Portraits, What's all that about then?
Discussion
Hi all. A friend of mine has asked me to do a few shots of him, his GF and daughter. I would like to do the photography outside but portraits are a little out of my experience thus far.
Does anyone have any "top tips" that they use for portrait work, for example, what time of day would look best, location ideas, composition etc? Thanks in advance.
Does anyone have any "top tips" that they use for portrait work, for example, what time of day would look best, location ideas, composition etc? Thanks in advance.
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Again no expert here, in fact have a pet hate of taking pics of people, especially more formal posed ones. When forced I always try to keep them some distance away from the background, use bushes or something not too distracting, then go with large aperture for narrow depth of field to throw it into a blur and get a nice mottled effect (watch your focussing on the faces though). Outside always good but as with comments abv bright but a bit overcast so nice soft light which will flatter the faces is ideal.
Finally shoot lots and whilst I am sure they want shots of them together, also try to do some individual shots, pics with more than 1 person in have much lower success rate as someone always looks a bit crap.
One I did for friends of their daughter:
Finally shoot lots and whilst I am sure they want shots of them together, also try to do some individual shots, pics with more than 1 person in have much lower success rate as someone always looks a bit crap.
One I did for friends of their daughter:
Overcast is good light.
Wide aperture lens to throw backgroung nicely out of focus.
Make sure the eyes are sharp
Fill in flash.
Take lots as one of the people will no doubt have their eyes closed.
If its an informal and relaxed look they're after, get them talking to you as they then start to forget about the camera and their facial muscles start to relax and a smile become less forced.
Figure out before hand what style they are looking for - simply put, ask them lots of questions.
LB
Wide aperture lens to throw backgroung nicely out of focus.
Make sure the eyes are sharp
Fill in flash.
Take lots as one of the people will no doubt have their eyes closed.
If its an informal and relaxed look they're after, get them talking to you as they then start to forget about the camera and their facial muscles start to relax and a smile become less forced.
Figure out before hand what style they are looking for - simply put, ask them lots of questions.
LB
luca brazzi said:
Try to get a flash or some form of reflector, whether it be white or gold to add some warmth.
Also, obvious I know, but I presume you will shoot RAW.
LB
Thanks for the advice. I will be shooting RAW and have Photoshop CS for post production. I take it I wouldn't need anything too extraordinary as a flash?
Depends. If you're gonna use the flash ona regular basis, get a good one. Is the camera your's or are you borrowing.
If its yours, then you're obviously seriously into it and should get the best flash for your camera which is the 580EX, which I've got and is absolutely fantastic. Pricey, as everything is at that level, but you get what you pay for.
If you were nearer to me, I'd happily lend it to you.
LB
If its yours, then you're obviously seriously into it and should get the best flash for your camera which is the 580EX, which I've got and is absolutely fantastic. Pricey, as everything is at that level, but you get what you pay for.
If you were nearer to me, I'd happily lend it to you.
LB
luca brazzi said:
Depends. If you're gonna use the flash ona regular basis, get a good one. Is the camera your's or are you borrowing.
If its yours, then you're obviously seriously into it and should get the best flash for your camera which is the 580EX, which I've got and is absolutely fantastic. Pricey, as everything is at that level, but you get what you pay for.
If you were nearer to me, I'd happily lend it to you.
LB
The camera is owned through the business but I use it whenever I need it. I can't really see me using the flash on a regular basis as I'm not really into portrait photography normally, it's just a favour to mate. I may have to go and have a browse later.
forget about a flash for outside portraits, its largely unnecessary unless it is either very dark or very sunny. If it is very sunny you will still be better off getting your guys to stand in the shade rather than messing around with flash. if it is very dark you will struggle hard to get natrual looking photos without bounce, which is nigh on impossible outside.
are you getting individual or group portraits? if individual, definitely use the 70mm end of your lens (or even better get a 70-200 for the day) and I would use f/4 for sharpness and DOF. if youre doing group pics you will have to pay a lot more attention to getting people in the right places - they will need to be close enough together that you can get in closeish to make use of a limited DOF for a nice "pro" look
are you getting individual or group portraits? if individual, definitely use the 70mm end of your lens (or even better get a 70-200 for the day) and I would use f/4 for sharpness and DOF. if youre doing group pics you will have to pay a lot more attention to getting people in the right places - they will need to be close enough together that you can get in closeish to make use of a limited DOF for a nice "pro" look
dcw@pr said:
forget about a flash for outside portraits, its largely unnecessary unless it is either very dark or very sunny. If it is very sunny you will still be better off getting your guys to stand in the shade rather than messing around with flash. if it is very dark you will struggle hard to get natrual looking photos without bounce, which is nigh on impossible outside.
are you getting individual or group portraits? if individual, definitely use the 70mm end of your lens (or even better get a 70-200 for the day) and I would use f/4 for sharpness and DOF. if youre doing group pics you will have to pay a lot more attention to getting people in the right places - they will need to be close enough together that you can get in closeish to make use of a limited DOF for a nice "pro" look
It's 2 adults and a small (3 y/o) girl I'll be photographing and I'm after as "natural" a look as possible. I have a 70-200 lens as well and they are both capable of f/2.8 - would this be a better setting for DOF or too much of a good thing? I was planning on taking a blunderbuss approach and just shooting loads with different settings and picking the best.
As has been said, nice even light and you really will need a little diffused flash to get a really good shot. Flash just gives a nice even, soft light - without it your shots will miss that certain something unless youre after a moody look. If you want something moody, pose the girl by a window (when the sun isnt too bright) and expose for the light, then much of her will be in various degrees of shadow, and that can look good.
wolves_wanderer said:
It's 2 adults and a small (3 y/o) girl I'll be photographing and I'm after as "natural" a look as possible. I have a 70-200 lens as well and they are both capable of f/2.8 - would this be a better setting for DOF or too much of a good thing? I was planning on taking a blunderbuss approach and just shooting loads with different settings and picking the best.
personally i use f/4 with the 70-200mm, with 2.8 is is very easy to get the focus just slightly wrong which is irritating. f/4 is plenty good enough to throw the background well out of focus, and it is also sharper, which will make a difference with your camera.
Mad Dave said:
you really will need a little diffused flash to get a really good shot. Flash just gives a nice even, soft light - without it your shots will miss that certain something unless youre after a moody look.
allow me to say, in the words of Bacardi, "Poppycock" Almost any degree of fill in flash makes a picture look "unnatural" to me, at least it will if you are using an on camera flash. let me put forward the following examples of pictures taken outside without flash. IMHO the tones are much more natural, although you may have to look past the extra contrast i have given the pics
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