Morning all from a frosty but sunny morning in Scotland.
As I am just moving away from Auto mode I need a little advice.
While I am waiting on my nifty fifty coming I would like to try some window light portraits with my teenage granddaughter Charly today.
My questions are do I put the picture setting on my canon 550 d away from faithful and put it on portrait then use AV at the smallest F stop.
Also which lens would be best i have the one that came with the kit and a tamron 70-200
Is there a range of settings I should be using on this camera to get reasonable shots. I fear I have changed a few when I was looking through them and not really sure what they should be on so any links to help with this would be Great
Thank you in advance
Cathy
Usually the best natural light window portraits are where the window is not in full sun, where the subject is being hit with a pool of really diffuse light. Often a slightly cloudy day is the best
Treat the window like a soft-box. I often then use a reflector in the room to just add a little fill to the un-lit side of the face / body
When I say reflector, I mean one of those big five-in-one jobbies, however, you can make use of a white door (usefully they come on hinges!)
If you are looking for really natural skin tones, then gravitate towards the lowest ISO you can shoot at. I tend to shoot in manual or aperture prioritory. I always want to be in control of the aperture first (we are not shooting anything moving here)
Totally un-posed - the bride just looking out of the window. I realised the light was great and her friends were outside, so lined up the door to act as a fill reflector about 2 mins earlier and just waited for the shot
Aperture was F3.5, and It was shot at ISO 160 on a full frame back with a 60mm prime lens
The issue with a lot of these shots is the crap in the background. which is why I kept things shallow
As a contrast, the next one is what happens when the window is in full sun, even though the subject is well inside the room, the lighting is really harsh
I could of used fill flash, instead I decided to catch the spray and use a silhouette
This on was on a crop camera, and the amount of light meant that at ISO 100, and at F8, most of the room was in focus. lens = 50mm prime
The next one was shot in a tight squeeze, there was not a lot of light here so I was at ISO 200, F3.5.
The light was really really subtle, no space or time to do any fill I literally clocked the window, metered for it, and then took the shot later as the bride left the house on the way past. She is looking at her father outside with the car. the image looks a touch cluttered, but that's the price to pay for shooting "up the stairs in a tight spot, and deliberately not posing the bride" The second shot I took was more cropped, and was better composed, but the lighting wasn't quite so sweet
Getting "inside the angle" works well, look how the shooting position alters between the two shots (in this shot I am to my left of the bride in the previous shot I was to the right. By now she has realised I am shooting her. The bride has barely moved, I have. The lighting is the same but the effect feels different. It is a shame that she noticed me, that is reflected in the change of head position
The thing to take from this is to "find great light" that is.. actively scout for it, remember where it is, think about how you could use it and then use it if the opportunity presents itself
