First try at a portrait

[iluv2fly1]

I've been doing a lot of landscape photography and when I was invited to join a model's photoshoot it was a whole new challenge. I have been regularly shooting outdoors in manual mode, but I just couldn't get it right and had to switch to auto for these photos. But then I found that the ISO was quite high and the images are all a bit noisy. I was able to do a little editing on the raw image before I converted it, but it still isn't as good as I would have liked.

I realize a tripod and studio lighting would have helped, but barring significant additional expense, what sort of things could I have done to produce better images? What sort of settings should I have tried with manual mode?


Canon 1100D
Auto Exposure
f 5.0
1/5
ISO 800

[Liz Caldwell]

Not bad for a first try. As you've already stated, the ISO is quite high, the shutter speed is also really slow, which will lead to blurry photos as well.

When learning studio lighting and portraiture in general, I recommend shooting F-8 at 1/60 sec, and convert it to B&W... I know it sounds a bit boxed in, but it really gives you the opportunity to learn the lighting process. It's easier to see where the light falls on a BW shot, especially when you're using incandescent lights (aka hot lights, or anything not daylight balanced).

Starting with such basic, middle-of-the-road setting will allow you to concentrate more on the fundamentals, lighting and posing

[iluv2fly1]

That is true. I have discovered that playing with black and white helps me to see the light better. I probably should do that more often.

What sort of ISO should I work with? I hate auto ISO because it always seems to give me some crazy number in the thousands.

When you use those settings, do you adjust when the camera says it is under or over exposed? (And if so, which do you adjust?) I tend to adjust the speed and that is how I end up with speeds that are difficult to handhold.

[ShannonSky]

Originally Posted by iluv2fly1

That is true. I have discovered that playing with black and white helps me to see the light better. I probably should do that more often.

What sort of ISO should I work with? I hate auto ISO because it always seems to give me some crazy number in the thousands.

When you use those settings, do you adjust when the camera says it is under or over exposed? (And if so, which do you adjust?) I tend to adjust the speed and that is how I end up with speeds that are difficult to handhold.

For this photo, I'd definitely drop the f stop. Your shutter speed really shouldn't be much lower than 1/60 to avoid camera shake if you aren't on a tripod.

I always start with ISO when adjusting. That's going to depend on your camera - if I go any higher than 400, I start getting noticeable grain in the photos, but a higher-end model will let you bump the ISO much higher without introducing noise. So anyway, I start with my ISO as low as I can get it (usually 100-200 outside and 400 inside). Next I move to my aperture...I like my backgrounds blurred, so I usually drop that as much as I can and is appropriate - for something like this, where the subject is parallel to you, you could probably bring it as low as it can go. Then I fiddle with shutter speed - I'm usually shooting my toddler, so I try not to let it get under 1/250 or so. But my bare minimums are usually ISO 400, ss 1/200, f2.2, if I can't get those settings at least, I try to find more light.

[iluv2fly1]

I think at that zoom, this may have been the minimum aperture (I'm just using the basic Canon lens that comes with the camera). And I definitely get noise at 400 ISO so I have been trying to stay lower than that when I can.

But I like this idea. I'll try using your process and see whether it fixes some of my issues.

[jnoll]

Originally Posted by iluv2fly1

I've been doing a lot of landscape photography and when I was invited to join a model's photoshoot it was a whole new challenge. I have been regularly shooting outdoors in manual mode, but I just couldn't get it right and had to switch to auto for these photos. But then I found that the ISO was quite high and the images are all a bit noisy. I was able to do a little editing on the raw image before I converted it, but it still isn't as good as I would have liked.

I realize a tripod and studio lighting would have helped, but barring significant additional expense, what sort of things could I have done to produce better images? What sort of settings should I have tried with manual mode?


Canon 1100D
Auto Exposure
f 5.0
1/5
ISO 800

I think the wb is off.Her skin has a green cast to it.Pretty lady.