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I have been asked to take some photos of my cousin this friday.It is the night of her formal and she will be in her formal dress and Im sure her boyfriend will be there in his suit.I have never taken any portrait shots before.So could anyone please tell me what settings to use for this photo op.My camera is a canon eos 350 and the only lenses I have are the 18mm-55mm kit lens and a sigma 55mm-200mm lens.Please help.
hil26
Chris, first thing to do is have fun on the day, if they are all smiling and happy it wioll come out in the pics - if you are seen to be panicky - I'll leave that to your imagination.
From what I have read, I stand to be corrected as I have never got any portraits I like - well thats a lie, but they weren't set shots - more informals out in the open.
Anyway, I stand to be corrected but would say your 55 to 200 would come in best, as most recommendations for portraits are focal length around 100mm.
Get the white balance spot on, or take in RAW and sort it in image edit program. Then its a matter of aperture priority v manual settings in my understanding.
Thats best I can come up mate - have fun
sean
Hi Chris,
I couldn't put it better than hil26 - have fun! If you relax, the subject will relax and visa versa. But there's nothing wrong with being a bit nervous as it keeps you focused (excuse the pun!)
The 55-200mm is your best lens for portraits. A couple of things to consider are ones you have probably realised already, but they would be:
- Always try and get the eyes of the subject in sharp focus.
- Check out the background before you take the shot - avoid distracting objects.
- If shooting indoors, bounce your flash and where possible diffuse it. If you can't bounce it and/or can't diffuse it, stick a bit of tissue over the flash - it will soften the light and dilute the shadows. If the subject is against a wall, their shadow will be a lot more pronounced with the flash.
- 100mm focal length is about right, but don't let that stop you from trying the full range.
- remember to load your memory card!
- make sure your batteries are fully charged!
- try cracking a joke or getting the subjects off-guard. also, if you know them well, try talking to them about a common interest/subject.
Some of my best photos of people are when they were not expecting the picture to be taken, or just talking to me and forgot about the camera.
And remember to enjoy yourself
Look forward to seeing your brilliant shots!
Sean.
digitalkiwi
Yep thats a big one Enjoy Yourself, if your happy and having fun it rubs off and if your nervous try not to show it
adam
how did you get on with this Chris????
Adam
chris82
Horribbly,When I got there I felt good about it.I even had a good 45 mins to set up.So I got a good viewpoint took a few test shots and thought great I think I have got the settings wright.Then when it was time to take the pictures my uncle came in and took over.He was telling me were to stand what angle he wanted do this do that I couldnt even use the tripod cause my uncle wanted the shot a certain way.Hes not even a photographer.I gave up after about 20 mins and just did what I was told.And when I got to processing the shots There wasent one in focus.Aw well its a learning curve.
adam
...
how annoying....
still, as you say, its a learning curve...
next time you will ignore him!!!!
