Indoor portraits - sans studio

[mishmatta]

Hi everyone.....please share some advice, tips, etc...

When taking indoor portraits of people, say in their home, etc....how do you light the room artificially?

Let's assume that they DON'T have sunporch.... And the pictures are on the family staircase at home, or the living room couch, etc. I'd like to give the look of the portraits a touch of professionalism.

I've seen so many photographs that are taken in clients homes, in front of the christmas tree, group portraits in front of the fireplace, etc. And none are flat, washed out, or that "standard flash" look. They actually look like studio lighting. If you're one of those photographers, how do you accomplish the right lighting (besides carrying around an entire studio lighting kit)...

Thanks so much! Look forward to hearing from everyone. Love this site!!

[OsmosisStudios]

I use my speedlight(s) on stands bouncing off walls or modifiers like umbrellas or softboxes.

[carl yeomans]

This will be a lot more use to you than the last reply. I guarantee you will learn a hell of a lot about how to light those type of shots you want.
Strobist: Lighting 101

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by carl yeomans

This will be a lot more use to you than the last reply. I guarantee you will learn a hell of a lot about how to light those type of shots you want.
Strobist: Lighting 101

Well that was slightly uncalled for. the OP was asking a general question about how to get more light in a non-studio situation: I answered and provided some moderate detail. Belittling other users as you have done is very uncool.

[kencaleno]

From my K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Shutterbug) Course:

The Indoor Portrait by Window light: (Part one)

SETTINGS :

ISO: Lowest
Exposure mode: A/Av Aperture priority
White balance: Auto White Balance
Drive mode: Continuous
Metering mode: Centre-weighted
Focus points: Centre
Auto focus: Single shot

Think about:

a) You may need to go to F8 to control depth of field, and maintain subject focus.
b) You may need to resort to manual focus to ensure eyes are sharp
c) ISO-Start at lowest setting and increase up to 400 if necessary to ensure a shutter speed of at least 1/125 sec.

For indoor portraits, window light is a great source-First choose a window on the side of the house away from the sun-you don’t want direct sunlight, it’s too harsh. When you position your model close to a window, you get a soft light to one side of the face, and because the inside of the room is relatively dark, the other side of the face will be in shadow -a 3 dimensional look for your portrait.
Again, by using a reflector, ( Gold gives a warm tanned look, White will be most used, and Silver gives a glint to the model’s eye) you can arrive at the 2-stop difference - For instance F 11 for window -lit side of face, and F 5.6 for the shadow side- ( 3:1 ratio) for the ideal portrait. Or you can use fill-in flash as a last resort if reflectors, scrims or blacks aren’t immediately available.

As before, focus on the subject’s eyes, and use posing, composing, and character finding ideas from previous situation.

NOTE: Set aperture to window lit side of face. (Key light)

Some notes on Portraiture:

Note: Focus on Subjects Eyes For portraits.

Light

Concerning portraits, It is better to use a non-directional (Diffused) light source, due to the gradual gradation of its shadow, which doesn’t mar the portrait. If you’re shooting outdoors, for the best modelling you will want the light to strike the model’s face from the side, at 45 degrees vertical and horizontal. First get out of the direct sunlight, either in the shade of a building, or under the shelter of a tree. This will result in your model being lit by a diffused, non-directional light source, skylight or reflected light from surroundings. If you position your model looking towards this light source , the face should be lit with soft, delicate light. All you need to do is to move your subject, or your camera, to get light crossing the face.. What you want to achieve here is to have one side of the face brighter than the other by two stops exposure, giving a 3-dimensional rendering to the portrait. In case there is no tree, or building, you may need to resort to scrims, reflectors or blacks to modify the light to suit. Scrims are sheets of translucent material that are held between the sun and the subject to diffuse direct light. Reflectors are panels of card or material that reflects light, providing a soft quality of light. Usually white, silver or gold in colour, light bounces off the surface and into the shadow areas of the face. Blacks are the opposite of reflectors and they absorb light, instead of reflecting it.
Or you can use your pop-up flash as fill in, and as a bonus this will produce nice catch lights in the subject’s eyes
Simplify

As your subject needs to be the centre of attention in your image, you won’t want unnecessary clutter in foreground or background. Try to emphasise your subject by putting them against a simple plain background, but, if you want to give a sense of location, attempt to find a viewpoint that is simple and uncluttered.

Another way to emphasise your subject, is to fill the frame; alternatively, you could use shallow depth of field rendering the background out of focus-subject will appear sharp, with background blurred. Best way to do this is with a large aperture, in your case with a kit lens- F 5.6 (you will need to position your subject a good distance from background at this aperture to get the bokeh (blur) you require.)

Copyright: © Kenneth William Caleno (Dip Phot) 2009

[kencaleno]

Portraits part two:

Subject Posture


You will need to gently coax your portrait subject into an appropriate pose for his/her portrait,-not an easy task for the beginner. They must feel relaxed and confident if you are to portray them adequately. If they turn their body at about 45 degrees to camera position, then look back to just over your left shoulder, this will induce dynamism into the portrait and will make the body look slimmer. Sometimes it just pays to talk to your sitter-ask them to tell you their story, and you must be aware of the nuances of character as their story is related, and be ready to capture those little subtleties.

Lens focal length

The ideal focal length of lens for portraits, is somewhere between 80mm and 135mm, using 35mm(Full-frame) film standards. So that means the telephoto end of your kit lens , 55mm- is equivalent to 86mm in 35mm (Full-frame) terms. Using this 55mm setting will enable you to make a head and shoulder shot from just a few feet away, without distorting your subject’s features, which a shorter focal length would do. If you want to include more of the scene , you can use shorter focal lengths, but you will need to keep a fair distance from your subject to avoid distortion.
Composition

How do you intend to crop your portrait in the viewfinder frame? Head shot?; Head and shoulders? Three-quarter length? (quite popular); Full length? How about angle of view?
Shooting from our eye-level, isn’t necessarily the most appropriate solution. From above eye-level your subject will appear submissive, or passive, and from below they will look domineering,


Focus


They eyes we are told, are the “mirror of the soul”, so it will pay you to focus on the eyes, using centre focus point, holding shutter button halfway down, then recompose your image for the crop you want.
Metering

Centre-weighted metering mode is ideal for front-lit and side-lit portraits, but backlighting can confuse the meter. Try using spot mode on subject’s face for backlit situations

Got it all together? Go take your shot-chimp your camera’s monitor screen, and if it’s too dark, or too light, use your exposure compensation, or increase ISO if necessary.

Look for Exposure Compensation in your Camera Manual, so you know where to find it, and how to use it

Copyright: © Kenneth William Caleno (Dip Phot) 2009

[roger44]

Originally Posted by carl yeomans

This will be a lot more use to you than the last reply. I guarantee you will learn a hell of a lot about how to light those type of shots you want.
Strobist: Lighting 101

Carl
great idea and it works. I have just connect my SB600 to a hotshot and linked it to an IR reciever and can fire it from the IR trigger on the camera.

great, great, off camera flash here I come

thanks again for pointing us to the article