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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 60,650
Campfire Kahuna
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OP
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 60,650 |
What do I need to take decent pictures of people? I have a good Sony camera, and a tripod. Do I need a remote shutter?
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o
"May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 161
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 161 |
What camera body and what lenses do you have?
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 60,650
Campfire Kahuna
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OP
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 60,650 |
I'll get back Tex, thanks for the post!
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o
"May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 29,790
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 29,790 |
Wabigoon: Might check these out from a few weeks back. Photo Link
1Minute
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Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 161
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 161 |
You're welcome. I'm happy to help where I can.
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,453
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,453 |
Agree with Tex, a bit more information would help the answers.
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,778
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,778 |
For portraits of people, the key is the focal length first, then the aperture second. Anything wider than about a 50mm equivalent will start to distort faces for head and shoulder shots. Take it to extremes - use a wide angle camera lens say 35mm or shorter or even the landscape mode on your phone, stick it up to someone's face and take a picture. Features like a nose will look much bigger than they are because of the wide focal length distortion (again - head and should distance). Longer focal lengths even out to a 300mm equivalent will look much more pleasing and will give you more separation between your subject and background. To make people look like they really look, a focal length equivalent between 50mm and 135mm seem to be the most popular.
I keep saying equivalent because it depends on what body you have. My main portrait lens is a 105mm. On a full frame camera it is 105mm. But on a crop sensor camera, in my case Nikon, you multiply by 1.5 so it actually turns that into the equivalent of 157.5mm lens.
Aperture is the next thing to consider. If you want that background to by nice and out of focus, it's best to have a lens that will open from about and F4 aperture to as big as F1.4. Wide apertures aren't the only way to blur the background, but it makes the job easier.
In a nutshell, for the average person with a crop sensor camera something in the 50mm 1.8 range of lenses will work great. For full frame cameras the same 50mm is great, but for head and shoulder type shots the 85mm 1.8 is probably better.
Last edited by AZ Southpaw; 03/15/21.
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Joined: Feb 2005
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,453 |
It would help if the OP came back with some more information about what kind of portraits he is trying to get.
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 60,650
Campfire Kahuna
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OP
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 60,650 |
Sorry folks. Just a family pictures.
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o
"May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,453
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2005
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