Portrait rendering is another skill shared by many in the Renderosity user base. In this case, I mean the more traditional type of portrait that focuses on a character or characters as the main point of the scene with everything else being filler. It might include a simple background, an outdoor shot, a tightly lit portrait studio scene, or anything in between as portrait styles vary. Like most digital art in modern times, many stray from the stoic poses and expressions of the past to a more natural look.

Portraits are also something that a room of five to ten different artists will have five to ten different visions of the scene. While natural seems to be popular now, it wasn’t that long ago that paintings and photographs used some seemingly stiff and unnatural setups from the lighting to the posing. Family pictures have changed over the years with many turning their back on the traditional poses and lighting for a fresher look more in line with modern times. 

Continuing on in this series of researching key points that, at a glance, may help to improve our skills as digital artists, I researched various sources asking for bullet points that could be a quick start guide to portraits. The results are below.

• Set up your scene with proper lighting. For portraits, three-point lighting works well - a key light, a fill light, and backlight/rim light. Position the key light at a 45-degree angle to the face to nicely illuminate the features. Use a soft light like an area light to get soft shadows.

• Add a camera and position it at eye level with the subject. Frame the shot to capture the head and shoulders or waist up. Adjust the camera settings like focal -length to get your desired framing. Wider angles like 50-85mm give a nice perspective for portraits.

• Model a detailed human head and body or use a pre-made high-quality human model. Focus your efforts on creating realistic and clean topology around key areas like the eyes, mouth, nose, ears, and hair.

• Use image textures to add realistic skin, eyes, teeth, etc. Try generating skin textures procedurally using pores and subsurface scattering for added realism.

• Use facial expressions, wrinkles, pores, and other fine details in the head model to capture a lifelike appearance. Study reference photos for guidance.

• Add realistic hair using hair cards, particle hair systems, or purchased hair assets. Style it to suit your character.

• Refine the lighting to nicely shape the facial features. Add flags, fills, or rim lights if needed. Use render layers to fine-tune lighting for key areas.

• Render out with high sample settings for a noise-free render. Consider using a physically based renderer for photoreal results.

• Composite the render over a blurred background plate photo to integrate it more realistically.

• Post-Processing (Optional). After rendering, you can use image editing software to make further adjustments. This might include color correction, adding effects, or refining details.