Understanding portrait photography / Soleha Nurulbalqis Omar

The critical issues regarding art scene in Malaysia is categorized into three groups, namely, the group of traditional artworks, artwork whose form and function is still "pure". Portrait photography is the art of photographing a single person or a group of individuals, and it is one of the most difficult genres of photography to master. Portrait shots capture the subject's personality, character, and mood, and can be regarded an artistic reflection of that person's individuality. Portraits should be shot in a way that tells a story about the individual and establishes a bond between the spectator and the subject. Portrait photography is more than just photographing individuals in a portrait, the face, especially the eyes, are always given more attention because they express the person's attitude and emotions. Posing is also important in making excellent portraits since it adds to the overall power and impact of the image. People pictures fall into two categories which is portraits and candid. Either can be made with or without your subject's awareness and cooperation. However near or far your subject, however intimate or distant the gaze your camera casts, you always need to keep in mind the elements of composition and the technique that will best help the communication. The identity is not a static concept and no human is one dimensional, the notion that a single photograph can represent a person's entire personality is at best a polite fiction. We'd all want to believe that certain characteristics of our personality stay with us for the rest of our lives. Whether or not this is accurate, people clearly fall into patterns of conduct and cultivate the ways in which they wish to be perceived. Many photographers excel in focusing in on a person's distinguishing features and revealing aspects that appear "authentic" to the subject. But this isn't so much about "identity" as it is about "image." It's the same mechanism that turns the anguished writer become a hero, and the hardworking nurse into a kind person.