Hi I'm Doug McKinlay and you're watching
AdoramaTV.
For today's episode we're
going to look at making really good
portraits, using nothing more complicated
than a camera body, a few lenses, a
reflector, a tripod and the light from a
window.
Now, you may not always have the
convenience or desire to work in fully
kitted out studios, myself included.
Just because we don't have all that
expensive lighting gear, doesn't mean
that good portraits are out of reach.
Just because there's no strobes, it doesn't
mean that you can't get great pictures.
You can always find a window and best of all,
this light is free.
But just before we get started,
a quick word about gear.
I've already mentioned a camera body, in this
case the Canon 5D Mark III.
As for lenses,
I've got a 50mm f/1.4 prime, a 100mm
Macro, a 24-70mm f/2.8 short zoom.
Accompanying this,
I'm going to have my tripod and I'm
going to be using a reflector to mold
the light. That's really about it.
Just one other word, remember the prime
directive when it comes to shooting
portraits is; when you're focusing, always
focus on the eye.
No matter what kind of portrait
you're doing.
As for the
technical end of window light
portraiture, one of the things you have
to think about, is stability.
Both with your model
and your camera.
Window light is less intense than shooting
outdoors or with studio lights, where you
can control everything. It will mean your
ISO will probably be higher and your
your shutter speeds will be slower but
it's a balancing act too. Too much ISO and
you work with noise, too slow shutter
speed and your model, or the camera, if
you're handholding, will look a little blurry.
Because window light is less intense than
shooting outdoors, or with studio
lights where you can control
everything,
It's really important to understand this.
I often use a 50mm f/1.4 lens
with a great range of aperture. F/1.4, of
course, is a really narrow
depth of field but I can use that and
still get a nice background blur.
Window light is soft and
flattering, that's why so many photographers
like it.
The best part about it, if you
travel a lot,
it costs you nothing.
You have to carry nothing on your back.
We're going to get started and
I've got my friend
Max here, who has agreed to be our
model.
Thank you very much, Max.
Now, window light portraits are all about adjusting the
light to get exactly what you want.
They're always gonna be nice and soft,
it's very flattering light. But as you
can see, as he's standing more or less
perpendicular to the window, you can see
the left-hand side of his face is bright
and the right-hand side of his face is
in shadow.
That's the drama. Now, you can
increase or decrease that drama
any way you like. You can have him just
turn his head toward the window a
little more. Then you see the light start to
fall onto the right-hand side of his
face. That's decreasing the drama just by
moving his body. So it's about angles as well,
you angle the body of your model to
the position you'd like to see how much
drama how little drama.
As I turn his face back toward me,
you can see that the drama increases
again, with a shadow on the right-hand
side of his face. Now, the other way to
mitigate this, is to mold the light
around him by using a reflector.
You can use the
white side and you can see, just by
moving it in different directions,
lower, higher, closer, further back, it's
going to change the amount of drama on
his face.
You can flip this one around, it's got a gold
side. If want to add a little bit of warmth
to the picture. Again, it's still the
same concept; you're adding or
decreasing the amount of drama to the
picture.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, the
angles are important. You want to
adjust the angle your model to get the
best picture you want. I find if I
have my model turned toward the window
little bit more and then your chin
or your head just toward
me a little bit like that.
Head up, eyes open.
I find that a little
bit more flattering the other thing you've
got to watch for, is you want to catch lights
in his eyes. It's really important when
it comes to portraits.
As you can see, you
can see the catch lights in both of his
eyes.
That's what I want to see in a picture.
Proximity as well, is another
thing you think about.
The closer your model is to
the window, the more intense it's
going to get.
Take a step toward me, please.
As he comes back away from the window,
you can see that the light's going to be
a little less intense.
So you can adjust
how much light falls on your
subject just by moving them around.
So experiment with head movement, shoulder
movements, positioning of your model
closer to, or further the back from
the window.
So that's about it, it's not
all that difficult. It's a little bit of
experimentation, a little bit of your
time.
Thanks for watching, I'm Doug McKinlay
for AdoramaTV.
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