Before we start - there's one massively important thing you need to know. Simple portraits almost always work best with out of focus background (and sometimes foreground) elements. This means you'll need a lens with a nice maximum aperture such as f/2 or under. Lenses that come with digital SLRs, known as the kit lenses, will usually have a maximum aperture of about f/4. This is not good enough for portraits!!!! The best option here is to get a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Canon's version is about $130 new and I think Nikon's is $170. This lens is the shit, go get one now!!!!!!!! The reason it is so cheap is that it doesn't zoom in and out - saving lots of effort for the manufacturers. As well as having a much wider aperture, it is much much sharper than your regular kit lenses. Anyway, enough about that..
I just shot a great example today of a simple but effective professional actor headshot portrait (that I was paid to take!). The rest of the shoot was strobed with external flash equipment, but I saw the opportunity to use natural light and took it:
There are some pretty basic rules for portraits that ensure you get a good shot. They're not by any means the only way to shoot a portrait - photography that breaks the rules is often the most amazing - but they will definitely help you get a great shot especially as a beginner.The first portrait rule I used is a wide aperture. I selected f/1.8 on aperture priority mode to ensure a narrow depth of field, this sends the background out of focus and brings focus towards the face of the subject. The background elements however were close enough to the camera to not appear as a complete blur - you can still see shapes and outlines which keeps interest. Hypothetically, I used f/1.2, the background may have been lost, and if I used f/2.5 it may have been sharper and distracting. You should do well with apertures around f/1.8 - f/3.5 when you're using a 50mm lens.
The second portrait rule I used is the positioning of light. Photos of people look most natural when light is falling across the face - usually looks good at about 45 degrees. I have positioned the subject here with an open window to the right, which allows nice soft ambient light to fall across the face. The backdrop is also relatively dark compared to the subject which is always a bonus. Always, always, always be on the lookout for where the light is falling when you're shooting natural light. 45 degrees is safe - but it can be fun trying out different angles too for different dramatic effect.
The third portrait rule I used is what is known as 'the rule of thirds'. This involves intentionally placing interesting elements in a photo at the intersections of lines at 1/3 from the top or bottom and sides of the shot:
You can see here the eyes are in line with the line 1/3 of the photo from the top. This is usually an extremely effective way to shoot a portrait. Check out Obama's official presidential portrait, same thing!
There are plenty of other compositional elements that photography lecturers could and would go on about here, but in my mind getting the basics right in this case made for a good shot. The shot isn't amazing or overly interesting, but it has a very professional look and has pleased the client.
So if you don't already have one, get a 50mm 1.8 and remember these three:
Wide Aperture
Position of Light
Rule of Thirds
Have a go shooting family members or my personal favourite, pets, for practice. Once you understand how to use wide aperture and position your light, feel free to openly break the rule of thirds as much as you like and go for some interesting and different shots.
Good luck!
Cheers
Tal
No comments:
Post a Comment