How I love you, Let me count the ways. That's a famous line in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet, a poetic way of saying that the reasons for love can be endless. When it comes to capturing love in photos, there are endless ways to do it, but can we cover them all in a few paragraphs? So let's break it down into two categories,
DIRECT and INDIRECT.
Portraying love LIVE is essentially photographing the obvious. You can show the couple hugging, spending time together, and so on. Curling up on the sofa in front of the TV, enjoying wine in a luxury restaurant or walking on the beach.
If you are able to work with models to photograph love and romantic concepts, then it should involve a bit of planning. Sit down with a pen and paper and plan your photo shoot. Where is the location? What should your models wear? What time of day should the shooting be?
Let's say you're having a photo shoot on the beach. If the beach faces east, then the sun will be in your eyes if you want to have water in the background and your photo will be in the morning. If you want a sunrise scene (which can work as a sunset), then facing the sun is desirable. If you want that red sky in the morning, then everyone involved has to be there and ready to go before the sun comes up.
If you've prepared with a number of concepts, hopefully you're ready to go. Models can be formally dressed and have cheese and wine on the beach. How do you want them to pose? Were they holding hands? Kissing? Walking barefoot in the surf? As the sun rises, we can change into casual clothes or swimwear. This will give you more money by using changing light and many concepts.
The same can be done in reverse if your shooting location faces west as the sun sets. There may be a section of the beach that faces north and south and may provide more favorable lighting angles depending on how you want to use the sun. No matter where you are outside, be in place at the right time of day as the sun moves across the sky. Light can make or break a photograph.
A common mistake beginners make when working with models is that when they are working with someone they can be attracted to, they will be a little too focused on the eye candy and not on the details. Are the clothes properly in place? Shirts tucked in, collars straight? Make sure hair is combed, and stray strands are out of sight. Pay attention to the background so that there are no garbage cans or power lines in your scene. Yes, seeing that pretty face can be a little exciting, but you're there to work, and it's very hard to fix wardrobe mistakes with software or remove a billboard in the background.
When it comes to INDIRECT concepts, the concepts are only limited by your imagination. How can you portray love without models? Again, you may want to sit down with a pen and paper and brainstorm ideas. For example, how about two empty wine glasses on the table, one of which has lipstick stains on it. Clothes and underwear on the bedroom floor. Flowers and sweets on the table.
If you are looking for ideas, all you have to do is search the Internet or browse any database. When searching that specific database, be sure to sort your images by best-selling items to see what buyers are looking for. There will be pictures that are beyond your abilities, so focus on what you can do. But for images you can't replicate, take the time to study how they're made. The best of the best are usually created with post-processing, so learning photo editing software and techniques is something you might want to consider as you progress.
Hopefully, you've learned that capturing love in photography is really a matter of coming up with ideas and then executing them. Love between two people can be realized in many different ways, and you can imitate love by using props and metaphors. Even for professional photographers, getting models can be difficult, so metaphorical ideas that you can create yourself will help build your portfolio and generate more sales.
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