Portraiture and your Photography Challenge for July
How hard can portraiture be??? Honestly it’s not that tricky if you can work with a few tricks up your sleeve. Depending on the age of the child/adult and knowing them well, will help you choose which incentives (I call it bribery) to get the job done.
My kids will do most things for a banana Paddle Pop. If I promise it, and they do as I ask, I will always give it to them. They’ve both mucked up at least once and they didn’t get it, so they soon learnt that I stick with what I say. My kids are 5 and 8. When I started the Paddle Pop (incentives) bribery they would have been 2 and 5. Start em young and train them early.
With other people’s children I use games, songs and play with them, as well as props to get the child/ren to relax, have fun with me so I can catch the laughter in their eyes. Also the promise of jellybeans at the end of the shoot (check with the parent first in case of sugar issues) usually does the trick. I try to stick with white ones as the colour ones always produce colour drool.
I often use a prop or two to keep little ones occupied while I shoot around them. It’s amazing how a little milk stool can be so interesting for a while.
f4.5 1/320 seconds ISO 400
Attention spans are short in kids, so keep things snappy and try to get it done as quickly as you can.
With babies/infants I use a crinkly biscuit tray that I have the parent scrunch just above the camera to get the baby to turn to the camera and focus on it.
f7.1 1/80 seconds ISO 400
With older children, it does get a bit trickier. And in this case I ask the parent before hand to have some incentive in place to help them get everyone thru the shoot happily. Often an explanation of why its being done in the first place can help them focus on the end result. Ie Christmas shoot, for the grandparents, a surprise, etc. A trip to the bakery can work.
For adults, it usually getting them to lean on something or use something as a prop to give their hands something to do is the trick. Blokes can hook a thumb in their pocket and have one foot over the other to get a fairly natural look.
f7.1 1/160th second ISO 640
Ladies could hold a bloom and inhale it for a shot. Play with their hair. They could lay on the front, back, side, or if older sit in a comfy chair. Just watch the angle of their legs to your camera. You don't want to be shooting in line up their dress. Have them shift their knees over a bit for a more demure look.
f7.1, 1/250 seconds. ISO 400
Most of all, it must be fun. No one wants to put up with a shoot that is just painful to get thru. If someone in the party that’s being photographed is unwell, particularly young ones, postpone the shoot if you can. They will look miserable in the shot and they are always hard work/difficult to get even a smile from. So don’t. It’s supposed to be fun, not stressful. And if the kids enjoy it this time, they will be happier to do as you ask next time.
The most important thing to remember is to focus on the eyes. These are the windows to the soul and it’s the first thing a viewer of your shot will look at. If the eyes are not in focus, then you’ve lost the importance of the shot. See if you can move the focus points around in your viewfinder so one of them rests on the subject’s eye closest to you. Try to avoid auto focus on a face as it will generally grab the nose and focus on that as its closer to the camera than the eyes. This is great chance to get your manuals out and read about focus points.
f9 1/160 second ISO 100
If you are outside shooting your portrait shot ALWAYS use your flash as a fill flash. This will lessen the depth of shadows on the faces and create catchlights in the eyes. You can also shoot with your camera facing the sun to create a rimlight or halo of light effect in the hair of your subject who has their back to the sun. But you must use the flash otherwise the face will come out black.
Late afternoon sun is very flattering side lighting and is the light is less harsh than during the middle of the day when the sun is overhead. The golden hour is the last hour of sun before sunset and the first hour after sunrise.
Now onto the camera.
Remember that tutorial on Aperture. It comes into play with portraiture. For a shot that only has a tiny bit in detail in focus and all the background blurred you want the aperture wide open which means f2.8 (small number=small focus)
f2.8 1/125 second ISO 125
If you’ve read thru the Landscape tutorial I mentioned that depending on the light you have available, f8 or f16 can be used for group shots. Why???? Larger the F number= larger the focus on the subject/s. Which is the same principle for Landscapes? :O)
I tend to bump up my ISO just a bit to keep my shutter faster than my lens to prevent camera shake. For example I use a 24-70mm lens for my portraiture work. I keep my shutter over 1/125 if I can to keep everything crisp. I don’t usually go over ISO400, but I will if I have to. Kids are fast and can move in and out of shot quickly, so the faster the shutter the better. I can deal with a slightly grainy shot, but there is nothing you can do to recover a blurry shot.
You can have a try in the Aperture (AV) zone. This will be the easiest way for you manipulate your depth of field by adjusting the f stop. The camera sorts out the shutter speed for you. Do a couple of test shots, and if they are blurry, up your ISO so the shutter can work faster.
For those who have point/shoot cameras, you actually have quite a selection at your disposal.
For one person, use the Lady’s head (portraiture) setting. For a group shot use the mountain (landscape) setting. Check if you have enough light with this one. With children on the go use the running man (sports) setting. Again, check you have enough light. If the photo is dull with either of these last two settings, your ambient light is too dull. Flick back to Auto and go for it.
There is nothing wrong with Auto. It’s a very safe fall back if you need it. I’m hoping to get you off Auto and get creative, but if all else fails rather than totally lose the shot/moment, go AUTO.
Everything here is applicable to Animal Portraiture as well. So if you have a favourite pet and they are less stress than the kids to get a shot with, go for it.
f5.6 1/800 second ISO 400
YOUR CHALLENGE PEOPLE IS SHOOT A PORTRAIT. Pop it up here on this tutorial thread with what camera settings you used. (right click on your image on your computer/properites/details. scroll down and all the info is there) I would like to know what f stop, what iso, what shutter.
If you ask I will critique the shot and offer suggestions for you.
YOUR COMPETITION PEOPLE IS TO load up your one best shot here in the July Challenge Gallery folder and you'll be in the running for a Scrap Therapy $25 Voucher which is valid for one month from announcement of the winner. And the winner will be announced with the rest of the July challenge winners on the first Friday of August.
...so my pic will be of our animals.
) and we really notice the difference in how settled he is.