Look miserable and keep the camera low – my quick guide to shooting urban portraits

Head for the grim city streets for gritty urban portraits

(Image credit: Future)

While portraits at country houses, out in the fields, or simply in a studio setting, are all perfectly valid location for entirely pleasant portraits, it’s only when you head into the city that the environment lends a sense of drama, foreboding and danger to the mix. That’s what we’re looking at here, with a selection of urban portraits.

1 Look miserable

First rule of urban photo club is no-one looks happy. Subways are a great location, but they invariably mean that your subject will be backlit, unless it’s really dull overhead or actually night time. So, use fill-flash to light the subject. Even better, use a flash that you can position and bounce light off the ceiling or nearby walls. Use a wide aperture to lose the distant background.

Photo: 1/250 sec, f/3.5, ISO 100

2 Get low down

Take a low position, looking up, to give a distorted view, completely at odds with most portrait styles. If the subject has trendy footwear use a really wide-angle lens and get right down to ground level to shoot up. If you’re going to use colour, something that contrasts with a close background is a good idea.

Photo: 1/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 1250

3 Use alleyways

Get the subject into narrow alleys and streets to emphasise the city bearing down on them. Use a slanted shot for a more dynamic result.

Photo: 1/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250

4 Make use of decay

Here we have a grim, urban backdrop with fences and a gas storage holder (Image credit: Future)

As well as graffiti, as seen in the first shot, look out for crumbling buildings, post-industrial decay, and soulless machinery. Here we have a grim, urban backdrop with fences and a gas storage holder. To keep all that in focus, an aperture of f/14 was used, as well as off-camera flash to the left and spot metering, as the subject was significantly backlit by the sun.

Photo: 1/250 sec, f/14, ISO 200

To shoot urban portraits you need a portrait lens, as well as a camera bag that doesn't attract attention. Also, why not consider travelling light and getting into a Micro Four Thirds system?

Wendy was the Editor of Digital Photo User for nearly five years, charting the rise of digital cameras and photography from expensive fad to mass market technology. She is a member of the Royal Photographic Society (LRPS) and while originally a Canon film user in the '80s and '90s, went over to the dark side and Nikon with the digital revolution. A second stint in the photography market was at ePHOTOzine, the online photography magazine, and now she's back again as Technique Editor of Digital Camera magazine, the UK's best-selling photography title. She is the author of 13 photography/CGI/Photoshop books, across a range of genres.

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