Location, Location, Location

Location is something that can make or break a photograph. And this goes for anyone taking pictures, professional or not. Since I began photographing, I have learned a lot about choosing locations for portraits. Mostly through trial and error. At the beginning, I really couldn’t tell a good location from a bad one. I would just see a pretty spot and think that it must be a good location for a portrait. That’s not necessarily the case though.

There are two things that I look for in a location, to make sure it would be a great portrait spot:

1. Simplicity

Sometimes the most gorgeous photos are the ones with the simplest backgrounds. I used to think that having a lot of “stuff” (trees/flowers/buildings, etc..) would make the photograph more interesting and better looking. There are definitely some exceptions to this, but most of the time it doesn’t work out well. When I would take those kinds of photographs, there would always be something about it I didn’t like, but I just couldn’t quite put my finger on what that was. It was the busy-ness of it all! Some of my favorite photographs I have taken in the past few years since realizing that have been on a simple background. I tend to think differently about locations when I’m photographing an engagement session as opposed to a senior session. With a senior session, I usually want to choose locations where I can put the entire focus on the senior. With an engagement session, I like to pick scenic spots but still having most of the focus on the couple. You just kind of have to play around with it and see what works best. To this day I still go through trial and error with certain locations. There will be a spot that I absolutely love and then realize after a few photographs that the location is too busy and will take away from the subjects. Most of the time, the subject is the most important thing anyway. Then I move on and try again somewhere else. So, just because it’s pretty doesn’t mean it will photograph well. The more you practice though, the easier it will get to determine good locations from not so good ones. For those of you who have cameras that are a little nicer, you could always blur out a background to where it’s not so busy. And I might just make that another Blog post someday 🙂 , but I just wanted to show how anyone could create a great photograph just by choosing simpler backgrounds that don’t distract from the subject.

2. Lighting

Lighting can play a huge part in being a great location or not. Sometimes you can visit a certain spot and the lighting will be great, then go back a few hours later and it will look completely different, because the light has changed. I can photograph a couple one day at a location that I’ve fallen in love with, then take a different couple on a different day at a different time and it won’t be as magical as it was before. It’s all about lighting. If there are patches of sunlight mixed with shade, or if the sun is creating harsh shadows on their faces and making their eyes extremely dark, then I will definitely move on from that location and try something else. If you’re looking to find great and consistent lighting, then the best times of day to photograph are about 2 hours after sunrise or 2 hours before sunset (golden hour). You have a much better chance of being able to use the locations you want at these times of the day, because the light should be a lot softer. I love soft light, but if I have no choice but to shoot in the middle of the day, then I will try my best to find a spot with open shade so that I can create the type of light that I want.

So the next time you go photographing, be thinking of these two things when choosing locations and I promise it will help!