Today I just wanted to touch base and post a few tips for outdoor portraits There are three very simple things that improve all photography, including portraits. To this day, there is no trick I have found that replaces the need for proper exposure, white balance, and sharp focus. Today’s digital cameras have less exposure latitude than a roll of Kodak gold film. In-camera metering systems have become much more advanced, but the sensors still lack the seven ƒ-stop exposure latitude that negative film has. 1) Never select all of the focus points for portraits, pick one. 2) Always focus on the eyes. 3) Shoot wide open for shallow depth of field. 4) Never, ever, shoot a portrait at less than 50mm; try to stay at 70mm or higher. 5) Always shoot in RAW. (I do not always follow this rule, though I have heard it is the best option) 6) Always bring a gray card or a piece of a gray card for white balance. 7) Shoot in the shade (Avoid direct sunlight) {personally I think this is the best advice} 8) Shooting carefully on an overcast day. Natures softbox is a giant blanket of clouds. A good heavy blanket of cloud cover can help you enrich your colors, and make some very smooth and pleasing shadows. 9) If you must use hot, hard, bright light… Always try to control the direction, use some kind of reflector, and try to mimic a studio light. Putting the sun directly behind your subject isn’t a good idea, unless you are trying to make a silhouette. When the sun is at my back, I have the subject look off camera (away from the sun) and get very nice results. 10) Use an existing reflector. 11) Learn the sunny ƒ16 rule. Why? So you have a baseline for proper exposure in your mind to work with if no other tools are present. The sunny ƒ16 rule states that on a sunny day, with your aperture value set to ƒ16, your shutter speed will be the inverse of the current ISO speed. For example, if your camera is set to ISO 100, and your aperture value is ƒ16, your shutter speed will be 1/100th of a second. On a cloudy day (or when in the shade) you simply use ƒ8 instead. If you own either an incident light meter, or gray card use either for the most accurate exposure instead. (Note: the procedure for metering exposure with a gray card is not the same as a custom white balance.) 12) Bring a sheet and a few spring clamps from home. Leave the expensive 200 thread count sheets on the bed. You already got them? Well go put them back. You know that cheap old sheet you stuck in the corner of a closet to use as a drop cloth the next time you paint? Go get it. (Another option is to buy the cheapest, lowest thread count, white top sheet you can find.) A queen size sheet is an amazing, cheap, diffuser. Sort of a sever foot soft box for the sun. Wrap an edge of the sheet around a branch or clothes line and clamp for a side light. (Anchor the bottom corners with rocks to keep it from blowing into your image.) Clamp all four corners to anything you can above your subject for an overhead light. 13) Keep the power-lines and signs out! We have already discussed keeping your camera focused on the eyes; keep your mind focused on the image as a whole. Power lines, signs, long single blades of grass, single pieces of garbage, sometimes even trees can be serious distractions from the overall focus of the image… The person you are photographing. Last, and most important, have a great time shooting, enjoy what you’re doing and it will show in your work, and the expression of your subject. I hope these tips have helped you as much as they have me as spring rolls around and you get outdoors taking photographs
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 15:24:05 +0000
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