- Settings and Features to Make Great Portraits
- Poring Over the Picture
- Poring Over the Picture
- Using Aperture Priority Mode
- Lighting is Everything
- Focusing: The Eyes Have It
- Composing People and Portraits
- The Portrait Picture Style for Better Skin Tones
- Tips for Shooting Better Portraits
- Chapter 4 Challenges
Chapter 4 Challenges
Depth of field in portraits
Let's start with something simple. Grab your favorite person and start experimenting with using different aperture settings. Shoot wide open (the widest your lens goes, such as f/2.8 or f/4) and then really stopped down (like f/22). Look at the difference in the depth of field and the important role it plays in placing the attention on your subject. (Make sure your subject isn't standing directly against the background. Give some distance so that there is a good blurring effect of the background at the wide f-stop setting.)
Discovering the qualities of natural light
Pick a nice sunny day and try shooting some portraits in the midday sun. If your subject is willing, have them turn so the sun is in their face. If they are still speaking to you after blinding them, ask them to turn their back to the sun. Try this with and without the fill flash so you can see the difference. Finally, move them into a completely shaded spot and take a few more.
Picking the right metering method
Find a very dark or light background and place your subject in front of it. Now take a couple of shots, giving a lot of space around your subject for the background to show. Now switch metering modes and use the AE Lock feature to get a more accurate reading of your subject. Notice the differences in exposure between the metering methods.
Picture styles for portraits
Have some fun playing with the different picture styles. Try the Portrait style as compared to the Standard style. Play with the different adjustment settings within the styles to see how they affect skin tones.
Share your results with the book's Flickr group!
Join the group here: flickr.com/groups/canon7dfromsnapshotstogreatshots