Tips on shooting portraits (part 1).

Eric and Kathryn Svendsen, 2018

One of the questions I am frequently asked is, “How did you do that?”  The answer varies greatly with the associated topic.  Sometimes the answer involves technique, sometimes equipment, and often being able to pair the two together.  The photograph above of Kathryn and I is a case in point.

The equipment part of the answer is simple; I used an APSC-sensor DSLR camera with a 50 mm f/1.4 lens and a tripod.  That was it.  Your standard DSLR camera will do; it does not have to be an advanced model.  The lens is more specific though.  I chose the 50 mm lens because it gives a modest telephoto focal length on the smaller sensor cameras.  Most portrait work benefits from mild telephoto values, ranging from 80 mm to 135 mm (relative to a full frame camera).  You can choose other focal lengths of course, but mild telephoto focal lengths are preferred by far.  The 50 mm gives a relative focal length of 75 mm on a crop sensor camera.

The f/1.4 minimum aperture is another issue all together.  Kit lenses (18 – 55 mm) will produce a minimum aperture of f/5.6 when fully zoomed in.  The higher f/value means two things; more depth of field and a lower shutter speed.  Both tend to be undesirable, especially in low light situations or using a built in flash to augment ambient lighting.  The f/1.4 lens meant I could use a low ISO (200) and a faster shutter speed, although here it was a measly 1/10^th of a second.  That’s where the tripod came in, plus there was no one about to hold the camera.

That may sound somewhat paltry, but consider a few facts.  Had I used f/5.6, the background would have been more in focus, and I was going for blur to help direct your attention to the subjects.  Then there are the ISO and shutter speed issues.  F/1.4 is a full four stops faster than f/5.6.  That means the lens lets in sixteen times more light.  To get the same shutter speed the ISO would have to be 3200 which risks a lot of noise and reduces the maximum size of an enlargement you can make.  To keep the ISO at its original 200, the shutter speed would be reduced to just a bit above one second.  Hand held or not, that is a very long time for subjects that are animate. 

If you noticed there was no flash used.  I often use flash in portrait work but opted not to in this case.  A built in flash can illuminate a subject 35 feet away at f/1.4 (ISO 100) but only 7 feet away at f/5.6.  The photo was taken indoors (the background is a wall mural) and the lighting was muted.  A flash would have overexposed the foreground (the flowers), underexposed the background, and added undesirable reflections off surfaces.

Should you want to go out right away and pick up a 50 mm f/1.4 lens you will likely be disappointed because they are a bit pricey.  Weighing in at over $500, most will find it somewhat unpalatable.  However, there is good news.  The widely available 50 mm f/1.8 lens does almost the same job and is half the price brand new.  Even better is the fact that you can pick it up used for around $100 or so.  If you are serious about improving your portraits, consider getting one of these.

I will discuss other aspects of shooting portraits in my next blog.  Expect part 2 soon.

Thanks for reading.