If this isn’t the case, then you need to bring your setup away from the background, or place blackboards/sheets between your flash and the background to prevent light from illuminating the area. You should also have a background that’s completely black. You want some light to fall on the other side of your subject’s face, but not too much–because the more light that falls, the flatter and less interesting your subject becomes. If all has gone well, you should have a subject with the side of their face illuminated, like this: Now, set your exposure and take a test shot. It should be sitting off to the side so that the light is hitting your subject from an angle. Then raise the flash so that it’s pointing down at your subject from a 45-degree angle.įinally, take the lighting stand and place it 45 degrees from your subject. Modify it using an umbrella or a large softbox. The tips above were both about shooting outdoors with fully natural light.īut for this tip, I’d like to mention something you can do with a single flash when shooting in a studio (or anywhere indoors, really).įirst, take an off-camera flash and mount it to a lighting stand. Use a 45-45 Flash Setup to Give Your Portraits Depth
![portraits photography portraits photography](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0Ic0_FlgYNY/TtTdgUO2c4I/AAAAAAAABXw/xS1cHgDENEA/s1600/Lavigne_2011-6459.jpg)
Take another test shot, see how things are looking, and make any further corrections.Įventually, you’ll get the perfect shot–one with a well-exposed subject and a beautiful background! 3. If things are looking too dark, then go ahead and slow down your shutter speed or dial in +1 stop of exposure compensation. Point the center of your viewfinder at the subject to take a reading, and use the suggested exposure (from the exposure bar in your camera’s viewfinder, or from the settings your camera chooses in Aperture Priority mode) to take a shot.
PORTRAITS PHOTOGRAPHY MANUAL
Note that if you’re struggling to expose for the subject, then make sure you’re shooting in aperture priority mode or manual mode. The low sun came through the tree leaves, and created the bokeh you see behind the subject. The golden hours are the hour or so after sunrise and the hour or so before sunset, when the sun is still low in the sky and casts a beautiful golden glow across the landscape.Īnd while the golden hours don’t offer light that’s quite as soft as you’ll find on a cloudy day, they’re still great for portrait photography.įirst, because the light of the setting sun is a soft gold color, and looks great in photos.įor the photo above, I made sure there were some nice trees in the background. Shoot During the Golden Hours for Beautiful Backlight That’s where the golden hours come in: 2. Of course, you don’t always want to wait for cloudy days to shoot. So make sure you’re aware of the light levels, and try to go out toward the middle of the day, when the light is stronger. You’ll end up boosting your ISO, which will cause noise, and noise generally doesn’t look good with portraits. The latter in the day it gets, the less light you’ll have to work with.Īnd because clouds reduce lighting strength, you’ll struggle to expose properly without a flash. You can also use a flash to fill in shadows, though I’m not a fan of this because flashes are much more cumbersome than fold-up reflectors. This can punch up shadows under your subject’s face, or on the side of the face that isn’t directly illuminated by the light. Now, depending on the level of cloudiness, you still may want to bring a reflector into the field.
![portraits photography portraits photography](https://wildly-curious.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/12-woman-headshot-photography-austin.jpg)
Plus, it’s straightforward to expose for subjects on cloudy days because the light is very even.
PORTRAITS PHOTOGRAPHY SKIN
One of the cool things about shooting on cloudy days is that the soft light helps your subject’s skin to look its best.
![portraits photography portraits photography](https://www.artphotobykira.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/glamour-photography-portrait-photographer-673x1024.jpg)
(Harsh, contrast-heavy shadows are what you get when you shoot outdoors on bright, sunny days, by the way. That’s why I love to shoot portraits on cloudy days, when the light is nicely diffused by heavy cloud cover, and I don’t have to worry about harsh, contrasty shadows.