus on the shape and outline of the person being photographed. Look at the lines and where they lead.

A great way to practice this is to take silhouette shots of people. This will make you pose them much better.

Now, there are a lot of different ways you can take pictures of people. You can take close up shots, medium shots, and full body shots. The close up shot will be more personal and the full shot will be less personal.

Close up shots

If you want to get a close up shot of a person you want to zoom in rather than get really close. This will prevent distortion and make the face much more flattering.

Light is a very important part of people photos. It is what makes models look very attractive. You are going to want to use diffused lighting. You can diffuse lighting simply by putting a thin cloth over your light source, be it a light or the sun. Also, to diffuse light you can use a reflector (a mirror, piece of foil, etc) to bounce light onto the side of the face that has shadows. This will balance the light better.

When you light a person you can either highlight details or make them flatter. Placing a person straight in front of the light will flatten details. Placing a subject to the side of the light will make the details of their body more accentuated. This is what they do to make abs stand out in people photos.

Al Sanez has a Free Photo course that teaches beginners digital photography. He also has another free program on how to Sell Your Pictures Online