Chapter 12: Portrait Photography

Whether you set out to be a portrait photographer or not, there’s no escaping the times when you want or need to photograph people. These are some of the most valuable opportunities you have to capture truly memorable images — images that are treasured by the people you photograph and by their family and friends.

If portrait photography is your calling, you are blessed with a never-ending source of fascinating subjects. In addition, you can unleash your creativity in designing sets, scouting interesting locations, and perfecting a variety of lighting techniques.

But more to your advantage is the priceless opportunity to work with people — to get to know them, to coax out the best in them, and to make images that they will enjoy for years to come.

Preparing for Portrait Photography

The goal of making a portrait is to capture the spirit of the person or people. When you capture the spirit of the person, it’s evident because the subject’s eyes are engaged, vibrant, expressive, and energetic, drawing the viewer into the image. No amount of skillful lighting, posing, or post-capture editing can substitute for this. So the first goal is to establish a good and continuing rapport with the subject or subjects so that you can draw out and capture their spirit.

In this specialty area more than in any other area, you must have command of your camera, the lighting, and the accessories to the level that using them is second nature. You need this level of expertise because the majority of your time is spent working with the people you’re photographing. Before you even bring the camera to the tripod or out of the gear bag, your first goal is to connect with the person or people you’re photographing. Establishing rapport takes time and work on your part. By comparison, in nature and landscape shooting, you work with uninhibited subjects that sit silently and submissively so that you can set the pace and face snafus with equanimity. In people photography, whether you’re doing a structured portrait session or street portraits, you work with people who may have a lot of previous “I-hate-pictures-of-me” baggage, often have many things to say, and worry sometimes excessively about what they are wearing and how they look. People, unlike trees and streams, have little patience for technical delays and camera adjustments.

12.1 For this assignment, I needed a narrow aperture to get extensive depth of field. In addition, I asked the people in the back rows to lean slightly forward and the subjects in front to lean back slightly to get everyone closer to being on the same plane. Exposure: ISO 400, f/7, 1/25 second using an EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens.

Photographing people involves maintaining an ongoing conversation, providing specific directions, and, in a structured portrait session, coordinating clothing, lighting, and background changes. Given these demands on your time and attention, the last thing you have time to worry about is the camera’s performance, and with the 60D, you can depend on the camera to perform without a hiccup.

If you plan carefully, your odds of having a smooth and trouble-free session are greatly increased. Set up the camera in advance with the lenses and accessories that you want to use within easy reach, and out of the reach of children. Know the range of setups or locations you want and the lighting that you’ll use, whether it’s flash units or the skillful use of reflectors.

Selecting gear

A number of variables affect the gear that you need for photographing people. Those variables include whether you shoot in your studio or home where your gear is conveniently close by, or if you shoot at a location where you bring gear with you. Another aspect that influences gear selection is whether you’re photographing a single person or a group, and, if a group, how large the group is.

Here are some suggestions for camera, lenses, and accessories. These are a good starting point from which you can make adjustments to suit your portrait session.

Two 60Ds or a 60D and a backup EOS camera body. In almost all shooting situations, a backup camera is the one element that keeps the session moving should you encounter camera problems. At the very least, have a backup compact or point-and-shoot camera.

One or more fast wide-angle and short telephoto lenses. For portraits, I most often use the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM (38.4-112mm on the 60D), the EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM (112-320mm), and the EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM (136mm) lens. In particular, the 24-70mm is very versatile — you can shoot individual subjects at the 70mm focal length or at a wider focal length for groups of up to five or six people. But the EF-S 18-135 kit lens provides a good focal range for portraits, and it is a reasonably fast lens with Image Stabilization, which pays off when you have to shoot in low-light scenes.

The EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM or the lighter-weight but slower EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM is also a good choice to increase background softness, particularly at wide apertures. As well, a short telephoto between 70-85mm creates the classic shallow depth of field and provides a comfortable working distance from the subject.

Reflectors. I can’t imagine shooting a portrait session indoors or outdoors without using one, two, or more silver, white, or gold reflectors. Reflectors are small, lightweight, collapsible, and indispensable for everything, from redirecting the main light or filling shadow areas to adding catchlights to the subject’s eyes. Reflectors are easier to manipulate than flash (and much less expensive), and silver and white reflectors retain the natural color of the ambient light. A gold reflector adds appealing warmth to skin tones.

EX-series flashes, light stands, umbrellas, or softboxes. You can create a nice portrait with a single flash unit mounted off-camera on a flash bracket. But you have more creative control if you use one or more Speedlites off the camera. You can use a flash bracket, or you can mount the Speedlites on stands with either umbrellas or softboxes. In any case, you can fire the flash units wirelessly from the 60D thanks to its built-in wireless Speedlite transmitter. The light ratios can be controlled, while the Speedlites can be placed around the set to replicate almost any classic lighting pattern. A multiple Speedlite lighting system is portable and lightweight and, with it, you can replicate studio lighting.

Tripod, monopod, extra SD cards, and spare batteries. These are obvious items to have on hand, but they bear mentioning. I keep spare SD (Secure Digital) cards in cases, and designate one case for filled SD cards and another for empty cards.

Brushes, combs, cosmetic blotters, lip gloss, concealer, safety pins, kids’ toys, and anything else you can think of. The subject will likely forget to bring one of these items, a garment will tear, or a button will pop off. Have a small emergency kit ready. The kit will often contain just what you need to keep the session going with minimal stress and interruption. And a simple toy will keep a child occupied while you make camera and lighting changes. It can also be a good prop in some images.

Setting up the 60D for portrait shooting

If you primarily shoot portraits, then devoting the Camera User Settings (C) mode to your portrait settings saves you time setting up for the session. In portrait photography, you often use the same types of exposure settings as well as lighting, particularly for indoor shooting. Because of this, you can set up the C mode in advance of the session and test the lighting before the subject arrives. The camera settings change as you move through the session, of course, but starting with the camera preset helps get the session moving quickly. With the camera set up for the first part of the session, you can devote more time to working with your subject or subjects.

Here are suggestions for setting up the 60D for portrait shooting.

Aperture-priority AE (Av) or Manual (M) shooting mode. Av shooting mode combined with Evaluative metering mode is a good choice because it offers quick control over the depth of field by changing the aperture with a single camera adjustment. If you use Av shooting mode, always keep an eye on the shutter speed to ensure it’s fast enough to handhold the camera and stop blur if the subject moves during the exposure. Alternately, Manual mode is the best choice if you meter from a gray card or a digital calibration target such as the one from PhotoVision (www.photovisionvideo.com), or if you use studio strobes.

Regardless of the shooting mode you choose, I recommend giving yourself a comfortably fast shutter speed — one that takes into consideration that the subject may also move during the exposure. So if you err, err on the side of a faster rather than a slower shutter speed.

12.2 Window light to the right of the subjects provided a classic lighting pattern for this father and son portrait. I used a large silver reflector on the left to bounce light into the shadow areas of the faces. I added a vignette in Photoshop and used Nik Color Efex Pro’s Dynamic Skin Softener filter during editing. Exposure: ISO 400, f/10, 1/25 second with –1/3-stop of Exposure Compensation.

As a rule of thumb, the minimum shutter speed at which you can handhold a non-IS lens is the reciprocal of the focal length. Thus, if your lens is set to 100mm, the minimum shutter speed at which you can handhold the camera and get a sharp image is 1/100 second. That’s the minimum shutter speed. I also factor in the potential that the subject may move, so a safer shutter speed is 1/200 second or faster.

One-shot AF mode or AI Focus AF. Unless the portrait subject is a young child who moves unexpectedly, One-shot AF mode is a good choice. If you are photographing a young child, then you can use AI Focus AF. In AI Focus AF mode, you can focus on the child, and if the child begins to move, the 60D switches automatically and tracks the child to maintain focus. A portrait isn’t successful if the point of sharpest focus is anywhere except on the subject’s eyes, and the best way to ensure sharp focus on the eyes is to manually set the AF point.

Low-speed Continuous drive mode. This mode allows a succession of shots at a reasonably fast 3 fps shooting speed for JPEG images. If you are photographing children in existing light, consider switching to High-speed Continuous mode to keep shooting fast-moving youngsters.

Evaluative metering mode. Evaluative metering is both fast and accurate for portraits. If you’re shooting outdoors using a middle gray card for metering, then Spot or Partial metering mode are good choices. Spot and Partial metering use 2.8 and 6.5 percent of the viewfinder at the center, respectively. You have to point the lens so that the center AF point is on the gray card when you take a meter reading. Then set the indicated exposure using the Exposure level indicator in the viewfinder.

Manual shooting mode is detailed in Chapter 3.

Picture Style. The Portrait Picture Style produces lovely skin tones and renders colors faithfully and with subdued saturation, which is appropriate for portraits. I also use a modified Neutral Picture Style. If you are shooting where the lighting is flat, then Standard Picture Style produces a snappier rendering.

12.3 Evaluative metering mode provided an excellent exposure for the subjects as well as the background. Exposure: ISO 400, f/5, 1/125 second using an EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens.

Custom Functions. For flash portraits in low light using Av shooting mode, consider using a fixed 1/250-second sync speed to make flash the primary illumination but ensure a fast handholding speed. If you do this, move the subjects as far from walls and backgrounds as possible. Alternately, you can sync the flash at slower shutter speeds to allow more of the ambient light to figure into the exposure for much more natural-looking lighting, but at slower shutter speed in low light. You can set the flash sync speed for Av shooting mode using C.Fn I-7. If you’re shooting scenes with bright tones, such as a bride in a white dress, you can enable C.Fn II-3, Highlight tone priority, to help keep highlights from blowing out.

Making Natural-Light Portraits

Whether you’re shooting outdoors or by window light indoors, the 60D offers a full complement of exposure options that deliver stunning exposures and accurate, visually appealing color. This is when it pays to skillfully use the metering modes, Picture Styles and White Balance options to get images that need a minimum of post-capture editing. And the less time you spend editing images, the more time you have to make new portraits.

Outdoor portraits

There are many times during the day, and many types of outdoor light, that create lovely portrait light that flatters the subject and allows for great exposures.

The following list provides considerations for outdoor portrait lighting:

The least-flattering outdoor portrait light. Before I discuss good portrait light, it’s worth mentioning that the worst portrait light is bright, overhead, unmodified midday sunlight. Bright sunlight flatters no one, and no one is comfortable squinting into direct sunlight. If you cannot reschedule the portrait session, then move the subject to an area that is shaded from the top, such as by a roof, an awning, or a tree, being careful to avoid areas with dappled light. If you move the subject into the shade, use a reflector to direct light onto the face. Then you can use the reflectors to create and control highlights and shadows. Also remember to adjust the white balance for the shade light.

If you must shoot in an open area with overhead sunlight, hold a diffuser or scrim — fabric or other material stretched over a frame — over the subject to diffuse the strong sunlight.

12.4 This picture was made just before dusk, when there was just enough remaining light to create good catchlights in the subjects’ eyes, and to create a soft and pleasing shadow pattern on the faces of the father and mother. Exposure: ISO 400, f/4.5, 1/200 second using an EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens.

The most-flattering outdoor portrait light. The most-flattering outdoor portrait light is just before, during, and just after sunrise, as well as just before and during sunset. The colors of light during these times of day imbue the subject with warm color and a glow that can’t be replicated with any other type of light. Because the intensity of light can be very high, use reflectors to fill facial shadows. You may need a diffuser to reduce the light intensity. For head-and-shoulders portraits, have the subject hold a reflector at waist level, tilted upward toward his or her face, to fill deep shadow areas on the face.

In outdoor light, the Portrait or Neutral Picture Styles can keep contrast to a manageable level and provide natural-looking color. Depending on the scene, you can generally use the Evaluative metering mode to get a good exposure on both the subject and the background. Alternately, you can take a meter reading off a gray card that is placed next to the subject’s face using Spot metering mode. Just move in close to the gray card, and use the center AF point as you half-press the shutter button. Then use that exposure reading by either pressing the AE Lock button, or by dialing in the exposure settings in Manual (M) mode.

Overcast light. The light of an overcast day can also give you nice portrait light if you use reflectors or fill flash to create the highlight and shadow patterns that provide facial modeling. Because overcast light can create deep contrast and color saturation, consider using the Portrait Picture Style, which has lower contrast and color saturation, to create a pleasing portrait. Because the light is flat throughout the scene, Evaluative metering mode gives an overall excellent exposure.

Back light and rim light. Backlighting can provide dramatic portrait lighting, especially for male subjects. While Evaluative metering is adequate for backlit subjects, you get a more-precise exposure on the subject by taking a meter reading from a gray card placed next to the subject’s face using Spot or Partial metering. Backlighting with some side lighting creates rim light. Rim lighting creates a bright outline around the subject or on one side of the subject. Generally, because the rim light is specular — a direct reflection of the light source — rim highlights are completely or mostly blown out.

In any type of outdoor light, watch how the shadows fall on the face. Bounce fill light into those areas using a silver or gold reflector. I prefer a silver reflector for the neutral light that it reflects. If I want to diminish the light from the reflector, then use a white reflector because it scatters light and decreases the intensity.

Reflectors also help ensure that catchlights appear in the subject’s eyes. In overcast light, in particular, you may need to use a reflector to create the catchlights. Ideally catchlights are at the 10 and 2 o’clock positions and appear in the iris of the eye rather than on the pupil. The size and shape of the catchlight reflects the light source. If you use the built-in flash for fill light and to create catchlights, the catchlights will be unattractive pinpoints of white. I prefer the larger size and shape of catchlights created by the skillful use of a reflector or a Speedlite mounted on a stand as it shoots into an umbrella or a softbox.

12.5 This shot of a mother and baby is an example of the spontaneous freedom provided by shooting in subdued outdoor light. The same shot in a studio would necessitate changing the position of the studio strobes as the subjects move position. Exposure: ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/100 second using an EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens.

To get the best color in any type of light, use a Custom white balance. If you don’t have time to set a Custom White Balance, then at sunrise or sunset, you can use either the Daylight or Cloudy White Balance setting. Or if you’re shooting RAW, you can shoot a gray card in one frame and use that image to color-correct images as a batch during RAW image conversion, as described in Chapter 4. Then you can adjust the temperature and tint controls during RAW image conversion to warm up or cool down the color to your liking.

Window light portraits

Without question, window light is one of the most beautiful types of light for portraits, and it offers exceptional versatility. This diffuse light is flattering to all subjects. And if the light is too bright, you can simply move the subject farther from the window or put a fabric over the window. Window light can be used to create the classic half-lit and half-shadow lighting pattern on the subject. Alternately you can bounce light into the shadow side of the subject using a silver reflector. For window-light portraits, try to shoot when the sun is at a low angle. However, strong midday sunlight can also be usable if you cover the window with a lightweight fabric, such as a sheer curtain.

A good starting point for window light portraits is to place the subject so that one side of the face is lit and the other side is in shadow. Then position a silver or white reflector so that it bounces light into the shadow side of the face and creates a catchlight in the eye on the shadow side.

For portrait editing, I use Nik Color Efex Pro filters, especially the Dynamic Skin Softener filter to create flattering yet natural-looking skin renderings. The Classical Soft Focus and Brilliance/Warmth filters are also excellent for portraits. You can learn more about Nik software at www.niksoftware.com.

Evaluative metering and Spot metering both produce excellent results. Evaluative metering takes the reading from the entire scene with a bias toward the active autofocus point. If you use Spot metering, move in close or zoom in on a gray card held next to the subject’s face and meter from it. Then you use Manual shooting mode to shoot with the resulting exposure settings. In Manual shooting mode, you can maintain the metered exposure, even if you change the image composition — but not the lighting — slightly. In other modes, such as Aperture-priority AE (Av), Shutter-priority AE (Tv), or Program AE (P), the shutter speed changes as you vary the image composition slightly.

Exposure approaches

For portrait shooting, you can often get excellent exposures out of the camera with no exposure modifications using Evaluative metering. However, if there are very bright spots, or hot spots, on the subject’s skin that you can’t eliminate with lighting modifications, or if there are blocked shadows, you can use exposure modification to get a better exposure.

To set the exposure, I use a PhotoVision Digital Calibration Target and Manual (M) mode. You can order and learn how to use the calibration target on the PhotoVision Web site at www.photovisionvideo.com.

Some portraits pose exposure challenges. For example, if you’re photographing a man in dark clothing against a dark background, the camera renders the dark tones as middle gray. The same exposure error can happen when you photograph a subject such as a bride in a white dress against a light background. When you’re using Evaluative metering mode, you can use Exposure Compensation to get true blacks and whites. These techniques are detailed in Chapter 3.

Another element of exposure is the ISO setting. My preference for portraits is to ensure very fine detail and the lowest level of digital noise possible in the images. And that means shooting between ISO 100 and 400, 99 percent of the time.

If you’re shooting in low-light scenes, increasing the ISO to 800 provides good prints; however, you need to examine the shadow areas carefully for noise. If the noise is obvious, apply noise reduction during either RAW image conversion or JPEG image editing, particularly on facial shadow areas. Nothing spoils an otherwise beautiful portrait more quickly than seeing a colorful scattering of digital noise in facial shadows and in skin areas.

To control depth of field, many photographers rely solely on f-stop changes. Certainly, aperture changes are a major factor in controlling the depth of field, and wide apertures from f/5.6 to f/2 are common in portraiture. However, you can also use the other factors that affect depth of field:

Lens. A telephoto lens provides shallow depth of field, and a wide-angle provides extensive depth of field. That’s one of the reasons that short telephoto lenses in the range of 85-200mm are popular portrait focal lengths for their shallow depth of field.

Camera-to-subject distance. The closer you are to the subject, the shallower the depth of field, and vice versa.

Subject-to-background distance. The farther the subject is from the background, the softer the background details appear, and vice versa.

Making Studio Portraits

Whether you have one or multiple studio lights, such as strobes, continuous lights, or Speedlites, you have the opportunity to make portraits using classic lighting patterns. And if you combine the lighting with modifiers such as umbrellas, softboxes, reflectors, and other accessories, you can adjust the light to get just about any type of lighting that you envision.

12.8 For this studio portrait, I used four Photogenic strobes: two lit the background and two lit the baby. I also used a large silver reflector to camera right to fill shadows. Exposure: ISO 100, f/16, 1/125 second, using an EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens.

If you have studio lights such as continuous light, it takes only one or two sessions to determine the correct light temperature, if you don’t already know it. For my studio system, I use the K White Balance setting, and set it to 5300. This setting gives me a clean, neutral white with no further adjustments during shooting or in image conversion or editing. In addition, if I’m shooting JPEG, which is seldom, I use the Portrait Picture Style. This style produces the subdued color and pleasing skin tones of classic portraiture. If you think that the color rendition and contrast are too subdued, you can modify the style parameters by bumping both settings to a higher level.

Keeping It Simple

A library of books has been written on people photography. If you want to specialize in people photography, read the books, practice the classic techniques, and keep practicing until they become second nature.

But when the time comes to start shooting, relax and keep it simple. At a minimum, here are the basic guidelines that I keep in mind for every portrait session.

Connect with the person, couple, or group. Engage them in conversation about themselves. When you find a topic that lights up a subject’s eyes, start shooting and keep up the chit-chat.

Focus on the eye that is closest to the camera. If the subject’s eyes are not in tack-sharp focus, reshoot. I do not use the focus-and-recompose technique where you lock focus by half-pressing the shutter button, and then move the camera to recompose the image. I manually select the AF point that is on top of the subject’s eye, and then I do not move the camera after setting focus.

Keep the subject’s eyes in the top half or third of the frame to give the subject more power in the image.

The best pose is the pose in which the subject feels comfortable and relaxed. You may need to tweak the pose a bit to add polish, but generally, let the subject determine the overall pose.

Check exposure settings as you shoot. It’s easy to get so involved in talking to and directing subjects that you forget to ensure you have a fast-enough shutter speed to stop subject movement. Recheck the shutter speed periodically and increase the ISO or open up to a wider aperture if the shutter speed is too slow.

Compliment and encourage the subject. Many people are predisposed to hate having their photos taken and to hate the actual pictures. Generous and sincere praise can help put your subjects at ease and enable them to look at images of themselves in a new light.

Be prepared. Be unflappable. Back up everything. And check the histograms as you shoot.

12.12 This type of candid spontaneous shot is typically a favorite with portrait customers. I used the Nik Efex Soft Focus filter during editing. Exposure: ISO 400, f/4.5, 1/200 second.