Assignments and Readings

The following is general information on selection of lenses, camera settings and film for portrait photography.

As a general rule, the focal length of the lens should be about twice the size of the diagonal of the film you are using. The ideal lens for 35 mm photography is 105 mm for head-and-shoulders portraits. For digital photography, used the digital equivalent for focal length.

For full-length and three-quarter length portraits you may use the 50 or 55 mm standard lens. The use of a longer lens minimizes facial distortion seen with shorter focal length lenses. Otherwise, noses become elongated and the back of the head seems smaller than in real life when normal lenses or short- focus lenses are used. Depth-of-field is reduced with longer focus lenses and this reduces sharpness of the background and blurs shadows.

The recommended aperture is 1.5 to 2 stops below the maximum ƒ-stop of the lens. For example, of the lens is an ƒ/2 lens, the recommended ƒ-stop is ƒ/4. Opening the lens up fully may cause spherical aberration and stopping it down to the smallest ƒ-stop may cause aberration due to diffraction.

In focusing, it is absolutely necessary to have the eyes and the nose of the subject in focus. Generally, it is also best to have the ears in focus as well. Having parts of the hair out of focus may sometimes add to the ‘softness’ to the portrait and produce a slightly alluring rather than the ‘hard’ look of a face and head that is sharply in focus throughout. For example, a tough-looking man or woman with a slightly threatening look might appear better with very sharply focused features.

For close-ups, with a tripod-mounted camera when the subject is motionless, a slow shutter speed of about 1/10, 1/30 or 1/60 sec. is acceptable. For outdoor shots, or studio shots where the subject is moving, the shutter speed should be faster that 1/60 sec. For flash photography, you will be locked into the synch-speed of the flash.

One general rule is to use the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens you are using. For example, for a 100 mm lens, use 1/100 sec or the next equivalent shutter speed. However, to large extent, the speed will depend on the aperture you pre-select.

Avoid using films that are slow (ISO 25) or films that are too fast (ISO 200 or above). Slow films (monochrome and color) are too contrasty and have a narrow latitude of exposure with loss of detail and highlight detail. Fast films tend to be grainy with loss of detail. They also tend to have less contrast than is desirable for portraiture. While some of these problems can be corrected during development and printing with filter control for monochrome and color negative film, such correction is not possible with color slide film.

The recommended setting of film speed for portraits is ISO 100-125. This film speed has a good range of contrast and the image is fine enough so as not to suffer loss of detail. Remember that when printing from slides the pictures will be more contrasty than the original slide by about a third of a stop.

a. Sunlight. Direct sunlight is often too harsh and produces very contrasty pictures with deep shadows and bright highlights. An overhead card can be used to block out direct sunlight by placing it over the subject’s head. Diffused sunlight through trees, or other types of shade, produce more acceptable portraits. A diffusion screen made of acetate or bathroom curtain plastic material mounted on a 16 x 20 frame may be used to shade the subject from direct sunlight. Also, a black screen may be placed on the bright side of the subject to absorb light and reduce harsh lighting (subtractive fill-in). In cases where the side of the subject is too dark, lighting can be enhanced by using a reflector with a white surface or a board covered with aluminum or gold foil.

If bright sunlight casts deep shadows, fill-in flash can be used. Unfortunately, the combination of sunlight and fill-in flash, though it eliminates shadows, caused a ‘washed-out’ look with loss of detail which is unattractive.

b. Flash. Use of direct flash, like direct sunlight causes very a very harsh appearance with dark shadows which are undesirable. To avoid these problems, use bounce flash to produce a more diffused light positioning the subject away from the wall, or use a dark background to reduce shadows. Most modern flash units have swiveling or rotating heads which direct the emitted light away from the subject. The ceiling or a white door or wall can be used to reflect the light and bounce it back on to the subject causing a softer and more even lighting effect. If the ceiling is too high, mount a 3 x 5 card on to the back of the flash with tape or a rubber-band with the flash-head tilted up to reflect the light back to the subject.

You may want to use a top-light or a back light (125-250 watts) in conjunction with flash to highlight the hair in order to produce a more alluring look. Barn-doors may be necessary to restrict the amount of light falling on the subject, otherwise the light may spill into the lens and produce flare. It is best to experiment with these modes and lighting positions to gain experience with using such combinations.

With both sunlight and flash photography, a variety of reflectors may be used, e.g. plain white cards, boards covered with silver or gold foil, etc. The light source is bounced off the flat surface to give a diffuse more even lighting effect. It is useful to try photographing portraits with lighting with the use of reflectors in different positions, e.g. on either side of the face or below the face to determine the effect of directional lighting.

For additional Reading on Portraits please see this link and pay special attention to light position in the section on Rembrandt Lighting:

Please see the link on Titian as a portrait artist and the important concept of "The Inner Person" by Antonio Paolucci:

Generally, Portraits are done in “Portrait” format – long side longitudinal, though group portraits are often done in “landscape” format. There are generally 5 forms of portraits depending on how much of the body is shown:

It takes both skill and understanding to make good portraits. Rapport is necessary between subject and artist and you should build this in a way that suits you. Be respectful and courteous. A preliminary interview is helpful in determining how you are going to work and to plan the shoot. Discuss clothing, props you may use (hats, gloves, guns, swords, musical instruments, etc that may convey something relevant to the person’s character, social position or occupation, During the shoot, conversation is acceptable, but incessant chatter and flattery is annoying and distracting. Do not make comments on appearance, as they may be offensive.

2. Make sure with minors, you get responsible adult consent and that you are chaperoned to avoid legal problems.

3. If feasible, do a test shoot to familiarize the person with the studio and lighting

Please see link on LIGHTING above. A practical STUDIO EXERCISE with a live model will supplement this section.

B. Assignments: Please shoot single portraits of an adult person with good indoor natural lighting e.g near a bright window . You may use reflectors and flash in some shots, but you should not use only flash. Do not use animals or children as subjects. You may use props and position the subject as you wish.

You should also attempt outdoor portraits in sunlight of people you know. However, street photography of strangers is allowed and generally, permission is not required for such work if you are not overtly intrusive.

You may try double portraits if you wish under the same settings as above.

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