Ahoj! I am on a location here with my friend Martina. Ahoj! And today I am gonna be shooting
portrait session. Like live portrait session just with a smartphone. First, I am gonna
try to shoot like beginner so I am gonna make whole bunch of mistakes, the type of photos
you see on all kinds of smartphones. And I am gonna explain what I did wrong. What the
mistakes were and then I am gonna shoot it all over again. I am gonna fix the composition,
I am gonna show you my settings, I am gonna explain what to do, what not to do, framing,
posing model, you name it. It's gonna be lot of fun. We should start going.
And if you are new here, welcome. My name is Zdenka Darula. If your passion is photography and video,
consider subscribing to this channel. So I am gonna go ahead and take some photos beginner's
style. I am just gonna shoot with whatever lens I have right now set up, so I can have
you here if you don't mind. And yeah, I am just gonna tap away, take few photos. Right
there. And yeah, this and maybe I like even this thing. Right there. Yeah, that should
be good. So let's look at these photos and I am gonna explain what was wrong with them.
The first photo is here and I actually took it with ultra wide angle lens. Now, that's
mistake number 1. You need to select the right lens. You don't want to shoot with ultra wide
angle lens because the person will not look exactly the way we normally see a person.
The legs might be little bit big or they might be short or the body might be little bit short.
The head will be big and all that. It's gonna be very distorted. Another shot I have here
is at the wrong eye level. I took it from above and also with the ultra wide angle lens
which you don't want. The legs just don't look very good. And this photo I am seeing
the whole framing is all wrong. OK, this was already taken with standard lens which is
little bit better but she is standing on the side. There is way too much room on the other
side and also there is this pole sticking out of her head behind her. It's just very
bad framing. It should be cropped much closer, she should be more in the center. OK, let's
do it all over again but this time little bit differently. What I have to say first
that each photographer has little bit different style. We all have different preferences and
such, so it is a good idea to watch few different photographers and you can pick bits and pieces
from them and create your own style so it works for you.
Martina is backing up on the
container. What you want to take advantage is also the foreground. So I am focusing on
her face but I am very close to the wall. That way I am getting this very blurry and
she is nicely sharp. So can you lift that leg up please? Just like you had it before.
And because I was little bit too high, it was not looking that great so I am gonna go
much lower. Can you switch the legs just for fun please? And the same thing. Looking forward.
And look at me now.
Perfect. Look little bit here. There are people in the background but
magic shot, Photoshop. I'll fix it up. Can you put both arms up please? Both arms? Yeah,
that's great. And big laugh, big laugh, now huge, lot of smiling. Depending on the phone
you have, I have here iPhone 12 pro, you might want to select the right lens. I have 3 lenses.
I have ultra wide angle lens, wide which would be the standard and telephoto. Whenever you
are taking portrait of a person, you want to shoot with telephoto lens in native camera
app or in a portrait mode. In portrait mode you gonna get this beautiful blurry background.
If you shoot just with a telephoto in a regular photo mode then you will get the background
sharp as well. And at this point you would be ready to shoot. For me I am gonna take
it little bit step further. I am gonna be actually using this moment lens. It's 58mm
tele lens. I bought it last week. It's heavy, it's solid. You can break a window with it.
And what it does, you can mount it over the wide lens or the standard lens or the telephoto
lens. It's gonna give you look like you would be taking the photos with DSLR, like with
a real camera. So let me show you how you put that lens on. Basically all you have to
do, you have to line up this little line on the top of the phone right here and then turn.
Once you see the M sign at the top, you are all set. You can mount it over the standard
lens which is on the top or the telephoto which is at the bottom. So I am gonna show
you some comparison shots just shot with regular standard lens and then with the tele lens
on top of it and then another shot I am gonna show you just with a telephoto lens on this
phone without this lens. And then obviously the combo this tele lens on top of the telephoto
lens. Makes sense?
So for those who don't have this lens, you are just shooting with
your phone. You got to be using the native camera app. I am gonna be actually shooting
in the Moment app which comes with this lens. The reason why because at the top here it
says RAW. That means that the photos are being saved in RAW format, not in JPEG. That way
there is a lot more data and I can work with it much better if I am gonna be editing it
in Photoshop and Lightroom. So I'll show you how it works. I am going to tap on Martina's
face here and just taking the photos as I would.
What I found here on the top that there
is little screws which are kind of like a line. So she is gonna pretend she is walking
on that line towards me. I basically like this structure so for this shot I am not gonna
do exactly portrait. I am gonna take pretty much photo showing the whole thing. She is
gonna be in the middle little bit smaller. To get the variety. We had 3/4 shot when I
was taking the photos from the knees up. Now I want to do some full body shots but I am
gonna show little bit the location first. All right so what I am gonna do, I am gonna
try few shots. First I am gonna go very low and yeah, you can go ahead. And just have fun.
Have your hands in a pockets like really wide stand. And you really just look at me
and flip the hair. And whoof... that's it. OK. That's it, yeah. And big laughter. So
we'll do that as well. I am gonna go low again because her background will be much clearer.
Now that I am not seeing too much trees behind her, basically from her waist up I am seeing
the clouds. If I would be standing up, I am gonna take the shot, it would be very busy.
Basically all we see is the green plants behind her body and the tree behind her head. And
it's just way too busy. But if I am gonna go down now, way lower, now it's very clear
shot. OK? Go ahead. 1, 2, 3.
Let's talk about focus and exposure. Meaning, over exposed,
under exposed. Face being in focus, being sharp or not sharp at all. So every time you
are taking a person's photo you want to make sure you tap on the person's face. Eyes need
to be in focus. And you will see the little square with the Sun. That means that the face
is in focus. Now what I am always finding with iPhones or with phones in general but
specifically with the iPhones that the photos tend to be over exposed. So what I do, I tap
on the person's face and I drag the Sun tiny bit down. That way I can see that the sky
is already getting all the details and then I am ready to take the shot. Then when I am
editing the photo in Snapseed for example on the phone, I can bring the dark of her
face little bit lighter but I can still keep the sky fairly dark so I can see all the clouds
and all the details. If I would leave it over exposed, you will see the sky very kind of
bleached, kind of white and it's not looking great. Sure, she has great you know lit up
face but the sky will be bleached. It's not gonna look good. And all you have to do sometimes,
take few steps to the right and few steps to the left and you will get completely different
view. So what happens if I am gonna take photo right here for example. So look in front of
you somewhere.
I like this view so I am gonna have you stand kind of with wide stand more
and maybe one hand down. And just the other hand just like. That's it. And look over there.
That's a great shot right there.
Just change my view. Maybe the hand not so... yeah...more
natural. And looking away please.
What a perfect timing. The Sun came out. I just need to talk
about the lighting right now. So there are few ways to actually take photos of people
and you need to really, really watch out for the light. If you gonna have her directly
facing the light, you can see that she is squinting in her eyes and she is having a
hard time. She is just, she is fighting it. Also, bad variation would be if she would
be standing right here. You can come here. And the Sun is going from her side. So if
I am gonna take the shot. OK, face me completely. I wish the Sun was little bit stronger right
now so I can show you more. We are having way too much of a good light right now but
basically if it would be full Sunny day, the light would be coming from the side so she
would have very harsh shadows around her nose, under her eyes and it would not look very
good at all. So another solution would be to actually place her, you can be here. That
she has her Sun in the back and she is facing me. I am looking into the Sun. It's gonna
look very good because she is not gonna be squinting as much anymore. But she is gonna
get that little hair light.
So I'll try to do this shot.
And look maybe over there. Yeah.
I want to talk about the background. As I was showing in the photo before the pole sticking
out of her head. You have to be little bit picky when it comes to the background. It's
not all about hey, I am seeing my friend. She looks good. I just wanna make sure she
is posed well. You have to kind of look step further. Look behind her. If there is not
a tree trunk. If there is not a this pole or some kind of weird construction or if some
kind of a weird weirdo, dude there somewhere in a background you know doing something silly.
So try to find a neutral background which looks kind of balanced and even. Plain background
always looks way better. It's gonna look very clean. One of the most epic shots is always
reflection. This wasn't here the other day. Just showed up here. So I am gonna go as low
to the water with the phone as I can without dropping the phone in the water. And Martina
is standing on the other side.
So looking on the lake.
Good and big steps walking here.
If you want to take variety of photos of your friend then if you gonna take just one pose
where she is standing looking into the camera, you are not gonna get too far. It is always
good to mix different poses. She can be standing, she can be side ways. She can be looking over
the shoulder. She can be crouching down. She can be sitting down somewhere on the floor.
She can be even laying down. You can take photo from her up down. Or you can take photos
of her face, then from her waist up, from the knees up, 3/4 and full body. You have
big variety right there. When it comes to expressions. Make sure that she is not always
looking the same or he is not looking always the same way. You can make them smile, you
can make them laugh. You can make them kind of dream. Talk to them as tell them some story
and they can get caught away. Or ask them a question and when they are thinking about
the answer, you will get the true expression in their face. If I am standing and just shooting
this way, I see the rocks. But I also see very busy background. I am gonna take the
shot on purpose. If I am gonna move myself little bit so she has clear blue behind her,
it's gonna look way better. I am gonna go way lower to make her look big. Excellent
and both hands on the top.
Lastly talk to your model. Talk to your friend. You don't
wanna be one of those photographers which just clicks. You will be a clicker, not a
photographer. You want to talk to your models. You want to make them feel comfortable. But
also she has no idea what I am seeing. She has no idea what I want from her and if you
gonna be only clicking, for her it's very difficult to guess how to pose in front of
the camera. She will feel a lot more comfortable if you sometimes say maybe just look a bit
to the side or little bit turn your body to the other side. She will get better understanding,
she will feel more comfortable because she will have that trust in you. If you gonna
be only clicking then she is gonna be wondering the whole time. Are these photos even good?
Like am I gonna get some good photos out of this because I have no idea what he sees there.
For those interested I have linked the lens below the video in a video description. Hit
the thumbs up if you liked today's video and subscribe to future videos like these. If
you have any questions, comments, simply want to say Hi or Ahoj, you know what to do. Leave
it below and I'll see you my friends in the next video. Cau... Ahoj...