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- epitaphic, on 05/11/2009, -1/+13Mirror:
http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:F6UvfeOL0-8J: ... - cfimages, on 05/11/2009, -2/+14Thanks for the DIGGs. Sorry the site is slow/down - guess it's time for a new hosting company,
- dattaway, on 05/11/2009, -4/+16text:
More often than not, it’s the people you meet that make travel truly memorable. It’s also the photographs of people that usually get the best reaction from family and friends when you return home. So without further ado - 10 tips for better people photography.
Bonus Intro Tip – Common to all genres of photography are three things. Correct exposure, correct white balance and sharp focus. Getting these right is essential. No amount of Photoshop trickery can replace these three basic points. Ensure you’re competent in these before you learn anything else.
mazu2007-18
1.Focus Points – One is better than many.
Modern digital cameras have a number of focus points that helps the autofocus lock on to the subject. For portrait photography, having a large number of points can be more a hindrance than a help. When using all the points, the camera will make a guesstimate based on the average of all the points. Sometimes this will work well, sometimes it won’t and you’ll be left with your subject out of focus and something in the background/foreground in focus. Not what you want. Instead, select one focus point only – usually done with a dial on the camera, check your manual for how to set it. The center point is the strongest, so use that one to lock your focus on what you want, not what the camera thinks you want.
2.Focus On The Eyes
I’ve mentioned this before – the eyes are the most important part of a portrait. If they are sharp and in focus, the rest of the picture can be out of focus and it’ll still look good. Point the center focus point from 1. at the eyes, lock the focus and then recompose as necessary.
3. Shoot At Large Apertures
The aperture or f-stop is what controls the amount of light reaching the sensor. A large aperture is, sometimes confusingly, the smallest f-number. F2.8 is a larger f-stop than f16. It lets more light in, and has a shallower depth-of-field. When we set the aperture to its widest (eg f2.8), it’s known as shooting wide open. It gives a pleasing out-of-focus effect (bokeh) in the background away from the critical point, which results in pleasing portraits. The viewers’ eye is directed to the subject not the background.
CFImages_STshoot-3
4. Shoot At 70mm or Longer
At shorter focal lengths than 70mm, distortion starts to occur. It’s not really noticeable until you are below 50mm so you have a bit of leeway. If you shoot a frame-filling portrait with a wide-angle lens, your subject’s head is going to look strangely large due to the distortion. The classic portrait lengths are between 80mm and 135mm but anything from 70mm to 200mm will look good.
5. Shoot RAW
There’s really no point buying a DSLR or high-end digicam if you then go and do all your shooting in JPG. Shooting in RAW captures all the image data. Shooting in JPG means you are throwing away all but the basic data. If you make any kind of error while shooting, you can often still get usable images out of a RAW file. If you try and edit a JPG, you’ll just make things worse. If your white balance is off (or you want to creatively change it), you can with RAW. You can’t with JPG. A RAW file will be 12 or 14 bit. JPG is 8 bit. And so on.
6. Shoot In The Shade
The last place you want to be shooting is in direct sunlight. It’s harsh, it creates hard, directional shadows and it’s not at all flattering to your subject. Move into the shade and you’ll get smooth, even shadows and softer light.
CFImages_CosplayA1809-2217
7. Cloudy Days Are Your Best Friend
Professional studio photography spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on softboxes, umbrellas and other light modifiers in an effort to create soft, even light. Nature also provides soft light and best of all, it’s free. Cloudy, overcast days are the people photographers best friend. Cloud cover can help enrich the colors and create smooth, flattering shadows.
8. Learn Sunny 16
Sunny 16 is a rule of thumb for determining exposure. It’ll give you a baseline to work with. Sunny 16 simply says that on a sunny day, with your aperture value set to ƒ16, your shutter speed will be the inverse of the current ISO speed. For example, if your camera is set to ISO 100, and your aperture value is ƒ16, your shutter speed will be 1/100th of a second. On a cloudy day (or when in the shade) you simply use ƒ8 instead.
9. Watch Your Background
Pay attention to what’s going on around the edges of the frame. The last thing you want is trees or power poles appearing to grow out of your subjects head, or power lines coming from their ears. The internet is full of funny picture websites that show people in the background making funny faces, mooning or giving the finger behind the subject. Don’t let your photo turn into something like that.
10. Never, Ever Use On-Camera Flash
Probably the worst possible thing you can do when taking a photo of a person (or anything for that matter) is to use on-camera flash. This can not be repeated enough. National Geographic photographer Joe McNally says it best, “Straight flash is disaster light. Use it at 3:00am, with bodies on the highway and nothing to bounce off”. It is the most unflattering light – you are literally throwing light at the subject and instead of making a photograph, you’re making a copy. Doing something as simple as holding the flash at arms length in your left hand while holding the camera in your right hand can make all the difference.
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So there we have it. Ten simple tips for improving your people shots while you are traveling. Get out there and give these tips a go and you’ll see a marked improvement in your pictures in no time at all. Happy shooting.
If you enjoyed this post, why don’t you subscribe to my RSS feed so that you don’t miss anything. Feel free to share this with your friends and social media networks. - dannymb877, on 05/11/2009, -2/+1311: Don't let your mother take them.
- borez, on 05/11/2009, -1/+11Always surprise your subject with a little well placed dynamite.
- whoreable, on 05/11/2009, -0/+411. Don't use flash while taking pictures outside their bedroom window.
- gtrob, on 05/11/2009, -1/+4Good stuff. Although I would add an asterisk to number 10 regarding fill flash.
- Phearce, on 05/11/2009, -0/+2Agreed, but the first step is getting your equipment set up to do off-camera... then the exploration can begin.
- Phearce, on 05/11/2009, -0/+2Using an off-camera flash does make a huge difference. Any camera with a flash-shoe can do this with flash cables. Many of the newer DSLRs can do off-camera flash wirelessly (I use a Pentax K10D). The strobist.com blog has plenty of info, how-tos, etc.
- szstevo, on 05/11/2009, -0/+2Great article. Many useful tips.
- phork, on 05/11/2009, -0/+2if this is a guide for beginners, which is obviously is after reading the whole thing, why tell them to shoot in RAW? most people that aren't knee deep in photog gear will have no idea how to manipulate RAW. not to mention, they just spent $500 - $1000 on a camera that can shoot in RAW and now they have to do what the camera does by itself?
i agree with MeiMeiX as well. sometimes on camera flash can produce some really nice effects. - bevel, on 06/11/2009, -0/+2Direct sunlight can do amazingly flattering things to a subject when the sun is setting/rising on the horizon.
- lamiaconfitor, on 05/11/2009, -1/+3:( down... mirror request?
- GawtMilk, on 05/11/2009, -0/+2I think these are awful tips. Photography isn't about following rules. Photography is about composing well and taking the photo at the right moment. For instance, one of his "tips" is to never shoot wider than 70mm.
This photo was taken at 50mm:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlesviper/34923032 ...
This one was taken at 12mm:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlesviper/30770038 ...
This one was taken at a 50mm equivalent on a medium format camera:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlesviper/25767878 ...
This one was taken at 20mm:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlesviper/24545305 ...
Whether or not you think they are good photos, you could agree that there aren't noticeable distortions (except for the 12mm shot, but that was a super wide angle and the effect was on purpose). Plus, some of the stuff he says is contradictory. He starts off by saying that you have to get the right white balance, but then he says to shoot in RAW (where white balance as set in-camera only effects the built-in JPG preview).
If you just want good photos of your friends and family while traveling, don't hesitate to use built in flash. There are a ton of photographs out there that only work with fill flash - if the subject is backlit, just use the fill flash! Don't bother listening to this guy's "tips". In photography, rules are meant to be broken.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vasi/472738541/
Most importantly, find an interesting subject and try to make it even more interesting. If you are taking portraits, this means to find your subject when they are not doing mundane tasks. Don't whip out the camera at dinner at try to get good photos, is isn't going to happen. Take photos of the subjects when they are relaxed and comfortable and in the mood to be photographed.
I get the feeling that this is what 90% of tutorials miss, and it is the reason there are so many over edited, over thought HDR photos of leaves or clouds on flickr. If you look at the screen or you look at your contact sheet after shooting and it doesn't impress you, don't spend an hour editing it trying to salvage it. Go out and shoot more. - Charlotte_Web, on 05/11/2009, -0/+2One more tip... don't put your subject dead-center in the picture. Putting the subject off-center makes for a much more interesting photograph. If you look at his pictures, you'll notice that they are all off-center.
- kmoser, on 05/11/2009, -0/+2Other tips:
http://www.kmoser.com/articles/How_to_Take_Great_P ... - gtrob, on 05/11/2009, -0/+1GawtMilk... you are going to the other extreme, I think. Sure, rules are meant to be broken, especially in a creative endeavor. These tips are clearly not meant for the expert, but rather the beginner who needs to understand the basics of taking good pictures. Just like any trade or activity, first you master the basics, the tried-and-true techniques for success, then you later expand and build upon it. First you learn to make a lay-up every, then you work on the fade-away three.
- MeiMeiX, on 05/11/2009, -0/+1No 10 should say "rarely use direct flash" from you camera. There's nothing at all wrong with bounced flash, and sometimes even on-camera, direct flash can look good.
And number 9 is just silly - camera have for decaddes had built in meters that will almost always do a far better job than that guess, besides which is contradicts number 3! - 42ndStreetPhoto, on 10/01/2009, -0/+1Wonderful article. Great tips for anyone doing photography
- AnnieBone, on 06/04/2009, -0/+1Awesome article. Found another few great tips in this forum.. http://www.photoartgallery.com/community/ph.orum/f ...
there are also great tips and demonstrations in a few other threads.. you'll just have to have a look around. - HGCreative, on 05/28/2009, -0/+1great tips! thanks!
- charelV8, on 09/08/2009, -0/+1My personal tip: Use a 50mm f/1.4 This is best for a face shot, but if you go for the cheaper f/1.8 lenses, it gives you similar performances.
http://lensauction.com/nikon/50mm-lens-canon-nikon ... - WendyJC1, on 05/28/2009, -0/+1:)
- jinkye, on 06/17/2009, -0/+1Wow nice Tips... #2 eyes
My favourite
<a href="http://appstime.blogspot.com/2009/06/free-ebooks-o ... Free ebook on photography </a> - jonvp, on 10/12/2009, -0/+0The best tip - don't use flash unless you absolutely have to.
http://www.wozofoto.com - Daily deal on fine art photography prints - rbansal, on 05/11/2009, -1/+1Photography is natural way of art. We can't bound it in tips or trick. It has broader aspect. It varies with people to people and situation to situation. In spite of you have shared good tips. There are some other views for better photography : http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=node/26603
- cardshark69, on 05/11/2009, -5/+4Amazing how something as simple as not using on-camera flash can make such a profound difference.
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