Portrait Photography

[407370]

Today was a national holiday in Qatar so what better way to spend the time trying out a form of photography that is totally foreign to me. After years of avoiding photographing people I tried my hand at a getting a good portrait of my teenage daughter. You know head, shoulders and braces.

First thing is that I was using a spare bedroom as the studio and the lighting left a lot to be desired. I played with filtering the on board flash with different kinds of paper and reflecting off ceiling and floor with different but sub standard results. I downloaded a few different portrait software trials and they all end up making her look like a plastic doll. The end result was a bit disappointing.

Any advice on getting a better portrait of my daughter would be greatly appreciated. Please bear in mind that I hate spending money so suggestions on how to manufacture required equipment from household items would be especially glorious to receive.

CHEERS

 

[tirediron]

It would help to see one or more of the images that you're not happy with to better understand how you could improve. As for lighting, why not move outside? It's been quite a few years since I've been to Doha, but I seem to remember that you guys pretty much had the market cornered on 'sun'! Take something like a thin sheet to act as a diffuser and maybe something for a reflector; there's no end of great locations in which to shoot.

 

[Big Mike]

Portraits are all about lighting. You use light to 'draw' the highlights and shadows on your subject's face.

A built-in flash will rarely be of any use. What you usually want is light that is hitting your subject from a side angle, usually from above.
You can do this with a camera mounted accessory flash, by bouncing it off of a wall. Or with some sort of off-camera light, or even with natural/ambient light, if you look around and position your subject carefully. Window light is often nice because the large light source makes the light soft, which gives softer shadows.

This really is a pretty deep topic, so we can't even begin to cover it here. Look for some tutorials and books etc. on 'portrait lighting'.

 

[Designer]

The main problem with the built-in flash is its close proximity to the lens. Since you have not mentioned a speedlight, I will assume that the BI flash is the only one for now.

If you can't get some good side light, such as from a window, try to direct MOST (if not all) of the light from the BI flash up toward a white ceiling. Or if the ceiling is not white enough, some large white card stock.

If you're going to try to direct the light upward, try some shiny foil in front of the BI flash. It won't be the most powerful light with all those bounces, but you might be lucky enough to get a fairly decent exposure.

Let us know if it works.

 

[Derrel]

Well, first off, keep it simple! Maybe look for a large source of light from the sky, but where she is in shade, such an under a tree, or at the edge of a building, or under an overhang or awning. Inside the house, work very near a window, and have her looking out, into the window's light. Use a large white towel, or something large, to reflect some light into the shadows. Shoot 3/4 and profile views of her. The on-board flash is not going to make flattering light.

Forget the skin softening programs and such. Do minor blemish retouching with the clone stamp tool.

Here is an informal teenage girl portrait I shot maybe 8 or 9 years ago, shooting with her standing in the shade of an overhanging roof, with bright sunlight behind her.

 

[407370]

Thanks for the quick responses.

Outside seems to be the way to go for me. I will have a go at the weekend (Fri and Sat).

My daughter had a bit too much sun yesterday and I did not want to mention this as the rest of the world seems to be going through another ice age.

Any other hints at low cost lighting alternatives?

 

[Designer]

O.K., here's another one:

Strong sunlight can be very problematic by making extremely harsh shadows. Open shade can be nice, but there is seldom any modeling light so then you get flat light AGAIN with the added "bonus" of getting "raccoon eyes" (eye sockets in deep shade).

Therefore; I suggest making a "scrim". Get some white cloth that is very open weave. Make a light-weight frame about 5 or 6 feet square or round. Fasten the fabric onto the frame. Ask someone to help by holding the scrim above your model so that sunlight goes through the fabric and onto the model's face. If you need light on the opposite side, make a reflector from a large sheet of white posterboard. Position the reflector to illuminate eye sockets and under the chin. Shoot. Oh, first ask the model to smile then shoot.

 

[407370]

O.K., here's another one:

Strong sunlight can be very problematic by making extremely harsh shadows. Open shade can be nice, but there is seldom any modeling light so then you get flat light AGAIN with the added "bonus" of getting "raccoon eyes" (eye sockets in deep shade).

Therefore; I suggest making a "scrim". Get some white cloth that is very open weave. Make a light-weight frame about 5 or 6 feet square or round. Fasten the fabric onto the frame. Ask someone to help by holding the scrim above your model so that sunlight goes through the fabric and onto the model's face. If you need light on the opposite side, make a reflector from a large sheet of white posterboard. Position the reflector to illuminate eye sockets and under the chin. Shoot. Oh, first ask the model to smile then shoot.

Now thats what I was looking for. Come to think of it I have 2 sun blocks I use to protect my car that have reflective surfaces that could be used.

 

[Steve5D]

It would really help to see some examples of what you got...

 

[407370]

My wife has issues about posting pictures of offspring but here is a picture of my brother taken with the same restrictions in the same room, this is unprocessed except sizing for the forum:


The things I see wrong are:

• shiny forehead / uneven lighting
• camera too close making his nose look huge
• overexposed at the top left and under exposed bottom right
• shadowy eye sockets

This was taken by reflecting the built in flash onto the ceiling by putting a bit of tin foil in a "L" shape in front of it.
I am planning another go concentrating on reflecting light to create shadow that is controlled and doing it outside.

 

[Steve5D]

It looks very... sterile...

 

[Designer]

My wife has issues about posting pictures of offspring but here is a picture of my brother taken with the same restrictions in the same room, this is unprocessed except sizing for the forum:
The things I see wrong are:

• shiny forehead / uneven lighting
• camera too close making his nose look huge
• overexposed at the top left and under exposed bottom right
• shadowy eye sockets

This was taken by reflecting the built in flash onto the ceiling by putting a bit of tin foil in a "L" shape in front of it.
I am planning another go concentrating on reflecting light to create shadow that is controlled and doing it outside.

Yes, you're too close. If you wish to experiment further with the built-in flash; find a sheet of white paper that will transmit some light. position that in front of the flash at an angle, and try again. What I expect to happen is that you will reflect some light toward the ceiling for overall illumination, and get some light directed toward your subject to lessen the dark eye sockets and other shadows. You'll need to experiment some to get just the right combination of reflectivity and transmissibility of the paper diffuser.

Get back away from the model some. This will help with perspective and light as well. You can crop the photo later on the computer to make a more pleasing composition.