Portraiture 101

The other day(ok maybe not the other day, since I have procrastinated posting this) I got a chance to meet up with fellow photographers and enthusiasts. Chris, Wamiti, Mich, David and the lovely Lauryn. Just to have a chat and do some practice out door. Mainly in shooting portraiture. Just to recap what we highlighted, the differences of using telephoto vs wide in doing a portrait. Below are comparisons of same subject with a 35mm vs a 300mm

the 35mm

and 300mm

Notice how the background changes, the tree behind looks closer in the 300mm image as opposed to the 35mm? Telephoto’s lenses compress the background, bringing things in the back closer. Also the backgrounds falls out of focus easily, so you can achieve shallow depth easily with a higher focal length.

Another advantage is that there is less distortion with a higher focal length. distortion is more evident if you use a wide angle to shoot a close up of someone, either the nose will look bigger or whatever is closest to the lens.

These are just some of the considerations you should have when deciding what lens to use in a portrait. Having said that, its completely dependent on your taste, what works for you. I find majority of my portraits are on the 35mm.

The beauty of a long focal range like 300mm, you can place things in the foreground to add a bit of foreground which will be thrown out of focus.

Well someone got me yapping away about something, not sure what I was on about, with all the hand gestures.

More behind the scenes, with Mich assisting and Lauryn as the model.

We had a go at strobing, using Chinese modifiers (of course)  :-), Below is an image shot by Wamiti.

I always think it looks better if you are able to blend the ambient light to the strobe light. Below is a great example of such.

Fady a friend of mine sent me this photo that explains brilliantly in one image, the relation between Aperture and Shutter, and what that it does to the photo.

All the best, keep shooting.