What is Lifestyle Photography?: You love to capture the beauty of everyday moments. From a family around the dinner table to a child laughing in the park, it’s the simple but precious moments that make life special.
This is the essence of lifestyle photography, a genre that celebrates real moments and captures them in a way that feels authentic and timeless.
In this article, you’ll learn what lifestyle photography is all about and share some tips on how to create great lifestyle photos yourself.
What is lifestyle photography?
Lifestyle photography encompasses photography and other styles of everyday photography artistically.
Lifestyle photography has grown in popularity in recent years.
Ever since the advent of social media, people have wanted to show off their health to their friends and family.
Sometimes it’s for show and sometimes it’s to hold a memory of the good times they had for the rest of their lives.
There is a subtle difference between portraits, family portraits, and lifestyle photography.
Although lifestyle photography uses the same technique used in photography.
The aim is to take photos that are not naturally exposed. Lifestyle photography is always about capturing life as it happens.
This is an important difference between photography and still life.
What Type of Photography is Lifestyle?
There are many different types of lifestyle photography.
However, we have found from experience that the best lifestyle photos are taken where you are with your family, whether indoors or outdoors.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some tips to take interesting pictures of life.
What is the Difference Between Lifestyle and Portrait Photography?
Portrait photography is a portrait of a person that doesn’t focus too much on that person’s lifestyle.
He is not required to state his immediate residence, clothing, place of work or anything else that would reveal further information about his life.
In lifestyle photography, these elements are often part of the composition.
How to Do Lifestyle Photography?
Lifestyle photography requires the same basic planning as any other type of photography.
It requires careful planning of the shoot, a listing of the necessary gear and photographic equipment, a list of props and situations, and scenes to be shot, and a step-by-step process flow where everything is done at the right time. What is lifestyle photography?
Lifestyle photography encompasses photography and other styles of everyday photography artistically.
Lifestyle photography has grown in popularity in recent years. Ever since the advent of social media, people have wanted to show off their health to their friends and family. Sometimes it’s for show and sometimes it’s to hold a memory of the good times they had for the rest of their lives.
Although lifestyle photography uses the same technique used in photography. The aim is to take photos that are not naturally exposed. Lifestyle photography is always about capturing life as it happens. This is an important difference between photography and still life.
8 Lifestyle Photography Tips
Here are some lifestyle photography tips to apply to your photos. If you’re just starting, here are ideas you can implement right away.
1. Plan ahead
The best lifestyle photos come from editing. When editing, that doesn’t mean you have to ask your client to post a photo. By this we mean that you need to plan the type of lighting you’re shooting in, the type of scene (outdoors or indoors) you’re shooting in, and the setup.
If you plan to shoot somewhere outdoors, it’s best to plan the time you plan to shoot there. Depending on your location, choose the best light and be there at the right time to take advantage of it.
If you plan to use artificial lighting with ambient light, you need to plan and bring the right lighting and maintenance equipment.
Some places such as parks, historical places, or popular tourist attractions may be crowded on certain days.
Try to time your shoot on days when tourist areas are closed to tourists so you can use the background but don’t have to worry about too many people in the area shooting grenades.
2. Allow the Client to be Themselves
90 percent of the time, you’ll encounter clients who have no idea how to pose and who hate the idea of a camera focusing on them. In other words, very few of your customers will be natural referrals.
It is strongly recommended that you do not try to push your customer out of their comfort zone. Let him be who he is. So the conditions you will find will be natural and not “stiff”.
The last thing you want is to have a series of photos that clearly show that your client is extremely uncomfortable being in front of the camera. It is taken for granted.
Instead of trying to get their attention and tell them to stop, talk to them without their fear. Start a conversation. Talk about how they met (if it was a photo session) and how it felt when they first met.
You will soon find that the snow has melted. You are no longer afraid of the camera. Instead, they focus on each other. Now it’s time to go in and snap some shots.
An example of photographic life
The same method can be used to photograph children. It can be very difficult to photograph children if you don’t engage with them right away.
They have their agenda and aren’t afraid to pursue it and completely eclipse you.
We recommend asking them to play a game or, if there are siblings, invite them all to a game or do something they enjoy doing so that their attention is diverted from the camera. That works more often than not.
3. Use Natural Light
Natural light is great for outdoor photography. However, natural light changes your characteristics throughout the day, so as a photographer, you need to be aware of this and take the necessary countermeasures accordingly.
For example, morning and afternoon lights are best for photography. This is called the golden hour of the day.
The light at this time of day travels parallel to the surface of the earth, creating a soft, gentle glow perfect for photography.
Lifestyle photos Golden hour
As the day progresses, the light begins to fade. It falls straight down, creating strong shadows. This light is not suitable for photography. This light is not suitable for many types of photography.
When working with this light you should have a way to shade your subject so you can still take decent photos.
The advantage of shooting in the shadow is that the light is soft and there are no strong shadows.
Otherwise, when shooting in the midday sun, you will see shadows under the subject’s nose, eyes, and chin.
4. Combine Artificial Light with Natural Light
Mixing artificial lights like strobe lights or flash can sometimes give the best results. Let’s say you’re shooting under the bright midday sun.
There are shadows under the nose, in the chin area, and under the eyes. You know it’s not what you want. The solution is to use a light or flash to fill in the shadows.
Fire a strong flash to fill in the shadows on the subject’s face. What should the power setting on the flash be? Ideally, start with something +1 more than you can expect for the background.
You achieve this by manually adjusting the power of your flash/flash to ensure there is the right amount of light for the best results.
Adjusting the strobe/flash power manually can be tedious and is only recommended for advanced users as it requires advanced exposure knowledge.
Especially if you work in many lighting conditions. In most cases, TTL easily handles lighting measurements and saves you the hassle. In addition to the flash, we also recommend some large reflectors.
5. Use Artificial Lighting Such as Neon Signs
Beautiful lifestyle photos can also be shot with artificial light such as neon signs. Neon signs and neon lights are a great way to add cool effects to your photos.
Don’t worry too much about the different colors of the letters, because together they make up the final picture.
6. Use a Shallow Depth of Field
If you have a fast fixed focal length lens, you can use it to take pictures with a shallow depth of field.
A shallow depth of field looks good in the end because it can make the background stand out. With lifestyle photos, it’s not always necessary to completely hide the background.
You can simply shoot with a large enough aperture that hides some background detail while preserving the rest. This is because some photos should have the background visible for the best effect.
That said, in some cases, it may be necessary to completely turn off the background.
A combination of wide, open space and increasing the distance between the subject and the background always produces the best results.
7. Try Smarter Ways
Quick techniques like tilting the camera or shooting through the window can produce interesting results in the final image.
For example, change the camera angle and use less common angles in everyday life. For example, shoot from the ground on a busy street.
When capturing lifestyle photos, low-level photography is not always recommended. Also, not many photographers do that.
The main reason we recommend it in the first place. First, because it’s out of focus, and second because it adds a level of interest to the composition that you wouldn’t get from eye-level shots.
This also brings us to the next interesting suggestion, which is to shoot through the glass window.
We recommend trying this when there is bright light everywhere and you can catch a lot of light through the window.
8. Use Props that are Everyday Objects
Many things around your home can be used as lifestyle photography props. Pick something, a soccer ball, a potato, maybe a vase. All of these can be used as lifestyle shooting accessories.
Sometimes clients feel like they need to rearrange things in their homes, especially when shooting indoors. It is not necessary. You can use the misplaced objects as resources in the frame.
In addition, things in a frame also give the customer a calming feeling because they feel comfortable between their things and often has a calming effect.
To explore the topic of lifestyle photography tips, check out this in-depth video by Mango Street:
Last Words
Lifestyle photography is a big topic and the tips above are not intended to be a complete guide, just an introduction.
I hope you can use the lifestyle photography tips above and improve your style as you progress as a lifestyle photographer.