Although photographic lighting and the way we capture the image with a camera may have changed over the years; all great portraits, whether they are taken on film or digitally, depend on the photographer’s ability to use light and pose his or her subject. Surprisingly, there seems to be something of an enigmatic aura that surrounds portrait photography; even some professional photographers admit that they won’t fully understand about photographic lightning.

However once you do, a few very general principles such as -how light can be used to make your subject look more dimensional, you will find that even very dramatic looking lightning patterns are otfer nothing more than variations on a basic theme. Similarly, very slight adjustments in the pose -a tilt of the head, or turning the body away from or towards the light, can make a subtle but vital difference.

Portrait photography is the capture by means of photography of the likeness of a person, in which the face and expression is predominant. The objective is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the subject. Like other types of portraiture, the focus of the photograph is the person’s face, although the entire body and the background may be included. A portrait is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. [src : wikipedia]

Unlike many other photography styles, the subjects of portrait photography are often non-professional models. A large amount of patience and understanding the photographer’s mind is needed by the subject to portray the perfect emotion which the situation demands.

In this showcase, I have selected some of the most stunning photographs of human portraits which portray a strong sense of emotion, personality, and life.

1) close by robert maschke

2) Goran Jovic by Vedran Vidak

3) ~~ W ~~ Thomas Ljungberg

4) Tatsua suzuki

5) tegas by junaidi sudirman

6) Arash Karimi

7) S by Magda Berny

Lina by Beppe Ranieri

9) Shadow Of Her Smile by gunnisal

10) Afghan girl (50 years later) by Lev Tsimring

11) One old man by simona7569

12) K by rust

13) Grandma by Ervan Nanggalo

14) LikArt

15) Keeping an eye on matters by bolandrotor

16) old balinese smoker by nickodarwis

17) Zoltan Huszti

18) Raphael Guarino

19) Old POPEYE The Sailor Man by Ario Wibisono

20) Csehák Szabolcs

21) Desert by Csaba Zoller

22) AMAZING ANGELby Linda Palm van Meel

23) Celebrities street .. by Edmondo

24) Brothers by deskounlmtd

25) Ice… by Ilya Rashap

26) SMOKING KILL by olteanu calin

27) Tatsuo Suzuki

28) flower by Daniel Otten

29) Modern gladiator by Jeroen Oosterhof

30) Black Beauty by Roberto Sias

31) Naga Baba by martin prihoda

32) Suran

33) Cabaret by Stéphanie Toselli

34) coal miner’s holiday by curiozzo

35) Lonely by Andre Arment

36) Little Wonders by Sylvie Bendel

37 Devotion by Joey

38) frozen by DNA

39) Learn To Fly by Jennifer

40) Every picture tells a story by Sandy Powers

42) Seyba.by CARLOS DUARTE

43) A Strange New World by Chris

44) life cycles (tired, part two) by Robert

45) Tina by Vedran Vidak

46) Bat Mask by Jennifer

47) LikArt

48) Breakdown by Jeroen Oosterhof

49) Tribal Initiation by toothpilot

50) Carbunari by marius grozea

51) Please!!!!! by Robert

52) Silenced by lovethelight

53) Va, vis et deviens by aleci

Well, I believe the photos certainly inspired you. There is so much emotion in the photos that I can’t stop but wonder how much information a photo can share (looking beyond the ‘1000 words’ idiom). There is absolutely no denying that portrait photography is the most difficult form of photography and the photos simply justifies that fact.

Here are a few resources which I found were pretty useful. If you are an aspiring photographer, you might want to go through these links.

1) How to take portraits

This article by DPS, has 19 of the most popular portrait photography articles found in the archives of DPS from over 600 articles.

2) How to take excellent portrait photos

In this article, WDD gives you simple techniques to help you take portraits and also self portraits, to make the very best of your photos. At the end of the article, you’ll find a showcase of great portraits and self portraits that you can use for inspiration.

3) 100 outstanding photoshop actions to enhance your photography

Have you ever seen photos in magazines or on the web and wondered how they achieved that look. TPA has collected over 100 Photoshop actions that will help you achieve some of these looks and save you a ton of time in the process. Happy post processing!