Face Portraits Help

[wvextreme]

My wife is wanting to decorate the walls of our staircase with face portraits of a lot of our friends and my sons friends. She has left the job of getting the photos up to me. I am still a beginner photographer using a rebel xt with a Tamron 28-75 2.8, canon 70-300 4-5.6 IS, and a canon 50 1.8 lens. Problem is, the only photos i take are landscape and wildlife shots, never portraits. Looking for any suggestions I can get before starting this project. I assume using the 70-300 lens and keeping it around 135 mm may be my best bet on lens(from what I have read) but i am not sure about the flash. Is the built in flash good enough or should I step up and purchase a new canon speedlite for it. I tried doing a google search, but all the sites I found where more on setting up all the different lights for the shot where these should be more candid.

Kind of long I know, sorry, but if anyone could suggest any websites that might help me, or suggestions on settings, lens and lighting I would appreciate it. :confused:

[coldrain]

Best focal range for portraits is between 80 and 135mm, because the slight tele gives a flattering effect. With the smaller than full frame sensor with its 1.6 crop factor, that makes your 50mm f1.8 (1.6 x 50 = 80mm) and your 28-75 f2.8 Tamron (45-120mm) a lot better suited than your 70-300 IS, but if you keep the 70-300 IS between 70 and 85mm (with the 1.6 crop factor that gives 112-135mm) you can also use that one.

Bigger aperture values will isolate the portraits more from their surroundings/background, but also will make correct focussing more important. Focus on eyes, even if they are not on the focus point of the camera when you frame the shot. If needed, focus on the eyes and then recomposition. Our preception is so tuned to faces that if the eyes are not in focus we notice that immediately.

You say candid. Are you sure you need or want to use flash? It of course depends on the lighting conditions, but flash has a way of sucking out all atmosphere in photos, and that will also get rid of the candid character and will insert some snapshot quality unless you really know what you are doing with flash.

In my opinion try to make the natural light be your friend as much as possible.

[wvextreme]

Thanks for the help. A lot fo my shots will come from outside so shouldn't be a problem on lighting. But some of them will be taken inside like at partys where i was afraid it would be too dark. Once again I say I am a beginner so still learning, so I didnt know if another flash would help me to bounce of the ceiling as a fill light or if that would make any differnce at all.:confused:

[coldrain]

A good flash unit that you can bounce light off ceilings and such with of course is a good idea.

But I leave advice about that to others who actually know more about that subject. Be patient, I think most of them are asleep still and you hopefully will find some sound advice from them later on during the weekend.

[abhi_morey]

yea if possible get the 430EX or the 580EX only as they tilt and swivel .. and if the flash is used properly then the atmosphere can still be preserved .. and also the ir beam on the flash is less irritating than the on-camera low-light AF beam (strobe of flashes)

[24Peter]

But I leave advice about that to others who actually know more about that subject. Be patient, I think most of them are asleep still and you hopefully will find some sound advice from them later on during the weekend.
Just waking up here in Los Angeles... :o now what was the question? Oh yes - face portraits (kind of redundant but I know what you mean).

Coldy's suggestion regarding focal lengths is good one though you can get some great separation between your subject and background esp. outside using your 70-300. Shots #42-50 of Sara were all taken with that lens http://imageevent.com/24peter/sarar (check the EXIF data for the exact focal length.) I also used the Canon 50 and 85 1.8 for many of her shots some of which I think turned out quite well.

Ironically it is outside you will probably need a flash most for flattering portraits, esp if you are anywhere near direct sunlight. That's b/c an on-camera flash can help fill ugly shadows in the subject's eye sockets, under their nose, etc. Of course it's better not to shoot in direct sunlight and a trick that many headshot photographer's use is to find an overhang that faces opposite the brightest part of the early morning or late afternoon sky and then shoot your subject from above so they are looking up at you (and into the brightest part of the sky but not directly into the sun). Steve's photos # 33-41 show this can produce nice headshots/ portraits http://imageevent.com/24peter/stevedarmis Again the Canon 85 1.8 on a APS-C size sensor is a nice choice for outdoor portraits and as coldy said, the focus point should be the eye closest to the camera.

More traditional indoor studio portraits can also benefit from the same focal length lenses. But they often employ a three (or more or less) point light scheme. "Key" light is your main light source usually slightly above and off to one side of your subject. "Fill" light is usually a lower intensity than the key light and on the other side of your subject to "fill" in the shadow areas on the face. A "hair" or "rim" or sometimes "back" light is used to rim your subject with light from behind to separate them from the background and give a little of that heavenly glow to the head/hair. A fourth light - background light - can also be used to separately illuminate the back ground to add further separation/drama to your photograph. Of course, the traditional three (or four) point lighting scheme is just a starting point: many great portraits are done using just one or two lights. The key in those situations esp. is to use a diffused source as your key light. Umbrellas at a minimum on strobe/flashes; big soft boxes (octoganally [sp] shaped seems to be the rage these days) even better.

Of course there's nothing like a nice natural light indoor portrait to decorate the walls of one's stairway and this can be done without any flash/ strobe lights at all. A nice bright window with a translucent curtain can create a beautifully diffused source of light very flattering to your subject. Photo's #1-10 of Jennifer's shots ( http://imageevent.com/24peter/jenniferfletcher ) and # 1 - 7 of Jan's photos ( http://imageevent.com/24peter/jodilowtoo ) employ such a lighting convention. Add a large white piece of foamcore (available at any art supply store) to fill any shadows on the side of the subject opposite the window and you're good to go. Total lighting investment in that situation: $2.49 for the foamcore. Of course the challenge with any indoor shooting is having enough light for good shutter speeds so as to avoid camera shake. But even in dim lighting you can get nice portraits with a tripod to hold your camera steady. In fact you may want to play with candle lit portraits that way.

Finally, and again as coldy astutely mentioned, separation of your subject from the background is key to good portraits. Blurring the background by using a low f-stop and/or close camera position to your subject is a lovely effect. (But beware: some lenses - like the Canon 50 1.8 - don't perform very well below f 2.8 and I also had extensive soft focus issues with my Tamron 28-75 wide open, so much so that I returned the lens to it's manufacturer for a refund.) Another technique to use alone or in combination with the above is to make sure your subject is the brightest thing in the frame. Hence, avoid shooting outside with your subject under a nice shady tree but the background in direct sunlight. It will distract the viewer. Of course you can use the sun to your advantage by using it to backlight your subject such as I did here with Caitie http://photos.imageevent.com/24peter/caitieuhlmann/large/IMG_8043.JPG or here with Kathryn http://photos.imageevent.com/24peter/kathrynsherlock/large/IMG_8031.JPG In both cases, I used an on-camera flash (Canon 220EX Speedlight) to fill my subject's faces while letting the sun light them from behind.

Anyway, that should at least get you started. Can't wait to see your photos! :)

[wvextreme]

Sorry 24peter about sounding redundant, but i guess what i was trying to say were shots of mainly just the neck up, and not the whole body or even just waist up. Thanks for the great thread reply. A lot of good info there to look over and experiment with before I start this project. The links that you put in for the examples were great, very nice photos. It always help to see a photo of the suggestion you just read. Thanks