How to take better portraits
We show you the techniques and equipment you'll need for the best portrait shots
FOCUS ON THE EYE
If you’re shooting at a distance of one metre with a 50mm lens set to f/1.8, the depth of field will be just 3cm (calculate other depths of field at using the online depth of field calculator). This means that anything more than 1.5cm in front of or behind the point you focus on will be out of focus. As such, you’ll need to choose your focus point extremely carefully. In almost every portrait shot, you’ll want to focus on the eyes. They’re the most expressive part of the face, and if they’re in focus, it doesn’t really matter if nothing else is.
On your camera, switch the autofocus (AF) mode so you can specify a single AF point, and move the selected point two thirds of the way up the frame. This will help you to follow the rule of thirds, whereby key parts of a composition fall on the intersections of a 3×3 grid. For the same reason, you might also want to position your subject to one side, so move the focus point accordingly. If your subject isn’t looking into the lens, place him or her to one side and looking towards the centre of the frame to give the composition some balance.
Moving the focus point up and to the left helps ensure that the eyes are in focus, and keeps them at the right height and slightly to one side to give a more interesting composition.
CONTROL THE MOTION
When shooting indoors, you’ll probably be able to avoid camera shake at shutter speeds of around 1/30s, but that won’t eliminate blur if your subject is moving. It’s not an issue for carefully posed portraits, but if you want to be able to shoot as your subject moves around, you’ll need to pick a faster shutter speed. Around 1/160s should be fast enough to keep things crisp.
Shutter priority mode lets you pick the shutter speed manually, but if you want to control the aperture too, you’ll need to switch to manual exposure mode. This disables the automatic ISO function, so you’ll need to adjust the ISO speed manually too to achieve a pleasing exposure. Shooting in raw mode will give you more leeway to fine-tune the exposure on the computer later.
GET THE WHITE BALANCE RIGHT
Nothing reveals colour problems more than skin tones, and cameras invariably need some help to achieve pure colours in artificial light. The best way to do this is with the custom or manual white balance function. This lets you calibrate the white balance simply by pointing the camera at a white or grey object. It’s worth keeping a sheet of paper or grey fabric in your camera bag especially for this purpose. You might end up adjusting the white balance further on the computer, but taking a measurement while shooting gets it pretty close.
MAKE THE MOST OF AVAILABLE LIGHT
When taking snaps, more light is generally better, but direct sunlight isn’t ideal for portraits. Harsh shadows aren’t flattering, and people tend to squint in bright light. A shady spot turns the sky into one big light source, giving softer shadows. Overcast weather can produce drab colours, but using the custom white balance can help warm up those skin tones.
When shooting indoors, avoid artificial light; a window is usually the best light source. Get close to it so it forms a bigger surface area relative to your subject, as this will give softer shadows. Try positioning yourself between the subject and the window but offset a little to the left or right to get some light and shade across the face. If there are two windows on different walls, try to use the second one to back-light your subject, adding definition to the edge of the shadier side of the face – this is known as a rim light.