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How to Build a Bench Prop for Great Portrait Photos

23 May

The post How to Build a Bench Prop for Great Portrait Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

When I got started with family and child photography, I thought I had all my bases covered. Between my cameras, lenses, locations, and shot lists, I figured I was all set to create some amazing portraits that families would treasure for generations. Then I ran head-first into a practical problem for which I didn’t really have a good solution; where do people sit? All the camera gear in the world won’t help on location with no place for parents, kids, or high school seniors to sit and pose for their pictures. I finally made my own solution, which has performed flawlessly, and it’s something you can make in an afternoon with a few tools you might already have in your garage.

Before I built benches like this, I tried to use things I had around, such as bar stools, folding chairs, and even our living room coffee table. None of these really worked well or looked very professional. Once I realized I could construct my own bench props, my portraits improved almost immediately.

This tutorial is going to cover a sturdy single-person bench 16 inches high, 16 inches deep, and 18 inches wide. This design is easy to customize if you want something wider, deeper or shorter, but it’s a great place to start if you’re looking for a simple one-person option.

This boy is on a wider version of the bench you’ll build in this tutorial.

Materials needed

The wood and hardware you need to construct a photo bench are pretty minimal:

Two 2×4’s, 8-feet long
3/4-inch thick wood, 8-feet long and 11-inches wide. I like to use low-grade utility shelving but any similar wood will work just fine.
1.5-inch Deck Screws
A saw to cut the wood

The boards on the right, plus some screws, are all you need to build the bench on the left. It’s an easy afternoon project and your clients will appreciate having this highly practical prop. I spent about $ 40 on the four pieces of wood at a local lumber yard.

The following tools will help you with the construction process, but your own situation might be different. These are what I used, but feel free to adapt as necessary. For instance, you could use a circular saw instead of a miter saw. This is a fun project to do with someone else, so if you don’t have any of these tools, you could ask a friend for help.

Miter saw
Table saw
Drill
Sandpaper or electric sander
Kreg Jig*
Kreg Jig screws 2.5-inches in length with coarse threads*
If you don’t use a Kreg Jig, you will need additional deck screws 2.5-inches in length.
Wood glue (optional)

A table saw is really useful for ripping the utility shelving to a uniform width of 3 inches.

*A Kreg Jig is a staple of a lot of DIY projects, but if you don’t have one already you probably don’t need to buy one just for this photo bench. Traditional wood screws will suffice just fine.

A view of the bench from below. You could probably construct it out of thinner, lighter materials but it would be far less durable.

Phase 1: Cut the wood

For this photo bench you will need to cut the following pieces of wood in the lengths listed below.

A miter saw makes this project a lot easier, but other cutting tools would suffice just fine too.

2×4 boards, 7.5-inches long – 5 pieces
2×4 boards, 15-inches long – 4 pieces
2×4 boards, 15.5-inches long – 4 pieces
3/4-inch thick boards, 3-inches wide and 16-inches long – 8 pieces
3/4-inch thick boards, 3-inches wide and 18-inches long – 12 pieces

It’s a lot easier to cut everything first and then assemble the bench all at once.

Phase 2: Build the frame

If you have a Kreg Jig, you can use it here to construct the frame of the bench. But if not, you can just use traditional screws. If you want to have an extra-secure hold, you could use wood glue at the joints as well, but it’s not necessary. I would recommend against using nails though, as they’re going to wiggle loose over time and you want this bench to be as sturdy as possible.

A Kreg Jig is really useful but not necessary.

If you’re going with this method you’ll need to use your Kreg Jig to drill two pocket holes in each end of the 15-inch, 2×4 boards.

15-inch boards with two pocket holes in each end.

When you’re done putting pocket holes in the 15-inch boards you’ll repeat the process with the 7-inch boards.

7-inch boards with two pocket holes in each end.

Once your pocket holes are ready you can start assembling the frame of the bench. Secure a 15.5-inch board to each end of one of the 15-inch boards to make a U-shape.

This shape will form one side of the bench.

Repeat the process with the other two 15.5-inch board and another 15-inch board. When you’re done you will have two identical U-shapes.

Both sides of the bench, not yet attached to each other.

If you don’t have a Kreg Jig, or don’t want to go to the trouble of using pocket holes, you can use regular screws to attach the 15.5-inch boards to the 15-inch board. As long as you end up with two U-shaped pieces as shown above, you’ll be just fine.

After you get the U-shapes constructed, attach the other 15-inch board on the open end, but rotate it 90-degrees as shown below.

Attach the second 15-inch board to the open side of each U-shape.

Repeat this step with the other U-shape, which will give you two of these square pieces as you can see in the following image.

These form the sides of the bench, and you’ll need to attach them by first securing all the 7-inch boards to one side.

I find it easiest to attach all five of the 7-inch boards to one side, and then attach that entire assembly to the other side.

Again, I like to use a Kreg Jig and pocket holes, but you can just as easily use regular deck screws to do this. Don’t worry too much about appearances either, as if you use deck screws you won’t really see them in the finished product. They will be covered up with the slats you will attach in Phase 3.

The finished frame, upside down on my table saw which doubles as a small workbench.

If you do end up using pocket holes, you might find yourself working in some really cramped conditions when you insert the screws. A right-angle attachment for your drill can be a huge lifesaver in this step! Once you’re all done, flip the contraption over, and you’re all set for attaching the slats to the sides.

The brace in the middle gives the bench an extra measure of support. Kids can jump on this thing all day long and it won’t be harmed.

It’s important to know that this bench is designed to be sturdy as well as aesthetically pleasing, as you can see in the photo above. You might be able to find something similar at a store but it probably won’t be built this solidly. Also, it won’t stand up to years of use and abuse.

Note also the extra 7-inch board on top, which you can see in the above photo. This helps give even more structural support to the bench so it won’t buckle under the weight of people using it over the years.

Phase 3: Attach the slats

Once you have the basic frame built, you can get a little creative in how you want to finish everything off. I like to attach the boards about 1/2-inch apart, but you can space yours closer or farther. I wouldn’t go too far though, especially on the top where people will be sitting.

Attaching the boards is pretty simple: just place them where you want them to go and attach with deck screws. Other types of screws would work too, but I like deck screws because they are self-tapping and hold very firmly. Nails might work for this step, but I prefer deck screws because of their firmer hold.

I like to use four slats on each side as well as the top and space them about a 1/2-inch apart. But, this is also up to you. You might use fewer boards and make them wider. Or you may use several thin boards, or one giant board covering the entire surface. It’s up to you, and don’t be afraid to get a little creative. In this example, the 18-inch boards get attached to the front, top, and rear while the 16-inch boards go on the sides.

Drilling pilot holes will extend the work time required for this step, but it helps ensure the wood doesn’t crack and split when you insert the screws. When finished, all the basic work is done.

In the background, you can see a bench with some holes I cut out to make it easier to carry.

I recommend sanding the entire bench to smooth out any rough edges. If you have a jig saw you can cut holes for carrying as you can see in the photo above.

Phase 4: Finishing

Now that you’ve constructed the basic bench, the sky is your only limit in terms of how you want the final product to look. I like to use tea-staining, which is inexpensive, non-toxic, and gives a lovely aged look to the wood. The results are inconsistent though, so you might prefer actual wood stain or even paint.

This is your chance to customize the look of your bench, so have fun and get creative!

Your clients will appreciate having a nice place to sit, stand, or otherwise pose when you are taking their pictures. And as a bonus, they’ll be doubly impressed when you tell them you made the bench all by yourself!

We’d love to see some pictures of your bench once you build it. Please share with us in the comments below.

The post How to Build a Bench Prop for Great Portrait Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

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7 Steps to Perfect White Portrait Backgrounds in the Studio

22 Apr

The post 7 Steps to Perfect White Portrait Backgrounds in the Studio appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

Photographing subjects on a white background is one of those things that looks easy from the outside. However, once you start digging into the details, it turns out it’s not quite as simple as it seemed at first glance.

Unfortunately, being able to shoot on a white background is one of the most useful skills for you to have in all sorts of photography including portraits and still life. Even if you hate it stylistically, you will eventually have plenty of people ask you for a pure white background.

When you get the technique right, there are a whole host of things you can easily do with your photos, such as cutting your subjects out for composites. Even when your technique isn’t perfect, there are a host of post-processing options to get you, and your images, there in the end.

However, this article outlines a process to help you get perfect results straight out of the camera every time. If you’re handling a high volume of images – whether that be portraits or products – this may save you countless hours in post-production.

What you need

You will need a few lights for this technique. In this example, there are three lights and a reflector.

To get started with shooting on a white backdrop in a studio, you will need a few things.

At least two studio strobes with modifiers or flashguns (three or four would be preferable and will make your life easier). Softboxes are the easiest option for your background lights.
A light-colored backdrop. White is preferable, but this technique will work easily with anything up to mid-grey. It is more than possible to do it with darker backdrops but to avoid complications, stay light when you can.
Space. You will need space to get the best results. As described below, you will need to keep enough room between your subject and the background to help prevent spill from the background lights falling on your subject. For portraits, this could easily take ten to fifteen feet of space in addition to the distance you are from the subject. For smaller subjects, space is much less of an issue.
(Optional) A light meter. Because we’re dealing with moderately precise ratios, a light meter will help you here. You can get by without one, but it does make it easier.

Step One – Choose your aperture

Before you do anything with your lights or your subject, the first step in this process is to choose the aperture you want to shoot at. This choice is going to be the basis for everything else you do in this process. Anything from f/8 to f/4 is a good bet for studio portraits, but you can choose anything you like. Your only real limitation here is the power output of your lights.

If you choose f/11, then your backgrounds lights will need to be set at least two stops brighter, which would be f/22. You may struggle to achieve that with low-powered strobes. If that’s the case, then you will have to choose a larger aperture for your final image.

For the remainder of this article, the chosen aperture will be f/5.6.

Step Two – Light your background

When lighting your background, take the time to ensure that it is evenly lit. This will ensure that all of your background is white with no darker tones creeping into the sides and corners.

Once you know your aperture, the next step is to set up your background light(s). If you can, use large, directional modifiers like softboxes. This will help prevent excess light spilling where you don’t want it. It will also help to ensure that the background is evenly lit from top to bottom, preventing any inconsistencies in exposure in your final images.

Place your lights on either side of your backdrop and pointed towards it at a forty-five-degree angle. Try to position them so that you get even coverage.

Step three – Set the exposure for your background lights

The easiest way to find the exposure for you background is to use a light meter. Don’t worry if you don’t have one, you can still chimp the histogram to make sure it’s overexposed.

With your lights positioned, all you have to do is set the power so that the camera will record your background as pure white. Your background needs to be at least two or three stops brighter than your subject. Because the hypothetical aperture we’re using is f/5.6, that means the backgrounds lights should be at f/16 for three stops of exposure difference.

If you’re using a meter, be sure to check the exposure at the top and bottom of the background and not just the middle.

Step four – Place your subject for a test

On the left, the subject is too close to the background and the light is wrapping around her and lighting her front. Placed a few feet further away, the subject is rendered as a silhouette. (The detail in the darker image is from the overhead fluorescent that I hadn’t turned off yet.)

To figure out where your subject needs to stand, or be placed, put them in front of the background and take a test shot with only the background lights on. If they are far enough away from the background, your subject should be in perfect silhouette, and there should be no light falling on them or wrapping around them in any way.

Where there is light falling on your subject, just move them further away from the backdrop until you achieve that perfect silhouette.

If your exposure is right, you should have no details in your background and no details in your subject.

Because you are lighting a white (therefore reflective) surface, your background is effectively a light source and acts like one. The light from your backgrounds will fall off at a rate governed by the inverse square law. What you are trying to do is to place your subject in a place where the light level drops enough that it has no effect on your subject at your desired aperture.

Step four (part 2) – Flag your background lights

To ensure light isn’t going where you don’t want it, flag your background lights. Here, I’ve used black fabric and covered all but the section of background that will be in the photos.

It may be that you can’t achieve a perfect silhouette of your subject for some reason. This issue can arise from not having enough space to work in, or it could be that your modifiers are producing too much spill. One way to combat this is to flag your lights.

Flagging simply means to block light from where you don’t want it. You can do this in any way that you want. V-flats and black curtains (as in the example images) are both cheap and effective ways to flag your light.

Simply place your preferred flags in a manner that blocks excess light from coming back towards the camera, but doesn’t interfere with the part of the background that will wind up in your composition.

Step 5 – Place your key light

Once the background lights are done, you can light your subject in any way you want.

Now that your background is lit and you know where your subject needs to be, you just need to light your subject. All you have to do is place your light any way that you desire (any lighting pattern will work), and set the power to your desired aperture (f/5.6 in the examples).

Unlike the background lights, you don’t have to worry about what any excess light from your key light is doing. Because you are so far away from the background with a light set to a much lower power, it will have little to no effect on the final exposure of the background. However, do pay attention to what the light is doing off to the sides. If it’s firing into a nearby white wall or another light-colored surface, then that surface will act as a reflector in your images.

Step 6 – Add fill (optional)

Use fill lighting to reduce the impact of heavy shadows in your images. You can use another light if you wish, or a reflector as shown here.

If you want to add a fill light to your set-up, you can now do that as normal. You can fill with another strobe, or you can use a reflector as shown in the example images. The main thing to remember about fill light is that it should be at least one stop lower in power than your key light.

Step 7 – Check your final exposure

With everything set-up, you should have a perfect white background straight out of the camera.

With everything in place, take a test shot at your desired aperture. If your key and fill lights are in your desired position, everything should be spot on and you should now have an image with a perfectly white background straight out of the camera.

That’s it

This isn’t a hard technique, but it does require a fair few steps and a lot of attention to detail. Don’t be put off by any of that. Once you’ve set it up a few times, it will become second nature very quickly. You will also be able to learn how to set it up in a few minutes, potentially saving you a ridiculous amount of time post-processing backgrounds that aren’t perfectly white.

The post 7 Steps to Perfect White Portrait Backgrounds in the Studio appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

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So You Have No Model? Here are Ways to Practice Your Portrait Lighting With Toys

01 Apr

The post So You Have No Model? Here are Ways to Practice Your Portrait Lighting With Toys appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.

Portrait lighting can be tricky to learn.

After reading articles and watching tutorials about light, you’ll excitedly look for a person to practice on. Although, once you finally have a person in front of your camera your mind goes blank and nothing is as easy as those tutorials made it seem. You forget all that information you’ve been overloaded with and feel foolish in front of your ‘model.’ Worst case scenario, you’ll become discouraged and give up.

Superman was always my favorite.

But there is a way to practice basic portrait lighting techniques and build your confidence before photographing people. You can practice portrait lighting with toys until you feel comfortable enough to experiment with people.

You’ll learn how to position your subject and light source without the stress of working with a real person.

Once you understand the basic principles of portrait lighting your confidence will grow and you can keep learning new techniques and refining your skills.

Also, who doesn’t want an excuse to play with toys again?

Choosing the right toy

Choose a toy with a human figure so that what you learn can transfer easily when you photograph real people. Try to find one with pronounced facial features so that there will be realistic shadows created.

Your toy should have some texture too. This is important because it helps you to see how the light affects your subject. As light skims across a textured surface, it will create highlights and shadows, which will help your portrait to pop. Everybody who sits in front of your camera will be textured (hair, skin, and clothes).

This Superman toy has lots of texture and muscular looking features. His face has pronounced features that mimic a real person’s face.

Using a flashlight (hard light source)

Quality of light refers to the hardness or softness of the light.

A general rule is that the smaller the light source, the harder the light will be. This means that there will be deep, crisp shadows. The larger the light source, the softer the light will be. The difference between the shadows and highlights will be much less intense.

I’ll begin by using a flashlight as a hard light source. The basic lighting patterns will be easier to see with hard light.

In each of these sample photos, we’ll focus on the direction of light and what happens as we move the light around.

Front
Rembrandt
Side/split
Edge
Back/silhouette
Uplighting

I kept my Superman figure in one place and simply moved the light around it.

The first image is the lighting set up and the second image is the portrait.

Front light

The light is placed directly in front of your subject. It’s a little higher than his eye level.

You can see that he is evenly lit with a crisp shadow under his neck created by his jawline.

Rembrandt light

This is a classic lighting pattern named after the painter, Rembrandt. Reposition the light so that it hits your subject on a 45-degree angle. It’s still a little above eye level.

The left side of his face becomes shadowy, but there is a triangle of light under his eye.

Side light/Split light

The light has now been positioned directly beside him.

The light now only illuminates one side of him. His face is split between shadow and highlight.

Edge light

Swing the light around so that it shines over his shoulder.

The only light that we can see now is the edge of his face, shoulder, and arm.

Backlight

Put the light right behind your subject.

This is similar to the edge light effect except that the light is directly behind him now. If the light source were larger (perhaps a sunset sky) there would be more of a silhouette effect. But the dark background has created a very mysterious look for this low key portrait.

This is the exact same lighting situation except that I increased my ISO to make a brighter exposure.

Uplight

To achieve this dramatic looking portrait I placed the light at his feet and shone it up toward his face. Uplighting is sometimes referred to as ‘monster lighting.’

Using a window (soft light source)

Now that we’ve seen how light can be used with a harsh source, let’s look at the same techniques with more subtle soft lighting.

In this case, we can’t move our light source, so we’ll have to move the subject in relation to the window.

We’ll cover:

Front
Rembrandt
Side/split
Edge
Back/silhouette

Front light

The window is right behind me, shining directly on Superman.

Rembrandt light

The window is beside him, but notice that I place him back from the window a bit.

The right side of his face becomes shadowy except for that triangular patch of light under his eye.

Side light

I’ve now moved him forward so that the window is directly beside him.

The light splits his face and body into a highlight on one side and shadow on the other.

Edge light

You can see the window behind him on the left side of the photo. It’s behind him but off to the side so that it illuminates the edge of his head, shoulder, and arm.

Backlight/silhouette

The window is directly behind him. Because it is such a large, bright light source the portrait has become a silhouette.

Creative

Because I wasn’t working with a real person, I felt comfortable experimenting with some creative lighting. The more I relaxed and the longer I practiced, the more I began to notice interesting lighting situations.

The glare on the table acted as a backlight source, creating a silhouette. The light from the window became an edge light source, tracing his upper body and making it stand out from the dark background.

This is the window edge light photo from above. I cropped the window out and used a radial filter in Lightroom to make that subtle burst of warm light in the top left corner of the photo.

Two light sources

Let’s look at a three-step progression from one light to two.

The glare on the desk is from a window in the background. It’s a backlight source that has created a silhouette.

I decided to set up my flashlight again to add some light on his face.

Finally, I turned his body more toward the flashlight to illuminate his chest but turned his face back toward the camera to create a split light effect across his face.

More advanced

The leap from practicing with toys to photographing real people may still be a little uncomfortable, but at least you’ll have some success behind you. Just focus on one thing at a time. Use a window to make a soft Rembrandt light portrait of a friend. Or try a dramatic split light photo using off-camera flash.

Once you feel comfortable with the basic lighting techniques we’ve covered you can practice these more advanced techniques using real people:

Clamshell
Butterfly, loop, Rembrandt
1, 2, 3, or 4 lights

And when you’re seriously ready to go pro with your lighting you’ll need to read, How to Create Awesome Portrait Lighting with a Paper Bag an Elastic Band and a Chocolate Donut.

The post So You Have No Model? Here are Ways to Practice Your Portrait Lighting With Toys appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.

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Portrait Photographers: Do You Really Need a 70-200mm Lens?

26 Mar

The post Portrait Photographers: Do You Really Need a 70-200mm Lens? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

For many portrait photographers, the 70-200mm f/2.8 lens is considered the key to great results. This lens seems like it covers all the bases that any portrait photographer would want: wide aperture, a range of good focal lengths, and excellent build quality. It’s the cornerstone of many portrait photography workflows – and with good reason too – but it also comes with a hefty price tag (nikon, canon, sony). The question, then, for many amateur and semi-professional portrait photographers becomes: do you really need a lens like this to get good portraits? The answer might surprise you.

Nikon D7100, 50mm f/1.8 lens. Shot at f/2.4, 1/3000th second.

Whenever you are thinking about buying new gear, it’s wise to perform a needs assessment. This can help you figure out exactly what you can do with your current camera equipment, what you want to do, and whether a new purchase is required to bridge that gap. You can do this using a variety of methods, but a good way to start is to ask yourself some simple questions such as:

What camera lenses do I currently have?
What kind of portraits do I want to take?
Do I know how to use my lenses to get those portraits?
If not, can I learn to use my lenses differently instead of buying new gear?
In what ways are my current lenses limiting my portraits?
What lens would be best for the portraits I would like to be able to take?

Nikon D7100, 35mm f/1.8 lens. Shot at f/3.3, 1/90th second.

Perhaps your current lenses are lacking in specific areas such as the ability to shoot in lower light, overall sharpness, or autofocus speed. In that case, it might be a good idea to look at upgrading your gear. However, it is also entirely possible that the lenses you have are just fine for portraits and you don’t need new lenses at all.

If you do decide to drop some cash on a new lens, you might think that a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens is the be-all, end-all, ultimate goal to start saving for. Also, in many respects, you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. However, you can get outstanding results with other lenses too and save a massive amount of money in the process. Here are some other lenses worth considering that produce excellent portraits for a lot less money.

Note: While I mostly mention Nikon and Canon lenses throughout this article, you can also get the same types of lenses for other systems like Sony, Olympus, Fuji, Panasonic, Pentax, and more.

The Power of the 50mm Prime

One of the most amazing lenses you can get for portraits is a humble 50mm f/1.8. The Nikon version is around $ 200 and the Canon retails for about $ 125, and there are plenty of third-party options available as well.

These little workhorses, sometimes called the Nifty Fifty or Fantastic Plastic due to the nature of their construction, can produce absolutely breathtaking results. In some ways, they are actually better than a two-thousand-dollar 70-200mm f/2.8 pro-grade lens. A 50mm f/1.8 lens has more light-gathering ability which means lower ISO values or faster shutter speeds in low light, as well as shallow depth of field.

Autofocus speed on these lenses isn’t going to win any awards, nor are they designed to take a beating or function in the rain and snow. However, they shoot great images in low light, and their wide apertures let you get the type of creamy bokeh you might have always wondered about but never been able to achieve with your kit lens.

Nikon D200, 50mm f/1.8 lens. Shot at f/1.8, 1/250th second.

If you’re the type of person who delights in pixel-peeping or poring over MTF charts, you might turn up your nose at an inexpensive 50mm f/1.8 lens. That’s not the point of a lens like this though, and what they lack in technical specs they more than make up for with sheer results. Also, at less than one-tenth the cost of a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, their price-to-performance ratio is almost impossible to beat.

Nikon D7100, 50mm f/1.8 lens. Shot at f/4, 1/350 second.

The Mighty 85

One downside to shooting with a 50mm lens is that you won’t get much background compression. Your subjects won’t appear any closer to the background elements in the shot. While you can use an f/1.8 aperture to make the background blurry, it won’t zoom in much which is one advantage of a lens with a longer focal length. If that’s what you’re looking for, then an 85mm lens might fit the bill quite nicely.

Nikon D7100, 85mm f/1.8 lens. Shot at f/2.8, 1/350th second.

An 85mm f/1.8 lens is going to cost about two to three times what you would pay for a 50mm f/1.8 – around the $ 400 mark for both the Nikon and Canon.

In exchange, you’re going to get a hefty piece of equipment that is a little sharper, a little faster to focus, and will give you a bit more flexibility in terms of your portraiture. Its longer focal length will make it seem like backgrounds are just a bit closer to your subject.

In addition to their ability to get super blurry backgrounds when shooting at wide apertures, this could be the answer you are seeking.

Nikon D7100, 85mm f/1.8 lens. Shot at f/2.8, 1/750th second.

The 85mm focal length is ideal for many portraiture situations. I know professional photographers who choose to shoot with an 85mm lens instead of a 70-200 f/2.8 lens. 85mm lenses are smaller, lighter, and often just as capable as their big brothers.

Moreover, when you shoot at f/1.8, you can blur the background even more than a more expensive f/2.8 lens when shooting at similar focal lengths. While it’s true that the f/1.8 versions aren’t going to be as tack-sharp as their f/1.4 or f/1.2 counterparts, it’s hard to beat the value you get for your money.

Go wide with a 35

While many people tend to think of longer focal lengths as being best suited for portraits, you can get good results with a wider lens too. The 35mm focal length is close to what our human eyes see and can help you capture in-the-moment shots that are highly sought after by many people who want portraits. You can get up close and personal with a 35mm lens, shoot in low light conditions, and even achieve the buttery-smooth bokeh that you have always been craving.

Nikon D7100, 35mm f/1.8 lens. Shot at f/1.8, 1/1000th second.

Best of all, 35mm lenses are so cheap that you’re never going to break the bank with the Nikon coming in at around $ 200. Canon doesn’t offer a first-party 35mm lens but the excellent 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens is almost the same and even less expensive at about $ 175. My favorite part about a 35mm lens is that you can use it to get intimate images the likes of what a 70-200 f/2.8 could only dream of.

Nikon D750, 35mm f/1.8 lens. Shot at f/4, 1/90th second.

For years I shot almost exclusively with a 35mm lens on my full-frame camera. It was a constant companion of mine on everything from formal portraits to casual everyday shots. In fact, one of the biggest reasons I now use a Fuji X100F for almost all of my photos is because it’s basically the same as using a 35mm lens on a full-frame camera but in a much smaller package.

I wouldn’t go so far as to do entire portrait sessions with only a 35mm lens, but if you’re considering a way to upgrade your kit you might be surprised at how much mileage you can get out of this lens. I would even go so far as to say that you’d be wise to have it even if you do opt for a 70-200mm f/2.8, simply because it’s nice to have the flexibility of shooting at a wider angle when you really need it.

Nikon D7100, 35mm f/1.8 lens. Shot at f/4, 1/45th second with an external flash.

The main takeaway here, before I get to an examination of the 70-200mm f/2.8, is that you can do a lot with other lenses. Whether it’s one of these less-expensive primes or a more professional-grade lens like the Canon 85mm f/1.2 or the Nikon 105mm f/1.4 or any number of other lenses especially from third parties like Sigma and Tamron, the point is you don’t always need the heft and focal range of a 70-200mm f/2.8.

But sometimes you do.

70-200mm f/2.8: The Jack-of-all-trades

It’s impossible for me to say whether any individual photographer needs one of these lenses, but I can say that they are extremely useful in a variety of situations. They are professional-grade lenses designed to meet the demands of a variety of situations, especially for portrait photographers. If you really can’t get your work done with the gear you have, and if one of the other lenses I’ve already discussed isn’t going to meet your needs, then a 70-200mm f/2.8 might fit the bill quite nicely.

Nikon D750, 70-200 f/2.8 lens. Shot at 200mm, f/3.3, 1/250th second.

There are many times in which these lenses can outperform a lot of other options.

If you find yourself in situations like this, then a 70-200mm f/2.8 could be just what you’re after.

They are great for things like:

Fast-moving subjects who just won’t sit still. In other words…when you are photographing portraits of kids outdoors.
Full-body portraits where you want a nice blurry background
Subjects that are far away and you need to zoom in to see them
Group photos where you want to see the whole family but still have a nice blurry background
People moving towards the camera, either by themselves or as a group. You can stay in one place and adjust your focal length to zoom out while they get closer.
Action-style portraits of adults or kids while they are playing sports
Photographers who need a lot of versatility in their lenses, without wanting to change lenses or carry multiple camera bodies.

Nikon D750, 70-200 f/2.8 lens. Shot at 140mm, f/4, 1/250th second.

A 70-200mm f/2.8 lens isn’t always a necessity, but it can make a big difference if your needs aren’t met by other gear. They’re heavy and expensive, but the results can be worth it as long as you know why you want one and what you plan on using it for. You should also note that you might not need the sheer light-gathering capability of an f/2.8 aperture. In many cases, you would be well-served with a 70-200 f/4 lens which is going to cost significantly less and still produce good results.

Nikon D750, 70-200 f/2.8 lens. Shot at 200mm, f/4, 1/180th second.

Third-party options are a good choice too. You will often find 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses from Sigma, Tamron, and others available for about 50-75% of what you would pay for a first-party lens. These might not have the snappiest autofocus or same level of build quality, but for most portrait photographers they would work just fine.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this information, along with some of these pictures, helps you get a better sense of what different lenses can do. Of course, a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens is great, but if you examine your situation and think about your needs and goals, you might find that a different lens would suffice quite nicely. The point is to find something that works for you, no matter what it is and no matter what other people might use. As long as your gear helps you get the photos you want to take, then that’s all that matters.

The post Portrait Photographers: Do You Really Need a 70-200mm Lens? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

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The Importance of Shadows in Portrait Photography

25 Mar

The post The Importance of Shadows in Portrait Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

When you’re starting out with learning how to light your photography, it’s easy to fall into a pattern of blasting your subjects with light from all angles. The results are often bright images without a hint of a shadow anywhere. Sometimes that’s exactly what the job calls for: bright, cleanly lit images with very little contrast. However, obliterating the shadows in your images can have a negative impact.

The difference between heavily lit images and those with the shadows maintained can be astounding.

Deliberate and effective use of shadows in your images can help to create a natural contrast and depth, convey drama and emotion, and provide you with powerful compositional elements in your photography.

This article will discuss these reasons why it’s not only important to retain the shadows in your imagery, but to keep them in primary consideration while you are still planning your images. There is also an outline of a simple exercise you can do to help you to start better seeing shadows, and how they affect your images, that you can use to improve your understanding of light.

Not just low-key

Obviously, low-key images rely heavily on shadows, but shadows are important in all styles of photography.

It is important to clarify one thing here. This concept doesn’t just apply to low-key images where the vast majority of the space in the frame is dominated by shadow tones. In fact, shadows are just as important to brightly lit images as they help to define the shape and features of your subject.

Why shadows are important

Retaining the shadows in your images can do a lot of things for you, especially in terms of image design. Listed below are a few of these for you to consider.

Depth and contrast

Retaining shadows in your images can help give you a natural contrast and add depth to your images.

Contrast, in terms of this article, is the tonal difference between dark and light. This contrast is how we see things in three dimensions and it’s exactly how you can create the appearance of three dimensions in your two-dimensional imagery. The thing is, it’s hard to do this without shadows. (It’s also difficult to do it without specular highlights, but that’s a different discussion for a different day.)

For example, to illustrate the three-dimensional nature of a nose, you need a highlight that graduates into mid-tones. The highlight indicates the closest point of the nose to the light. Assuming the light is above your subject, shadows will fall underneath the nose. This provides a visual indicator that the nose is protruding from the face. Without the shadows, there will be little, if any, differentiation between the nose and the rest of the subject’s face. This results in a flat, unsettling image. Even if your viewers cannot figure out what they’re looking at, they will still be aware that something seems wrong.

Ensuring that you have shadows in your images will help to have pleasing, natural-looking images in any type of lighting.

Add drama and evoke mood

Shadows are a fantastic tool when you are trying to create images that evoke mood and emotion.

Generous use of shadow tones in your images is one of the quickest and most effective ways to evoke a sense of mood and helps you to create images with bags of drama.

You can do this in a number of ways including:

Backlighting and short lighting

Short lighting is a great tool to help you place shadows where they have the most impact.

Lighting your subject from behind will render most of the foreground of your frame as shadow tones, with only certain aspects of your subjects rendered with highlights.

To control the strength of your shadows, you can change the size and shape of your light source, change the distance between the light source and your subject, or fill the shadows with a secondary light source.

Lighting choice

Making a deliberate lighting choice (like the 2’x2′ softbox used here) to emphasize your shadows is one of the easiest ways to take control of the shadows in your imagery.

If you use a small(ish) light source in close to your subject, you can make use of the faster rate of light fall off to help introduce shadows into your images.

For an even better grasp of this, pick a few movies or television shows (especially dramas) and study the lighting choices during dramatic scenes with a lot of dialogue. In a lot of cases, you will find that there was a conscious choice to light the actors in a way that highlights specific features while throwing most of the rest of the actor in shadow.

Compositional elements

Shadows are a great way to help compose your images and can help you to draw attention to your focal point.

Shadows can be used to wonderful effect in crafting compositional devices within your images. Using darker tones to frame your subject, or to lead your viewer’s eye to what you want them to see can help to make more dynamic and interesting images.

Fill

Shadows don’t have to be dark. Even filled in with additional lights, you can still use shadows for contrast and depth.

When you’re talking about shadows, that doesn’t mean you have to stick to ultra dark tones with little or no visible detail. By using fill lights, you can still light every single part of your image while retaining shadow tone. If you expose your fill light two or three stops below your key light, you will still have the appearance of contrast in your images, but you will retain all the finer details that would be missing if you hadn’t used fill.

An exercise in shadows

To get the grips with this concept, try this simple exercise with a lot of different subjects.

First, choose a subject. Any subject will do, but you might want to start with something static.

Take a good, critical look at what you’ve picked to photograph and start thinking about the lighting. However, instead of thinking about the highlights, try to focus only on where you want to place your shadows.

With that decided, pick a light source (a desk lamp will do) and light your subject so that you have the desired effect.

If you want to take this further, once you have your shadows in place, you can further modify and manipulate your light so that the highlights behave in a way that compliments the shadows.

That’s it

While this is a simple concept, it can seem counterintuitive. When you’re approaching lighting, of course it makes sense to think about the highlights first; however, incorporating some extra thought about your shadows can help take your lighting skills to a new level. Try the exercise above with a few different subjects, and evaluate if and how you can make shadows work for you in your photography.

The post The Importance of Shadows in Portrait Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

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5 Portrait Photography Rules You Should Probably Ignore

07 Mar

The post 5 Portrait Photography Rules You Should Probably Ignore appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

Think back to the time when you first got interested in photography. From the moment you first pick up a camera, you are bombarded with a constant onslaught of dos and don’ts. You have to do this. You can’t do that. Rules, rules, rules, some more rules: then once you have a grasp on those, there’s even more rules and limitations.

Each of these images uses a technique that violates at least one of the rules for portrait photography discussed in this article.

For the most part, these rules (usually more guideline than a rule) are well-intentioned. They force you to pay attention to things you may not have learned to pay attention to yet. They force you to develop habits that you then apply every time you pick up a camera.

For example, the Rule of Thirds (as we all should know is not a rule) forces you to be mindful of your composition in the early stages of photography. This gives you a massive head start when you’re starting out and over time, you will start composing your images without so much as a thought. In these instances, these rules can be a powerful tool while you are learning.

With so many rules out there and so many people coming up with new rules all of the time, sometimes a few get through that make little sense at all. This article discusses five rules for portrait photography that get touted quite a lot. While some of them make sense at first, closer examination should show you that they’re mostly arbitrary and once you have a grasp of what they are trying to point out to you, you should probably, in my opinion, discard them from your rulebook altogether.

Disclaimer: This might be a contentious topic for you. If you happen to like or live by these rules; that’s cool. I’m not here to change your mind. I’m simply asking you to take an objective look at these rules and evaluate why they’re there and if they still have a place. If you feel that way, do discuss it in the comments below. I’m more than happy to engage in any reasonable discussion about this topic and always keep an open mind regarding different views on that matter. The only thing I ask is that we maintain the community guidelines for commenting here on Digital Photography School.

1. Catchlights should only be small and round

This rule almost seems to make sense when you first hear it. Outdoors, in natural light (presuming sunny conditions), the sun will appear as a small, round catchlight in a portrait subject’s eyes. If that’s what the sun does, then it must be more natural to have a catchlight that matches in all of your portraits. After all, natural equals good, right?

Small catchlights from hard light have their place, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with large catchlights either.

Here’s the thing: how many times have you been told in photography books and articles, or videos that harsh midday sun should be generally avoided for the most flattering portraits? I’m guessing almost every one of them. (Yes, I know that midday sun can be a wonderful light source at times and there are plenty of resources that say so. They’re right too.) Once you remove yourself from the midday sun to a place where you get softer more flattering light (whether that be natural or studio), those catchlights stop being small and round.

Soft light typically means large light sources close to your subject, whether that be a large window or a large octabox, it doesn’t matter. The same applies if you’re photographing your portraits on an overcast day. Catchlights in those conditions often take up half of your subject’s eyes. The catchlight being a reflection of the light source which is everything above the horizon in your subject’s field of vision.

The catchlight here is the entirety of the sky above the horizon. This is what catchlights look like on an overcast day. According to this rule, you can’t use them.

You can probably see the conflict here. On the one hand, you’re told that you should use soft light for your portraits. On the other, you have this rule that states that your catchlights should only be the result of hard light. It’s difficult to make sense of it.

I don’t know about you, but I’m very much a fan of my large modifiers and diffusers and the soft light that they provide, and I’d rather keep on using them.

Large modifiers close to the subject provide soft light perfect for portraiture. They also make large catchlights.

Now, if you’re like me, I like seeing new types of catchlights in my subject’s eyes. I like the thrill of finding some new lighting combination, or an odd pocket of natural light somewhere and seeing what it does to the eyes in my portraits. Sometimes the results are incredible. If you followed this rule to the tee, you would never have the opportunity for this discovery, and you’d be pretty limited in terms of the light you can use for your portraits.

None of these odd catchlights are acceptable if you follow this rule to the letter.

Finally, there’s the consideration of specialist lighting equipment. The most obvious of these is the ringflash, or ringlight. Lights like these always create a weird-shaped catchlight. With ringlights, the catchlight shows up as a ring. According to this rule, you can never use these light sources.

If you happen to like the effect of ringlights, you’re going to have to ignore this rule.

2) There should only be one catchlight

This rule is one that I’ve been hearing a lot of recently. It’s similar to the previous rule in that its intent is to keep a natural look to your portraits. After all, there is only one sun in the sky.

There’s nothing wrong with having one catchlight, but it’s better not to limit yourself in terms of techniques that you can use.

My contention with this rule lies with that fact that unless you’re taking portraits outdoors in a very weird place (maybe, but probably not, the Black Desert in Iceland), there is never, ever only one light source. Everything outdoors in sunlight is reflecting light back to your subject. In many cases, the exposure of these secondary sources will never come close to that of the sun. However, in a lot of other cases, the scenery can and does act as a reflector in your images. Light colored buildings, large windows, fields, foliage and green grass can all act as secondary light sources and more often than not will add extra catchlights to your subject’s eyes.

If you’re photographing a person near a light colored wall at their right with the sun at their left, that’s two light sources with two catchlights. You can’t do that according to this rule.

If you’re in the studio using butterfly lighting and you want to lift your subject’s eyes a bit with a reflector, that’s two catchlights. Don’t even think about it if you’re following this rule.

According to this rule, the catchlight from the reflector shouldn’t be there. Not only would the shadows not be filled in without it, but the eyes would be very dark.

If you take that idea a step further and you like to use complicated or creative lighting setups like clamshell lighting or cross lighting, then this rule rules them out.

If you were following this rule, clamshell lighting would be a huge no-go.

Like the rule about keeping your catchlights small and round, the idea that you should only have one catchlight in your subject’s eyes only serves to limit you in what photographic techniques you can use if you want to do photography correctly. I don’t like the idea of arbitrary limitations, and I don’t like the idea that another photographer might not be using a technique that suits them, or that they would love, because they were told to follow a rule that someone made up.

3) Close-up portraits are technically wrong because the head is cut off

Because the top of the subject’s head isn’t in the frame, this photo is wrong according to this rule despite the top of the head adding no valuable information to the frame.

You will have heard the basis for this one a lot. “Don’t cut off your subject’s head.” This is one of those basic rules that the person who sold you your first camera might have told you. For the most part, this guideline is pretty sound. It stems from a time where you would hand someone a camera, usually a disposable one in my case, and ask them to take a photo for you. Once you developed the film, you could pretty much guarantee that half of your head was missing and the bottom third of the frame was nothing but empty ground below your feet. It makes absolute sense that people would want to avoid photos like that.

Continuing from that, in a wider portrait or even a headshot, cutting into the head at the top of the frame can seem disjointed and make for an awkward viewing experience. This isn’t always the case, but it’s best to avoid it until you understand when it works and when it doesn’t.

With head and shoulders and 3/4 shots like these, it is best to avoid cropping into your subject’s heads.

The issue here is with close-up portraits. It is not uncommon at all to hear someone dictate that close-up portraits are technically wrong simply because the top of the head is missing. Basically, this is taking the guide to not cut off heads to the extreme and completely discounting a not very uncommon style of photography.

When you’re creating close-up portraits, you are narrowing your point of focus to specific features of your subject and making those the basis of your composition. There isn’t a whole lot of extra real estate in your frame for erroneous details like the top of the head. In fact, the inclusion of those details stops it from being a close-up portrait.

When the focal point of an image is only a face, erroneous details need to be left out as much as possible. This rule does not allow for that.

I encourage you to ask yourself this question: What would films and television look like if filmmakers followed this rule?

The takeaway here should be that when you are creating full, three quarters and head and shoulders portraits, it’s a good idea to not cut off your subject’s head. However, when you get in close, throw it out the window. The space you have in your frame for composition is valuable; don’t waste it.

4) Portraits without eye contact directly to the camera are technically wrong

Eyes are important, but that doesn’t mean you always need them to create evocative portraits.

This rule purports that if you have a person in your frame, their eyes must be facing the camera or your photo is technically flawed. Fortunately, this has seemed to die down in recent years, but I still see it come up with fair regularity.

If your goal is a straight-up portrait, as in a record shot of a person, then yes, you’ll want to ensure that your subject is engaging with the lens. Likewise, if your goal is to create a commercial style image where the intent is to have your viewer feel personally engaged with the person in the photograph, then, again, yes, you’ll want to have direct eye contact with your subject.

Direct eye contact is fine and extremely useful, but it isn’t the only way to do things.

The problem here is that portraiture is such a broad category and there are so many different ways to approach it. For example, if you’re into street photography and you do a lot of candid portraits, there’s probably not going to be a lot of eye contact with your camera. Instead, your subjects will be engaged elsewhere and they will probably be making eye contact with something or someone else. That’s the trick, if you want to convey any kind of emotion or concept to your portraits, one of the quickest and easiest ways to do that is to have your subject engage with something outside of the frame that isn’t the camera.

If you want to convey that your subject is involved, in any way, with the world around them, they need to be engaged with the world around them. If your thought is to evoke a sense of thoughtfulness, or longing, or any other sort of internal emotion, having your subject engaged with the camera will make that a much more difficult job to achieve.

Compare these two images taken moments apart. How completely different are they simply based on the eye contact or lack thereof?

Another aspect of this rule is that it firmly rejects the idea that you can have portraits where your subject’s eyes are closed. Having your subject close their eyes can be another powerful way to convey emotion in your portraits. While this shouldn’t be overused, there is no reason why you shouldn’t use it freely when the situation calls for it.

For a real-world example, open up any fashion magazine and look for the beauty ads. You’ll find that when eye makeup is on show, the subject’s eyes are often closed. For me, it’s a hard pill to swallow that these high-end images by some of the best photographers in the world are somehow technically incorrect because they use the tool required to convey a specific message.

I’ll take things one step further and say that you don’t even need a face in your images to create evocative portraits.

Perhaps it would be easier to say that this rule should be adjusted. So, instead of saying that your subject should have eye contact with the camera, your subject should have eye contact with something, whether that’s visible to the viewer or not.

5) There should be no specular highlights on the skin

Specular highlights are often misunderstood, but they are a vital part of images with depth and contrast. Note the three-dimensional appearance of the subject’s head thanks to the specular highlights on his forehead, nose, and cheek.

Of all of the rules discussed in this article, this might be the least obvious one in regard to why it shouldn’t be a rule. If you take it at face value, specular highlights can be seen as a distraction when they show up on your subject’s skin. The most likely place for these highlights to show up is the nose and the forehead. In poor light, these specular highlights can be irregularly shaped and look awful. You should modify and control your light to mitigate their effect on your photos; however, that doesn’t mean that specular highlights are wrong or that they should be avoided altogether.

Even large, soft light sources (in this case a wall of giant windows) create specular highlights. Use them to your advantage.

Like shadows, specular highlights indicate depth and contrast and they help shape and give three dimensions to your subject in the frame. Unless you’re using extremely soft light, the lack of a specular highlight often means that the light is flat. How often have you read or advised to avoid flat lighting? A lot, I reckon. Yet, somehow, we have this rule that insists that you use flat lighting, or that you use light that’s so soft that it removes all contrast in your portraits.

If you want to create images with a three-dimensional feel, with natural looking contrast, you want to avoid completely removing specular highlights from your images. Instead, control them. You can use flags, diffusers, and lighting position to change and control their shape and exposure. The key thing to look out for is that the specular highlights are not overexposed and that they are not an irregular shape. Try to keep the transitions from specular highlight to highlight smooth and graduated just like you would do for shadow transitions. This will help to ensure that you have pleasing and natural looking images full of depth and contrast.

When controlled and manipulated, specular highlights can be a wonderful tool for you to create bold portraits.

As a little side note on specular highlights, it’s important to mention makeup. It is currently popular to use makeup that intentionally puts a large highlight on women’s cheekbones. If you value your working relationships with make-up artists and models or want repeat sales from a client who has her makeup done this way; do not remove that highlight. In fact, consider going out of your way to emphasize it. Not only is the makeup expensive, but it’s a tricky technique to get right. Removing the highlight with either lighting techniques or Photoshop will delegitimize the effort that went into creating the effect. Please avoid doing this, not because of some arbitrary rule, but because it respects the specific effort that went into putting that highlight there in the first place.

There you have it

If you’ve made it this far, hopefully, you can see why it’s important to take an objective look at some of the rules we are bombarded with every day. Even if you disagree with my assessment of any of these rules, I still encourage you to carefully consider why each rule you come across came to be, what its intent is and how it fits into what you want to achieve with your photography.

This article has focused on a narrow subset of rules for portrait photography; please feel free to discuss in the comments what other photographic rules you feel have no place in your photography, or which rules you feel must be followed at all costs.

The post 5 Portrait Photography Rules You Should Probably Ignore appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

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15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

24 Feb

The post 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Creating portraits is challenging for many photographers, for many different reasons. There can be so much involved in making a portrait of someone that it’s easy to make mistakes.

To make great portraits you need to be concentrating on more than just your camera settings. (I believe this is true for all photography.) You have to make sure the lighting is right, the background is suitable and wardrobe and props are on hand if needed. Most of all, you must give your attention to the person you are photographing.

Cleaning Dispute 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

Juggling all this is not easy, especially when you have little or no experience.

Practising taking portraits of someone you know, who enjoys being photographed, is a fabulous way to gain experience. Working with the same person for more than one or two portrait sessions will help you develop the skills you need.

As you begin you will most likely make some or all of these common portrait mistakes. Being aware of them can help you avoid making them.

1. Poor composition

The most common portrait mistake I see people on our workshops making with portraits is leaving too much space above the subjects head. Emptiness above someone usually does nothing for the look and feel of the photo.

Unless there’s significant information above a person, crop in more tightly to the top of their head.

Red Head Scarf 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

2. Distracting background

Having too much detail in focus behind your subject can draw attention away from them. Be careful about how you position your subject.

Also, make your lens choice thoughtfully. Using a longer lens will reduce the amount of background in your frame.

Woman Buying Chilli Peppers 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

3. Subject too close to the background

Don’t get your subject to sit or stand right up against the background. If it’s a busy scene your subject may be overwhelmed and end up not being the main focus. Even with a fairly plain background, it’s often best if you separate your subject from it.

Smart Phone Photo 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

4. Not enough in focus

You may be tempted to open your aperture to the widest setting so you can blur out a distracting background. Be careful doing this that you maintain enough in focus on your subject.

Blurring the background may also mean blurring your subject more than what really looks good.

Market Porter 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

5. Out of focus eyes

If your subject has eyes, focus on them. This is one photography rule I stick to, most of the time. It’s not often a portrait with the eyes out of focus looks great.

When your subject is facing directly at the camera it’s easy to get both eyes in focus. If their head is turned to one side you need to focus on the eye closest to the camera.

Akha Friends 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

6. Slow shutter speed

People move. You need to choose a fast enough shutter speed to freeze your subject. Even if they make a slight movement it can result in a blurred photo if your shutter speed is too slow.

1/250th of a second is usually fast enough. Slower than this and you may have problems.

Dreadlocks 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

7. Poor lighting

Modern cameras can take photos when there’s next to no light, so it’s easy to get it wrong.

With portraits, it’s most important to have the right lighting for the mood you want to create in your photos. Hard, high contrast lighting is not good when you want a soft, romantic looking portrait. Equally, soft light will not help you create drama in a photo of a person.

Muddy Ceramic artist 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

8. Bad timing

Capturing the right expression will flatter your subject. If you don’t, they may be reluctant to let you photograph them again.

Careful timing can make or break a portrait. Waiting and watching a person’s face for the right time to press the shutter button is vital. Most people will not stare into your camera without changing their expression. You need to be ready when they look their best.

If you’re photographing someone who is blinking a lot you need to time your photos in between blinks.

Buddhist Monk Yard Work 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

9. Not taking enough photos

You need to take plenty of photos. Not taking enough photos will frustrate you when you are editing, because you will have too few to choose from.

Try to capture a range of expressions. Don’t just sit with your camera on burst mode filling your card up with nearly identical images. Aim to create a good variety. This will please your subject as it will allow them to make their selections more easily.

Man Studio Portrait 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

10. Taking too many photos

Finding the balance between not enough and too many photos can be difficult. This will depend a lot on your subject.

Some people will be more comfortable being photographed for a longer period of time than others. You need to be aware of this. If your subject is getting bored or agitated because you are taking too long or taking too many photos, this will show in their face. Your results will suffer for it.

11. Failing to connect with your subject

Connecting well with the person you are photographing is one of the most important aspects of portraiture. So many photographers spend more time and attention connecting with their cameras. This is a big mistake during a portrait session.

Building a rapport with your subject, even if you only have a few minutes, can make the biggest impact on your resulting photos.

When your subject is relaxed with you and happy, you will get better pictures of them. Your manner and the way you interact with them is vital.

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12. Not giving your subject enough direction

Communicate clearly what your intention for the portrait session is. What type of picture does your subject want? What kind of image do they want to portray?

When you know what they want, you will know what you have to achieve. If they do not understand what you are asking them to do, show them. Put your body, hands, face, just how you want them to look and they can mimic you.

Rag Doll Girl 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

13. Feeling like you are imposing

This is common with photographing strangers. Many street photographers prefer candid portraits because they do not want to impose on people.

Standing back with a long lens on will not often produce an intimate portrait. You need to change your thinking and consider that what you are doing when you take someone’s photo has got the potential to bless them.

Akha Woman Laughing 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

14. Not being confident

If you are self-conscious and not confident this will generally be reflected back to you by your subject.

Having a calm, confident manner when you are making portraits will enhance both their experience and yours.

You don’t need to put on a show, but just be relaxed and assured that you are creating good photographs.

Pretty Asian Karaoke Singer 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

15. Rushing to get finished

Take your time. It’s not a race.

Give yourself space to concentrate well on what you are doing. Make sure you are getting what you want and your subject is more likely to be pleased with your pictures.

Boy With A Note Book 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid

Conclusion

It takes practice. Like learning to do anything well, it takes concentrated perseverance to succeed. This is why it’s good to practice making portraits with someone you know who is willing to be photographed.

Know your camera, be confident with it and with your subject and you will learn to make wonderful portraits.

When I started out as a photographer I found it incredibly difficult to photograph people. I was shy and lacked confidence. It was hard work, but over the years I have come to really enjoy the art of portraiture.

Do you have any other tips or portraits you’d like to share? If so, do so in the comments below.

The post 15 Common Portrait Mistakes to Avoid appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

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Pixelmator Pro 1.3.1 released with Portrait Masks for images captured in iPhone Portrait mode

15 Feb

Image editing app Pixelmator Pro has been updated to version 1.3.1, gaining Portrait Masks for images taken using the iPhone’s Portrait mode in iOS 12. With Portrait Masks, any iPhone Portrait mode imported into Pixelmator Pro is automatically opened with a layer mask made from the depth data.

The new feature makes it possible to rapidly isolate the portrait’s foreground from the background, enabling users to replace the background or make other quick adjustments. Pixelmator demonstrated the feature in the video above.

In addition to the Portrait Masks feature, Pixelmator Pro 1.3.1 adds new keyboard shortcuts for duplicating layers, organizing content, making selections, and more. As well, the editor now uses tabs by default. Finally, the update also adds a new ‘Comics’ effect under Stylize for applying a comic book style to images. The update’s full changelog is available here.

Pixelmator Pro can be purchased from the Mac App Store for $ 39.99.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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11 Influential Portrait Photographers you Need to Know

31 Jan

The post 11 Influential Portrait Photographers you Need to Know appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

There are some fantastic portrait photographers out there capturing cutting-edge, unique portraits. These photographers have been influential and you can explore and learn something from each of them. They are in no particular order.

Here are 11 influential portrait photographers you need to know:

1. Sue Bryce

Sue Bryce is a fine art portrait photographer with a classic portraiture style, while still looking quite modern. Her lighting techniques are soft and beautiful.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sue Bryce (@suebrycephotographer) on Jun 20, 2017 at 11:56am PDT

2. Lindsay Adler

Based in New York City, Lindsay Adler, is a fashion portrait photographer with works appearing in Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and Marie Claire.

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A post shared by Lindsay Adler (@lindsayadler_photo) on Dec 24, 2018 at 7:37am PST

3. Lee Jeffries

UK photographer, Lee Jeffries, is well-known for his “Homeless project.” In this project, Jeffries captures close-up portraits of homeless people living on the streets. His extreme close-ups that reveal all on his subjects faces are emotive and spectacular.

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A post shared by Lee Jeffries (@lee_jeffries) on Nov 17, 2018 at 8:31am PST

4. Derrick Freske

Based in Los Angeles, California, Derrick Freske does fashion portraiture. He uses interesting lighting techniques, including the use of colored gels, and light reflections.

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A post shared by Derrick Freske (@dfreske) on Aug 5, 2018 at 8:34pm PDT

5. Mark Seliger

Mark Seliger has photographed celebrity portraits for Rolling Stone, GQ, Vogue and Vanity Fair. He has photographed the likes of Kurt Cobain, Leonardo DiCaprio, Charlize Theron, and Nicole Kidman, to name a few.

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A post shared by Mark Seliger (@markseliger) on Dec 14, 2018 at 6:44am PST

6. Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz is a celebrity portrait photographer that has been photographing famous types for decades. Making the transition from film to digital, Leibovitz has continued to inspire photographers around the world. Her photographs have been published in Rolling Stone and the New York Times. She has photographed celebrities including Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Brad Pitt. She also photographed Beatles singer and songwriter, John Lennon, on the day he was murdered (wikipedia).

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A post shared by annie leibovitz (@_annieleibovitz) on May 8, 2016 at 12:36am PDT

7. Flora Borsi

Hungarian photographer, Flora Borsi is well known for her fine-art portraiture series, “Animeyed.” In this series, Borsi uses animal eyes to replace one eye of her human subject. You may recognize Borsi’s work on the Adobe Creative Cloud package.

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A post shared by Flóra Borsi (@floraborsiofficial) on Sep 23, 2016 at 5:06am PDT

8. Tina Eisen

Based in London, UK, Tina Eisen is a fashion/beauty photographer who has made portraits for some big commercial brands.

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A post shared by Tina Eisen (@tina_eisen) on Dec 2, 2018 at 5:23am PST

9. Patrick DeMarchelier

Patrick DeMarchelier is a fashion/beauty portrait photographer whose works have been in Vanity Fair and Harpers Bazaar.

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A post shared by Patrick Demarchelier (@patrickdemarchelier) on Dec 11, 2017 at 2:25pm PST

10. Marco Grob

Switzerland born, Marco Grob, is based in New York. Moving from fine art still life photography, into portraiture, he has photographed celebrities including George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Sir Elton John, and Justin Beiber. He has also worked with Marvel Studios, Warner Bros and Netflix.

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A post shared by Marco Grob (@marcogrob) on Mar 6, 2018 at 4:14pm PST

11. Tatiana Lumiere

Tatiana Lumiere is a fine art and beauty portrait photographer based in Pennsylvania, USA. She specializes in “glamour portraiture with a dreamy, elegant and sensual twist.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tatiana Lumiere (@tatiana_lumiere) on Jan 13, 2019 at 8:57am PST

The post 11 Influential Portrait Photographers you Need to Know appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

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Tips for Portrait Photography in Overcast Weather [video]

25 Jan

The post Tips for Portrait Photography in Overcast Weather appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this video by Julia Trotti, you’ll learn tips for portrait photography in overcast weather that can give you more even, soft light on your models.

Overcast weather can be a great time to do portrait photography because the light is soft and doesn’t create as many of the harsh shadows that bright midday sunlight creates.

If you are doing a shoot with a model and the weather is overcast, keep in mind the following tips:

1. Make the most of it by using locations you normally wouldn’t

Keep in mind, depending on the type of overcast weather it is, you may still get some shadows if it is a bright overcast day.

If you find there is not quite enough light getting to your model’s eyes, ask them to bring their chin up a little to capture the light on their eyes.

Bear in mind that the direction your model is facing also has an effect on the light and contrast to the background.

Shoot in a few directions at the start as test shots to decide which is the best angle for light.

When photographing on overcast days, you may want to find a location that has a pop of color so that your images are not flat. Green locations such as gardens and forests work well. If in a location that is not as vibrant in color, consider dressing your model in colorful clothes.

2. Be mindful of including the sky in your photos

When the sky is dark and overcast, it can add great drama. However, if it is a bright overcast day, the sky can look blown out. In this case, use varied composition and camera angles to eliminate distracting over-blown white sky (unless your purpose is to have high contrast between your model and background).

3. Keep an eye on your camera settings

When overcast, your scene may be quite a bit darker, and your camera settings need to reflect that. Also, depending on your location, you may need to tweak your camera settings too.

If you want to capture sharp hair in windy conditions, use a faster shutter speed to avoid motion blur on your models’ hair. If you want to show the effect of some slight motion, use a slower shutter speed.