The ingredients to creating a beautiful portrait photograph include technical skills, artistic vision, and understanding of your subject. While all of them are also important in other genres of photography, the last part is crucial for Portrait Photography because the subject is human. It is important for the photographer to be able to connect with their models on a personal level to produce stunning portrait pictures. Here are at least three things you as a photographer can benefit from having a good human connection with your models. 

Having a Good Relationship

As a portrait photographer, there is nothing you can’t lose from getting close to models as the main subject of your work. It is not impossible for you to work with the same model for different projects so having a good relationship with them can make your job easier because you would already know how to interact with them, what they like, what they don’t like, their strengths, their weaknesses, and so on. It also works the other way around. When you have a project that requires specific needs, it would be very helpful to know who can help you realize your creative vision with said project. 

Directing Your Models to Pose

As a portrait photographer, your creative vision includes the model's pose. When you know the model on a personal level, it will be easier for you to communicate what you want from them and they will also be able to understand what you want more easily. Also, you can express your creativity by creating the right setup to highlight the model’s unique physical features because you already know which part of their body or face that would help you realize what you have in mind.

Extracting Your Models’ Genuine Emotions

When you know your models, you will know how to get them to feel excited, sad, happy, focused, and else. You will know what to say to them to make them express their feelings. Their genuine emotions will help you make your photographs look more alive. After all, a good portrait photograph can be defined as one that can make anyone who sees it feel the emotions that the photographer wants to deliver. 

In order to produce professional-level portrait photographs, having the adequate skills to operate the camera, set up the equipment and atmosphere of the shooting location, and direct the model is equally important to have the right gear that is designed to do that. The Alpha 7R V and the SEL50F14GM lens are a combination that you can rely on to produce a stunning portrait photograph.

The Alpha 7R V is equipped with a whole new level of camera intelligence. Its state-of-the-art AI processing uses detailed information about human forms and postures to dramatically improve the camera’s subject recognition accuracy and make full use of its potential resolution. Powered by the latest BIONZ XR image processing engine that offers up to eight times the processing power of its predecessors combined with the 35mm full-frame back-illuminated Exmor R™ CMOS image sensor with 61.0 effective megapixels, the Alpha 7R V never fails to deliver breathtaking details. 

The SEL50F14GM is the perfect companion for the Alpha 7R V that can maximize its full potential. The SEL50F14GM is a compact and lightweight lens that is capable of delivering extraordinary resolution and stunning bokeh in your portrait photographs. It features innovative optics and an F1.4 maximum aperture to make portrait subjects stand out from their surroundings. 

Establishing a friendly relationship with models fosters trust, allowing for a deeper understanding of their personality, strengths, and vulnerabilities. By nurturing this bond, photographers can unlock a realm of creative possibilities, seamlessly directing their models, and eliciting genuine emotions to craft portraits that resonate deeply with viewers. Paired with the unparalleled capabilities of the Alpha 7R V and the exquisite quality of the SEL50F14GM lens, photographers have a powerful arsenal to create portrait photography that delivers more than an image but also a feeling and an emotion.