Portraits for the World Cup

With a small football event called the World Cup playing out on screens right across the UK, if you can pull yourself away from the action for a few minutes now is the time to capture some interesting World Cup portraits.


Gear
If you're off to the pub leave the tripod at home as they'll hardly be any room for you mind about a support. A 50mm, 85mm or even 100mm lens will do nicely but be careful if you pack the flash as this may just annoy the crowd.

Technique
Your aim is to capture the passion and emotion people feel for football so don't ask them to pose, instead move around the crowd or pick a table in a corner which gives you a good vantage point for shooting candids. Get too close (less than five or six feet) and you'll make people uncomfortable so keep your distance. Take shots of the upper body or the head and shoulders as this is where you'll see most of the action. Arms going up in a cheer, hands on faces after a near miss or even the mass stranger hugging that seems to happen when a team scores, are all actions you don't want to miss. Get in a little closer and you can capture the joy or, even though we don't want it, possible disappointment that could cross faces. Just watch your backgrounds when you do this as you want the focus to be on the supporter's reaction and not the bar staff pulling pints at the bar. But if you reduce your depth of field and blur the background distracting backgrounds won't be a problem. The larger aperture will also help combat the low light problems you find in pubs. Also, shooting team strips, flags draped on shoulders, people in fancy dress and painted faces will all help capture the spirit of the World Cup.


You've read the article, now go take some fantastic images. You can then upload the pictures, plus any advice and suggestions you have into the dedicated Photo Month forum for everyone at ePHOTOzine to enjoy.