Lifestyle Photography: What is it?
Currently, the phrase "lifestyle" is all over; practically every place you look; much like the term "vintage" but aside with that. In reference to Wikipedia, lifestyle photography is a portrait style or rather people photography geared towards capturing and documenting actual events, moments and situations with an artistic touch and everyday art.
A closer evaluation of the meaning and one important aspect is evident; Lifestyle photography is about real-life event documentation in artistic style as opposed to recreation.
The lifestyle objective goes beyond documentation of real emotion. Since in reality, if you position individuals at the wonderful scenery outside and all of them are genuinely smiling and laughing, that does not qualify it as lifestyle photo.
Lifestyle photography is more of REAL perspective as opposed to a formal outlook coupled with real-time raw emotions, expressions, and genuine connections. Think of it as a controlled setting but with a slight touch of pandemonium!
BASICS OF “PICTURE PERFECT” LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHY:
TAKE TIME TO KNOW THE INDIVIDUALS THEN BE RELATABLE
Before setting out for a lifestyle session, keep in mind and establish these connections: connection with your subjects and one with your viewers. For a viewer to get attached to a photo, genuine emotion from the subject individuals in the picture needs to be visible.
To evoke these types of emotions and genuinely portrays, a lifestyle photographer must invest in genuinely knowing and forming a sort of relationship for them to feel comfortable enough to open up when the camera is rolling.
To properly form a relationship, it is important to have open conversations with your subject family. With a properly cultivated relationship, a photographer is able to inspire "life" in the photos and create more genuine and connected pictures.
ENSURE YOUR SESSION FLOW IS SOLID:
When creating lifestyle photographs particularly where there are multiple subjects such as a family, chaos can mean the entire process. Nonetheless, with a properly defined session flow, your sessions can fall through effortlessly at your control. With total control of your subjects and how they play out, you are well able to take the shots as you will and you can allow your creativity to flow. A perfect lifestyle photograph begins with the correct pose, and with that, a photographer controls the connection.
KNOW YOUR LOCATIONS AND THE LIGHTING:
The principal element which draws a viewer to a photo is the light. Your choice of light for a photograph can intensify the emotional connection and help you define and expound on your story. You can schedule sessions relative to light aspect and shift the location of the subjects relative to light-provisions.
Our experiences with light are personal; despite the fact that every photographer utilizes light dissimilarly; the key thing is ensuring that the light is utilized effectively to portray the desired emotion.
SELECT THE LOCATION WISELY:
The end-product of lifestyle photography is dependent on a host of factors and one such is the location and the setting. As a photographer, lifestyle photographer to be specific, the locations need to be characterized by variety and of course beauty. If the photography is centered on a family, for instance, the locational-orientation should be aligned towards plenty of open space where they can move about and interact as is family-norm. In simple terms, choose a location that defines your theme perfectly.
Whichever location you settle for, ensure that it is building on your photos and mind every element in your scope and frame.
DON'T FOREGO MOMENTS FOR PERFECTION:
One of the wonderful perks that come with lifestyle photography is the subsequent freedom it accords you. Capture exactly what you feel. Why? Lifestyle photography allows you to! And in actuality, the photography is not after stiff, lifeless portraits of individuals just staring at the camera with fake smiles but for portraits with genuine meaning and depth. One way to have this in line is taking the time to think of the emotions you want to document and capture. It maybe laughter, or delight or maybe the reserved emotions in the form of love or protection. Whatever it is, by identifying these emotions, you can devise ways of evoking such emotions from your subjects. For example, if it is in a family setting and you wish to capture the laughter, you can instruct one of the guardians to tickle one of their kids while staring at the lens.
Ever heard the commonly used phrase rules are meant to be broken? In lifestyle photography, sometimes the emotions may not be that obvious which begs the question what do you do in such instances? In such a case, you need to break out and exercise your freedom. One way you can do this is experimenting with what you feel. Why? It gives you the liberty of expressing yourself in a creative style that trickles down to your photos.
RELY ON ACTIVITIES AND MOVEMENTS TO ACTIVELY ENGAGE YOUR SUBJECTS:
Surprisingly a proven fact, the human body relaxes as soon as it is in motion. Even for the stiffest of subjects, they tend to relax at some point when they initiate motion. You can ask your subjects to dance or walk or just have a typical motion to loosen up and relax. Moreover, aside from using motion, you can rely on particular activities to inspire a relaxed mood and active engagement. In lifestyle photography, you can use activities to map out the sort of emotion you aspire to capture. For instance, if the subjects are a family or friends, you can use activities such as pulling tags or splashing water to one another just to keep them engaged with one another and create a moment worth capture.
ALWAYS REMEBER THE DETAILS:
Every moment has particular detail, and these details, when properly evaluated carry significant touches of beauty. Maybe it is the way a little kid stretches their hand to touch their mother’s hair or the tear-shed of a father embracing his kid after a victory or a situation. Each time you are out to capture a moment, get in close to the action to capture all details that compliment your theme at their finest.
Even with perfectly captured moments with every detail aptly displayed, the camera alone has no capacity to capture an image as the eye sees it. Camera sensors have some sort of limitation which mandates for a bit of processing to inspire life to the photo! One way you can process your images is through defined Lightroom software. With such, you can enhance a picture to display the emotion as you perfectly desire it. Moreover, it is also important since it uniquely represents your initial objective of perfectly relaying a moment.
