How to shoot portraits at night?

Traveling to shoot portraits is the final exam for portrait photography. Because, in travel, whether it is scene selection, live lighting, improvisation by photographers, or comprehensive requirements for equipment, it is a test. This group of portrait photos is part of the night portrait I took in Busan with Canon EOS 6D Mark II. Look at the pictures first and talk about night images.

Light source of night portrait

Compared with portrait shooting during the day, portrait shooting at night is definitely a higher level.

The most basic thing in photography is light, so the choice of light source in night portraits is more important, and this is the difficulty of night scenes.

So, what is the light source suitable for portraits at night?

Remember that we are shooting portraits, and the light of the characters or faces is the key. Therefore, in the night scene environment, the first thing is to observe the light of the model itself.

The advice for novices is to choose "even before and after" light as the light source for portrait shooting at night, that is to say, the contrast between the main light source and the background light source of the model is very small, and it is easy for novices to get started from exposure to later stage.

A scene with uniform indoor lighting is found in the picture.

For example, in a dark room, it is easy to find such a light source as long as there is bright lighting.

If you are outdoors, you should consider using light sources in the environment to zoom in on the model. This will make the model's face shine.

What should I pay attention to if I choose a light source with high contrast in Gao Fancha? It should be noted that the exposure of the model is based on the brightest part, otherwise the model's face or body will be seriously overexposed, and even the RAW format can do nothing.

As a light source, the light should measure the brightness of the face.

As a light source, the light should measure the brightness of the face.

In addition, in fact, in addition to night scenes, high-sensitivity photography is everywhere. For example, the indoor shooting of shopping malls mainly relies on the on-site lighting as the main light source, and there are many cafes, bars and other places that rely on indoor lighting even during the day. These places also need large aperture and high sensitivity shooting.

Atmosphere rendering of night portrait

Those beautiful "big circles" are very easy to appear in night images, so night images are also a place for high-quality large aperture lenses. In particular, the window lights of commercial streets and colored lights used for decoration of various shops are good light sources for rendering the atmosphere.

The light sources outside the main body of the model are all beautiful "big circles" in the picture at this time. At this time, as photographers, we should observe how these light sources can better increase the atmosphere of the picture as the background, but we should be careful not to usurp the role of the master.

It should also be noted here that not all light sources are suitable for rendering atmosphere and shooting, such as spotlights without soft light.

Because most spotlights shoot from the top of the head, they will have the effect similar to the top light of the stage, which is a good choice in some shooting with similar atmosphere. However, conventional portraits, especially exquisite portraits, can't get good results, not only the contrast of the picture is extremely high, but also the wrinkles and acne of people's skin can be photographed in an unobstructed view, so you should carefully observe and avoid them properly before taking pictures.

At the same time, when shooting night portraits. We should also use the good environment in the surrounding environment to render the atmosphere. For example, this corner is actually the door of an ordinary corner shop, and there is a street lamp on the upper right of the model. As the main light source, street lamp can illuminate the model well. At the same time, we saw blue neon lights in the background. The high color temperature and cool tone of blue neon lights create a mysterious atmosphere.

For night portraits, we can also use flash to create an atmosphere. The flash lights up the characters and gives the audience a stronger sense of existence.

Camera Settings and Lens Selection for Night Portraits

There are two main points to pay attention to in camera setting for night portraits. One is high sensitivity and the other is white balance.

High sensitivity is to ensure sufficient exposure of the picture, and more importantly, to meet the "safety shutter". However, many people's understanding of "safety shutter" is a bit biased. For example, if ISO 1600 is used as the sensitivity of portrait at night, and a lens of 50mm 1.4 is used, at this time, if the shutter speed is lower than the "safety shutter" of 1/50, it is likely to shake, so you will miss the lens.

But remember that the "safety shutter" of 1/50 is the "minimum safety shutter", and this minimum value is a limit value. Therefore, whether in theory or in practice, it is better that the site speed is not only 1/50 seconds, but even better if it can be 1/80 or1/00. At this time, it will be better for ISO to choose 2400 or 3200, but the problem is that the noise increases. But if your camera has excellent performance, especially high sensitivity, then the noise will be well controlled:)

This time, my trip to Busan used Canon's latest 6D2 fuselage, and I am very satisfied and assured of high sensitivity! The regular ISO 1600-3200 is excellent, and even ISO6400 or above can be used. So good equipment is the cornerstone of taking good photos.

As for white balance, the truth is simple. Now the automatic white balance of cameras is good, and my 6D2 is more reassuring. This kind of shooting is automatic white balance +RAW, and 90% of the photos can be used directly without coloring. This is also the benefit of scientific and technological progress.

Speaking of cameras, hey hey, you can say I'm an equipment party. In fact, portraits at night are particularly dependent on cameras. If it's zoom, it's recommended to keep F2.8 unchanged. If it's fixed focus, it's best to use F 1.4, which will make you feel that it's worthwhile to spend more money on equipment at that time!

Other people who travel to take portraits at night

When it comes to travel, the weight of the camera is a major factor. At this time, a light body is very important. Otherwise, it will be a little lighter if you shoot+walk or climb a mountain one day.

In addition, focusing is an important point to consider when taking portraits at night. Because such a dark environment will test the accuracy of focusing. At this time, I really have to talk about a prominent advantage of 6D2, that is, full-pixel dual-core CMOS AF. In the vernacular, I put my finger in front of you and you can grab it yourself. But if I tell you to close one eye and scratch my finger, you can't catch it. One eye can't feel the distance, but two eyes can. All-pixel dual-core CMOS AF means that all pixels have two eyes.

6D2 screen can not only rotate! It is similar to the full touch form of smart phones now, and more importantly, its focusing performance exceeds the conventional focusing in the viewfinder. I have used the limit ISO 102400 in shooting, which shows how dark the scene is. At this time, I switched to live view mode to realize full-pixel dual-core CMOS AF, and immediately matched!

Hey, technology and times have been developing like this! :)