Lighting skills of indoor portrait photography

Lead: Different from the outdoor environment where natural light sources can be seen everywhere, indoor portrait photography must pay attention to the source, direction and intensity of light. Mastering and being sensitive to light is an important key to determine the success of a group of portrait photographs.

Using various metering modes to actively find available light sources is helpful to improve the texture of indoor portrait photography and shoot good works that photographers and models like.

First, the measurement standard:

I believe that many novices are used to exposure mode, which is nothing more than AUTO automatic mode, P mode, or various situational modes. When shooting portraits indoors, they must temporarily give up these automatic modes. Av aperture priority? With what? M manual exposure? Mode takes precedence.

Commonly used metering modes include average metering, central focus metering and spot metering. In principle, it depends on the location of the scene and the light source.

1. In the smooth scene where the light illuminates the model evenly, you can safely use average metering;

Eos1d mark iin+ef17-40mm f4lusm.f/5.6,1/60s, ISO 400, m manual exposure, RAW to JPEG.

2. For scenes with backlight or contrast between light and dark, it is recommended to use central focusing or spot metering.

Backlight shooting can emphasize the body contour of the model, and the white background with dark clothing modeling presents a strong contrast and dreamy aesthetic atmosphere.

5D Mark ii+EF 35mm f 1.4 liters USM .F/4, 1/80 seconds, ISO 400, manual exposure, RAW to JPEG.

3. In addition, when using artificial light sources such as flash lamps and outdoor spotlights to supplement light, these important factors that affect photometric values need to be taken into account.

In order to make the model beautiful, it is suggested to use more natural light. If the intensity of natural light is insufficient, artificial light sources can be involved to supplement the light at this time, but the proportion of light intensity should be as low as possible, and adjustments should be made to strengthen the part with insufficient natural light, so as to avoid excessive flash and damage the light and visual atmosphere at the scene.

Second, actively look for light sources.

You can't catch good light when staying in one place, so you must always move when shooting and actively look for a good light source in a limited space.

1. light distribution of natural light source

Large French windows, curtains, or small outdoor landscaping, skillfully using these good natural light to shoot, can play a role in adding fuel to the image texture.

Scene 1: Glass window? -Take photos of easy life.

EOS 50D+EF35mm F2 .F/2.0,1/60s, ISO 800, m manual exposure, RAW to JPEG.

Scene 2: Open-air scene? Create bright and beautiful effects

EOS 5D Mark II +EF 35mm f 1.4 liter USM .F/3.2, 1/400 seconds, ISO 400, m manual exposure, RAW to JPEG.

Scene 3: Large French window? Uniform skin texture effect

Large floor-to-ceiling windows are considered as the best natural light sources and can be used as continuous light sources. Slowly adjust the shooting direction and angle through the viewfinder to make the model's face and limbs receive light evenly as far as possible. If the contrast between light and shade is large, you can use a reflector to fill the light and increase the brightness of the shadow.

2. Artificial light source

How to fill the light for indoor portrait shooting? Jumping lights? Give priority to, make the lighting effect symmetrical and natural.

However, if the flashlight or outdoor booth light is placed directly next to the photographer and model indoors, the light source will be too close, resulting in uneven illumination and unnatural situation. The following are two points for attention:

2. 1 adopt light control fittings.

Due to the limited indoor space, we usually place the lamps far away from us, and add other light control accessories such as shadowless cover or reflective umbrella, so the light supplement effect will be more natural.