Dealing with portrait in natural lighting

chiyeung

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I brought my rebel xs to an event, and I wanted to take some photos for my friends.
However, I wish to do portrait work in the future with natural lighting, and I need some tips if any of you don't mind.

1.
5989989878_93a50c6327.jpg


I feel that the picture isnt sharp, and how do i deal with the brightness of the shirt? Should i just use photoshop?

The faces don't seem too in focus in either.

0.02 sec (1/50)
f/5.0
43 mm
400

What aperture, shutter speed is good for outdoor portraits?
 
a fast lens is good idea.. maybe go lower on your ss for sharp and low on your ff but not very low.. use also your exposure comp -+
 
You need to up your SS, 1/50 handheld is way to slow. I personally can't handhold below 1/100 without get motion blur.
 
How does one up SS?

What i am currently doing is setting my camera to M.

Setting my aperture to lets say f/5.6 and then focusing on my subject, i would change my shutterspeed until a "correct" exposure detected in my monitor.

How does one change the SS without affecting the exposure?
 
Hmm perhaps I should read the book 'understanding exposure' more.

Okay so i can use higher iso, and by large aperture do you mean like f/2.8
 
Yes, larger aperture is a lower number; smaller is higher. Think of it like piercing gauges.
 
I was recently in a really tough situation... I was taking portrait shots while a video camera was running. That meant no flash at all. Much like your shot, I needed to get a sharper shot with the existing light. I ended up shooting 1/100, f/4.0, and ISO 1600. I didn't want the ISO so high, but the very slight noise it introduced, I dealt with in post. Most importantly, it allowed me to control motion blur and keep it to a minimum. Another HUGE factor is whether the lens you're using has some kind of image stabilization. I selected my Sigma lens (see signature) because it has EXCELLENT stabilization and allows much lower shutter speeds in low light while maintaining a sharp image.

And, as always, any time you can use a tripod... do it.
 
What is the optimal setting for outdoor portraits?

Like lets say a nice day with lots of avaliable outdoor light.

No need for flash.

So we would have fast shutter speed 1/100+
Big aperture such as f/5.6
And low iso such as 100-200?

but as u said , for low light areas, we would bump up the iso and have a big aperture
 
For some reason that picture seems sharp. could change when blown up though. yes, relatively speaking on basic terms, you want something faster than 1/60.... iso at 100. as far as aperture, depends on the effect you want/background. Read that book. I have learned a tremendous amount just from that. And like always, practice man!
 
If it is a nice day (I assume you mean sunny/fairly bright) you would (potentially) get a SS of <1/800 for f/5.6 and ISO 100. Shooting at f/2.8 and ISO 100 I have got a SS of 1/3200 before. The problem with that is, you are probably take pictures at a less than ideal time of day for that.

I'd personally go for a SS of 1/200 or faster if you have enough light.
Still pick aperture based on the DoF you want, but if you notice you ISO getting to 800+ then I would start looking at trading off by changing the aperture, and after that dropping the SS as a last resort (a little grain is easier to handle than motion blur, and remember, Stabilisation is not going to be effective on a moving (even sitting still is "moving") subject.)

Also, just because it is bright enough doesn't mean you don't need a flash. A small amount of fill flash can do a lot for a picture sometimes.

An alternative to using Exposure Comp mentioned before is to meter off their skin instead of using evaluative.

Sticking with natural light, you will still need modifiers such as a reflector in a lot of situations to improve the lighting and give you more control.
 
I always use flash out door if it is a formal photoshoot. The reason is because I under-expose the background and flash fill the person. I also like to shoot "into the sun" so flash is a must for me.
 
Another quick question

How far does one usually shoot the subject? Lets say 50mm, how far would you place your camera within the subject?
 
chiyeung said:
Another quick question

How far does one usually shoot the subject? Lets say 50mm, how far would you place your camera within the subject?

How far away you want to be away from your subject depends on what your looking to make of the shot. If you want a close up, then get 5 feet away or 25 feet to get full body and a couple people in view.

I believe your English is bad from the way you type/seem, but that is a common sense question you asked. lol
 

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