Have you ever tried to create a lovely portrait but not known how? It's not a hard thing to create a beautiful portrait. The secret is the lighting. You don't always need thousands of dollars in photographic lighting to create a beautiful portrait. In fact all you need is a window.
First of all, create stunning portrait photography is not about camera settings. In fact, if you focus on camera settings as the way to take portraits, you will be disappointed. Camera settings are part of it, but not the whole part. By all means, take notice of your settings, but do not rely on them to be the whole answer to creating stunning portraiture.
Many enthusiast photographers stand in front of the window. They position their subject (friend) with their backs behind the window. What they should be doing is using the window light to light the subjects face. Sounds easy doesn't it? So why don't more photographers light portraits that way?
The simple answer is they do not understand light. The difference between an enthusiast photographer and a professional photographer is a solid, and very deep understanding, of light. If you are an enthusiast, and you have struggled with photography, don't feel bad.
Changing the white balance to suit your portrait is essential if you want to create beautifully warm and fresh skin tones. It's easy to create unsuitable colour tone through a lack of understanding about white balance and how it affects your friends skin tone. In this case do a custom white balance before you shoot.
Firstly, in order to create really stunning portrait photography you need to really look at the light. Is the light creating lots of hard shadows or is the light really nice and soft over the persons face? Hard light is the light you see on a very bright, sunny day that shows lots of bright areas and lots of dark shadows.
When you shoot portraits you can chose a variety of colour temperatures depending on the look and feel you are aiming for. If you want something upbeat and happy then you may chose a white colour temperature. This occurs with the sun being at the highest in the sky. If you want something soft and endearing you may choose to shoot when there are warm colours in the sky. Usually portraits look nice when the colour temperature is white.
You can actually change this hue on the camera. You can make it look blue, yellow or orange. This is called white balance. You can select this range of colour hues depending on the look and feel you are aiming for. If you want to create a romantic feel for your portrait then you may chose a orange colour temperature. This is kind of like the light you see at sunset or dawn. It can influence the way people feel when they look at the photo. Don't forget about a white colour temperature, such as the hue you see at midday. Usually portraits look nice when the colour temperature is white.
Window light can help soften shadows and provide a nice direction, as long as the window light comes from the person's top and side, not directly from above. If you have too much light from above, this is when shadows under the nose and the eyes may occur. To stop this from happening (or reduce it) , try and find a large window. This will help throw light on the persons face quite evenly.
What about shadows on the other side of the persons face? You may notice that if you stand the person too close to the window you will see shadows on the side of their face that isn't directly under the window. If you find that this is the case then try moving the person back from the window. The light will reduce but you can always bump up your ISO to compensate for this.
When shooting a portrait using window light its important to keep the emotive affects of that light clear in your mind. A soft light cast across someone's face can often create an endearing affect. This is ideal for weddings, young people and children. If you want to create something theatrical and moody, try a different direction and quality of light. However, for windows, you will find that creating an endearing affect is easier than you think.
Window light is a great light source for portraits if you have no other professional lighting set up. Find the right position before shooting, and then employ the use of a good tripod. Before you press the shutter button carefully examine the quality, contrast, temperature and direction of this light. Work with light in this way also you look at all the very subtle aspects of your portrait. Once you look at portrait photography this way your photos will never be disappointing. In fact you will know the technical secrets to stunning portraiture.
First of all, create stunning portrait photography is not about camera settings. In fact, if you focus on camera settings as the way to take portraits, you will be disappointed. Camera settings are part of it, but not the whole part. By all means, take notice of your settings, but do not rely on them to be the whole answer to creating stunning portraiture.
Many enthusiast photographers stand in front of the window. They position their subject (friend) with their backs behind the window. What they should be doing is using the window light to light the subjects face. Sounds easy doesn't it? So why don't more photographers light portraits that way?
The simple answer is they do not understand light. The difference between an enthusiast photographer and a professional photographer is a solid, and very deep understanding, of light. If you are an enthusiast, and you have struggled with photography, don't feel bad.
Changing the white balance to suit your portrait is essential if you want to create beautifully warm and fresh skin tones. It's easy to create unsuitable colour tone through a lack of understanding about white balance and how it affects your friends skin tone. In this case do a custom white balance before you shoot.
Firstly, in order to create really stunning portrait photography you need to really look at the light. Is the light creating lots of hard shadows or is the light really nice and soft over the persons face? Hard light is the light you see on a very bright, sunny day that shows lots of bright areas and lots of dark shadows.
When you shoot portraits you can chose a variety of colour temperatures depending on the look and feel you are aiming for. If you want something upbeat and happy then you may chose a white colour temperature. This occurs with the sun being at the highest in the sky. If you want something soft and endearing you may choose to shoot when there are warm colours in the sky. Usually portraits look nice when the colour temperature is white.
You can actually change this hue on the camera. You can make it look blue, yellow or orange. This is called white balance. You can select this range of colour hues depending on the look and feel you are aiming for. If you want to create a romantic feel for your portrait then you may chose a orange colour temperature. This is kind of like the light you see at sunset or dawn. It can influence the way people feel when they look at the photo. Don't forget about a white colour temperature, such as the hue you see at midday. Usually portraits look nice when the colour temperature is white.
Window light can help soften shadows and provide a nice direction, as long as the window light comes from the person's top and side, not directly from above. If you have too much light from above, this is when shadows under the nose and the eyes may occur. To stop this from happening (or reduce it) , try and find a large window. This will help throw light on the persons face quite evenly.
What about shadows on the other side of the persons face? You may notice that if you stand the person too close to the window you will see shadows on the side of their face that isn't directly under the window. If you find that this is the case then try moving the person back from the window. The light will reduce but you can always bump up your ISO to compensate for this.
When shooting a portrait using window light its important to keep the emotive affects of that light clear in your mind. A soft light cast across someone's face can often create an endearing affect. This is ideal for weddings, young people and children. If you want to create something theatrical and moody, try a different direction and quality of light. However, for windows, you will find that creating an endearing affect is easier than you think.
Window light is a great light source for portraits if you have no other professional lighting set up. Find the right position before shooting, and then employ the use of a good tripod. Before you press the shutter button carefully examine the quality, contrast, temperature and direction of this light. Work with light in this way also you look at all the very subtle aspects of your portrait. Once you look at portrait photography this way your photos will never be disappointing. In fact you will know the technical secrets to stunning portraiture.
About the Author:
Amy Renfrey is the author of several photography ebooks and a monthly photography emagazine. She shows you how to take stunning photos every single time, even if you have never used a digital camera before. Click here to learn photography the easy way.
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