Portraiture HELP.

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Permalink Reply by Aaron on November 26, 2008 at 9:13am

TRIPOD to prevent blur.
You could use one of your halogens as a back light. Placed on the ground or hung from above (also a hair light) behind the subject to help eliminate shadows.
Use your built in flash set to TTL.
You can use your other halogen as a dramatic light or point it at the wall to any side to simulate a softer light source. Or point it through a sheet (soft box sort of).
The use of a tripod will allow you to shoot at a more appropriate speed to use what natural light you may have.

Hope these ideas help.
Good luck and show us the finished product.

Aaron

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Permalink Reply by Michael Bartholome on November 26, 2008 at 9:20am

Maybe you could move the people further away from the wall. I had the same problem when I used a mounted flash and turned the camera. If the flash was above the camera, not to the side, the shadow would be further down the wall and you may not be able to see it. Aso agree with Aaron.

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Permalink Reply by Mithindril on November 26, 2008 at 1:20pm

It's hard under those circumstances to reduce the shadows. Studio lighting, with a backlight will usually work, but if that's not in the budget... The blur is usually due to the speed of the shutter and or the aperture. I had a lot of blurring in the beginning and it was both.

You can reduce the effects of the shadows by using a wall with texture or plants.

Good luck

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Permalink Reply by Sean on November 27, 2008 at 8:59pm

Here you go, lighting on a budget...You can get work lights at your hardware store that can handle up to 300 watt bulbs, get two, they usually run about $15 a piece plus $4 for a 300 watt bulb. Put one light on each side of the model at about 45 degrees...so you will get very little if any shadows...if you have enough money get a third that is aimed at the wall from the floor behind the model. If you want more control over the light you can buy a cheap dimmer for one or two of the lights.
Do not use your flash...it will be too harsh for portraits.
Tripod is a must since you seem to have a motion blur issue. Or increase your shutter speed to 1/125 or faster.
This set up got me through until I could afford strobes.

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Permalink Reply by Maeda on November 30, 2008 at 7:35am

Thanks for the comments guys! :) really helped. :D

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Permalink Reply by KaTrina on November 30, 2008 at 10:33am

I am a visual person, I drew pictures!!

Look at the height of your lights. You want your lights above the head of your subject. The primary light of this world is the sun, and as humans we are use to seeing the light coming from above us. This will do a few things for your portraits. It will put the highlights on the subjects face where we are use to seeing the highlights. It will put the shadows in the places in more flattering places. (Example: The nostrils on the portrait lit from a low light has a highlight making them one of the strongest features of the face. When the nostrils are lit from a light from above they end up in a shadow area and will not be as notices.) Shooting with the lights higher will also cause your shadow on the background to drop down and behind your subject and less likely to show up in your photo.

You want to shoot with one light closer to your subject for a stronger light, being the primary light source. If you want to add a second light put it further away from the subject giving a more feather and softer light. Again, this is because we are humans and we have only one sun. So it is a more natural feeling having one strong source of light. The lights should be placed at a 45 degree angle from your subject. This is a good starting light set up. As you learn to see the light on your subject you can play with this to get more dramatic affects.

Move your subject away from background will give room for the shadow to fall to the floor and not to your background.

Back lighting as the others will help brighten and prevent shadows if you have a 3rd light.

Also place your subject's body on an angle towards the camera, it will help in getting a better pose. Most people look better on an angle then straight at the camera.

The number one rule of photography is, all rules are made to be broken once you know the rules!!!

*In the attached photo I tried to give an example as to how to read where the light is coming from by the shadow and the highlights on your subject. I also did a stick drawing to give you of a simple light set up that I am talking about.

Hope this helps.

Attachments:

• IMG_1829 copy.jpg, 148 KB
• Untitled-1.jpg, 61 KB

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Permalink Reply by Maeda on December 3, 2008 at 10:39pm

Wow, thank you so much Katrina! :D I learned something new today. :)

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Permalink Reply by Al Pettman on December 4, 2008 at 10:21am

That was very interesting reading. Excellant advise

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Permalink Reply by Corey Ward on December 8, 2008 at 9:37pm

Okay a few things I didn't see when I scanned through the comments....

First, your aperture doesn't directly affect motion blurring (what you're worrying about). A larger aperture (smaller f number) will let in more light and let you get a properly exposed photo at a faster shutter speed. A smaller aperture (larger f number) will do the opposite. Since you're trying to make do in low-light, you want to have a larger aperture (smaller f number).

Second, if you're going to be shooting against a background you don't want to really see, you are going to want a larger aperture as well because it will create a shallower depth of focus/field. Basically, your friend(s) will be in focus but the stuff behind them or in front of them won't. When you have a smaller aperture you have a deeper depth of focus.

Third, if you have a zoom lens, you should try to backup as far as possible so that you can zoom in all the way. When you zoom in you reduce the amount of wide-angle distortion that makes people look really funny. That's why fashion photographers and the like shoot with 200mm+ lenses...it makes the models look better!

Finally, just make sure you have fun and enjoy yourself! It doesn't matter how much you learn if you get fed up shooting before you can really get good at it!

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