Let's Talk About Portraits!

Let's get one thing straight, I am not the type of person who loves to take pictures of sunsets, or close-ups of flowers or anything like that. I love to take pictures of people. I love to pick scenarios, clothes, color schemes, and special places to take the photographs. Making a fantastical scene for the viewer of the photograph to get lost in is what I strive for.
In order to practice photographing people, I like to take simple shots, almost like school pictures, of my friends. These help in developing lighting techniques and focus settings on my camera, and it's just overall fun!
So, if you are interested in fashion photography, or just photographing people in general, grab some friends and practice with them.

This is a simple shot of my friend, Ashley. In this photo, I experimented with lighting, and sun shadows coming through the trees. Her white shirt makes the photograph very light and sunny. I also like how the  background is blurred, while she is in focus. 

In this photo, I experimented with the "rule of thirds". Imagine the photograph was split into three vertical quadrants, like this grid:

The rule says that the main focus of the photograph should be contained into one quadrant. I chose the far right quadrant for the subject of this photo. The fountain and the wind blowing her hair back gives motion to the picture.