I'm going to shoot some interim headshots for my girlfriend and I was wondering what aperture to use. I know having a 1.6x crop on my camera does something to DoF (shortens it?) I'm planning on using my 50/1.4.
Can anyone give me some guidelines for taking headshots? She insists on doing them outside for natural light. This is new to me, so any advice will be appreciated.
Not the best lens for portrait shots... you want minimum dof for portraits so your background is blurred. To get minimum dof, use the aperture at it's widest (low number). Try to avoid shadows by not shooting at midday, and by using relective surfaces to bounce light onto the shadow areas.
I also have the kit lens and a 28-135. Would you suggest either of those over the 50? I just figured the 50 had the widest aper. for the shallowest DoF.
Interesting point... but you'd have to get pretty close with the 50mm. I'd be tempted to use the 28-135 at the zoom end. It's a little more flattering to capture a face around 100mm than it is at 50mm. Let's see what other people think...
I like the 50mm for portraits. I have the 1.8, and shoot wide open. I have also gotten good results with my Sigma 105 f2.8 wide open, but it's a bit tight for the way I like to work. The 28-135 is a nice lens, but not particularly fast, so unless you have the kind of BG that will not detract from your subject, I'd stick to the 50mm because the 28-135 won't really let you blur it well.
I highly disagree...the 50 1.4 on a 1.6x camera is awesome for headshots. The 80mm equivalent field of view is on the shorter end of what is the classic 85-135mm focal length for a portrait lens. Since it is your girlfriend I'm sure you won't have any issues with getting a bit closer than someone you didn't know. My example was taken from a little over arm's length away.
Not the best lens for portrait shots... you want minimum dof for portraits so your background is blurred. To get minimum dof, use the aperture at it's widest (low number). Try to avoid shadows by not shooting at midday, and by using relective surfaces to bounce light onto the shadow areas.
Not the best lens for portrait shots... you want minimum dof for portraits so your background is blurred. To get minimum dof, use the aperture at it's widest (low number). Try to avoid shadows by not shooting at midday, and by using relective surfaces to bounce light onto the shadow areas.
I think it would have looked better with a different lens. The forehead looks too big in this shot for my taste, which would have been fixed with 100mm or higher. It's all pretty subjective though, and I don't claim to have the last word.
Edit: I like portraits cropped pretty tight, which is why I would go for the different lens.
Ok, thanks. Here is a shot from a dry run we did this weekend. Please let me know what you think. And, don't be afraid to be brutally honest, we want this to be as professional a headshot as possible until she needs to get another.
What stands out most in the photo is the squint. Put her somewhere she does not have to be looking straight into the sun. An angled light works better anyway, IMHO.
Hereis a link that has many helpful tips on lighting and poses for portraits.
Some fill flash would really help to bring out her face, maybe with a slight warming gel to warm up the skintones.
I tried some flash fill shots, but they totaly blew out her face. I think keeping the camera on aperture priority killed my use of the on camera flash close up.
Thanks for the tip on the warming gel, maybe it'll cut down on the intensity of the flash.
What stands out most in the photo is the squint. Put her somewhere she does not have to be looking straight into the sun. An angled light works better anyway, IMHO.
Believe it or not, this was her looking away from the sun. I couldn't really get too many shots with direct sunlight at all. Her eyes just started watering. I had her holding a small white reflector board for a little bottom fill.
depending on how sunny it is outside, i have found that just going around a corner of a house or building helps even the lighting conditions. which also helps with squinting.
i have a ton of shots in my portfolio of Anastasia where i just went around the corner. i used a 105mm, however, i too think that 50mm can be fine considering the 1.6x factor as long as you don't care about working close. i actually like shooting closer anyway.
i have a ton of shots in my portfolio of Anastasia where i just went around the corner. i used a 105mm, however, i too think that 50mm can be fine considering the 1.6x factor as long as you don't care about working close. i actually like shooting closer anyway.
Can you tell me roughly what apertures you used for the Anastasia pics? Would I be able to use similar settings to your 105 with my 50 to achieve the same results?
The lighing doesn't look too bad to me. I would crop the shirt out of the frame, you want her face to be the brightest object in the picture.
As far as changing a color photo to B&W, the first thing I do is adjust levels to get rid of any flat spots on either side of the histogram. Then I change the mode to greyscale and do another level adjustment.
The lighing doesn't look too bad to me. I would crop the shirt out of the frame, you want her face to be the brightest object in the picture.
As far as changing a color photo to B&W, the first thing I do is adjust levels to get rid of any flat spots on either side of the histogram. Then I change the mode to greyscale and do another level adjustment.
I really like the 50mm for portraits. I am doing a whole series of portraits of the people in my life. I have started it. All of the pics were taken with the 50mm. there is a wide variety of lighting used all them.
Check 'em out here!
I have done some head shots with my 50mm f/1.8. When the head and shoulders are full frame with that lens, f/1.8 is way too shallow. F/8 would probably be a good place to start. You may be successful at f/5.6. Experiment with it and see what works. A large aperture when the subject is close to the camera on the 50mm lens creates a very shallow depth of field. I was working at about 5' and was unsuccessful shooting wide open.
