Portrait Photography

hopessence · Apr 23, 2012

Hi all! Just getting started into some portrait photography and am particularly drawn to the outdoor/natural lighting bright ones (kinda like this).

Few questions on achieving this type of "look":

1. What do I need for the lighting to look like this (is it necessary to buy a diffuser)? I feel like sunshine would be great, but am also concerned it would just too bright and blow out the picture.
2. If I wanted to take a picture with more of the subject (i.e. the subject is zoomed out more, like in a waist and up photo), how do I get bokeh in the background? What setting and zoom/lens would be ideal? I only have a 17-50 and 55-200 lens.
3. Any tips on settings/lenses for portraits where only one part of the face is in focus and the rest is slightly unfocused (like how the eyes are in focus, but the chin is not)? Does this occur pretty naturally when you're zoomed in?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice/insight!

enzodm · Apr 23, 2012

hopessence said:
3. Any tips on settings/lenses for portraits where only one part of the face is in focus and the rest is slightly unfocused (like how the eyes are in focus, but the chin is not)?

very large apertures, e.g. f/1.4-2.

Derrel · Apr 23, 2012

Sidelighting for accent. Telephoto lens like a 300mm f/4, ideally. 200mm f/2.8 in a pinch. Large area of sky-light behind the photographer's back. Careful exposure control. Close camera-to-subject distance provides minimum depth of field. very tightly-framed shots minimize the amount of background shown. The key with "consumer: lenses like 15-55 and 55-200 is to shoot from CLOSE distances, and have the backdrops be rather far behind the subject. On a tightly-frames kid pic like this with the 55-200 at 200mm and f/5.6, the background will be mostly out of focus.

Mrgiggls · Apr 23, 2012

Early morning late evening light is king. It makes skin look better than harsh white noon-day light.
Bokeh is a function of your aperture and the distance your background is from your subject.
For really shallow DoF you'll want as big an aperture as possible and get close. A 50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 is good for that.

1000_Islander · Apr 23, 2012

From the image EXIF the photographer (Keith Pitts Photography) used a Canon 5D which is a full frame DSLR with a Canon 85mm f1.8 lens, shot at f2.2
Reading that should give you some input into how a shot like that is captured.
If you are at the 'just getting started' stage in photography I would strongly suggest getting a few books, including one on basics and one on portraiture. It will actually save you considerable time, dissatisfaction and money in the long run.

TacotheTurtle · Apr 23, 2012

Large apertures can help you get a certain part in focus and everything else blurred. 50mm f/1.8 are usually nice and on the cheaper side. Get in real close and you can achieve that kind of focus.

DiskoJoe · Apr 23, 2012

Simple shot with a 50mm on an aps-c as long as you can get the kid to hold still long enough.

kundalini · Apr 23, 2012

Welcome.

hopessence said:
1. What do I need for the lighting to look like this (is it necessary to buy a diffuser)? I feel like sunshine would be great, but am also concerned it would just too bright and blow out the picture.

I really should pick another time to do test shots and experiments, but Sunday (Bloody Mary Sunday) mornings are usually when I have the time and inclination. With a blind draw from a deck of cards, I pulled out a 4 (Clubs if I remember correctly). So with that, I mounted the 70-200mm on the D300 and set it to f/4 @ 90mm to get this head shot. It was a very bright morning and around noon. Can't get much worse for ambient lighting.

Knowing full well I (the subject) would be blown out, I still wanted to see how the background would look in comparison at my camera's x-sync (1/250s). To my delight, it was acceptable.

Next I hand held a 2-stop diffuser in between me and the sun. although I'm not looking too impressive, I think the resultant is. A quite useable image.

Next I added a hot shoe mounted flash. I don't remember the settings, but it could easily have been on TTL.

The diffuser brought the image out of over exposure and the flash brought it out of under exposure.

That's my lesson for the day. Yes, a diffuser and a reflector are valuable tools and a flash is more important than a bright shiny new lens.

Hope this helps some.
..

EDIT:
Anyone know why the thumbnail shows at the bottom of my post?

MReid · Apr 23, 2012

Natural light cloudy day, looks like noise was added and contrast reduced. Large aperture.
Looks like could be film or film effect.

KmH · Apr 23, 2012

If you uploaded an attachment, but subsequently deleted it you'll get an 'Attached Thumbnails' box like that in your post. If you edit your post in Advanced mode, under the text box you'll see an area titled 'Manage Attachments'. Click on that.

At the bottom of the dialog box that pops up, hover your cursor over the upper right corner of the Attached Thumbnail in the bottom left corner of the box to reveal the 'delete' x. Click the x to delete the attachment.

KmH · Apr 23, 2012

The trouble with outdoor, so called natural lighting is that it is inconsistant, and the photographer has littel control over it.

Consequently, a lot of time is wasted waiting for the light to 'get right'.

By using strobed light (flash), reflectors, diffusers, and sundry other lighting aids, the photographer can have a lot of control, and can shoot just about anytime of day they want.