How I take my portraits by Lee Sutton

Tuesday evening's Special Presentation came from Blackburn in Lancashire and was delivered by Lee Sutton who has a list of achievements after his name stretching almost to Norwich!

 Overall his talk was easy to follow and informative, full of explanations and examples. He began with a very short outline of his camera and lenses before moving on to the thought provoking 'reasons why your pictures are not as good as they could be'.

 There then followed a list that all photographers have to grasp if they are to improve their images:  know your camera; practice, become part of your camera; understand the basics of exposure; pay attention to composition; study other photographers, not just the greats but others in your club; understand light; if possible include a story in your picture; hold the camera properly and finally get your photos critiqued.

 Lee continued with examples of composition including the importance of 'thirds'; cropping; filling the frame; leading lines; triangles; backgrounds and so on.

 He showed us many examples of shots taken in a studio where he had total control of the lighting the pose and properties and followed with a set of shots taken in natural sunlight.

 Then he showed how he edited a headshot in Photoshop, slowly clearly and succinctly.

 He outlined some of the problems associated with location shoots, the weather, locations and unhappy models.

 His recap included the advice to talk to the model, keep poses simple, check backgrounds for distractions, use suitable depth of field and finally he talked of camera care. If your camera is not clean and dust free there will be problems with the pictures you take.

 We are grateful to Lee for an evening of down to earth advice and endless tips for producing better photographs.

Images are the copyright of Lee Sutton