How to set the most suitable parameters for portrait shooting?

Portrait photography may be difficult for beginners, and they don't even know how to shoot it. Where to start, we will introduce how to set up the camera better for beginners.

1. Set the focal length of the camera to make the eyes of the subject clearer.

In our portrait photos, eyes are an important part of communication with viewers, and the eyes of the legal person photographed clearly express the emotions and feelings at that time.

The simplest thing is to choose a focus. Why use this? Because we can set the required focus by ourselves, the focus position is now in the eye itself. The apertures used by beginners in portrait photography are F 1.4 and .4.

For the lens of F 1.8, different camera apertures are used to select different focal points.

2. Use a dedicated focusing system for portrait photography, including eye focus tracking and face detection in portrait camera settings.

For some cameras, having an eye focus tracking or face detection system can make focusing easier. Usually we choose eye focus, but for some cameras, such as Sony, there is an eye focus tracking system, or some cameras don't have a face focus system at all, which will make our eyes clear. This mode is specially designed for portrait photography, so it is easy to take clear and beautiful photos.

(Sony A7R II+Sigma35mm f1.4 ArtFe, @ 35mm f1.41160, ISO 60 +0.3EV)

3. Set the minimum shutter speed for portrait photography, which will not be blurred by hand shaking.

(Sony A7R II+Sigma35mm f1.4 ArtFe, @35mm F 1.4 1/250, ISO 60 +0.3EV)

The shutter speed of the camera shall not be less than the distance of the lens or the focal length of the lens. For example, if we use a 50mm lens, we use the shutter speed of 1/50, or if we use an 85mm lens, we use the shutter speed of1100, so that we can hold the camera and not blur the picture because of our camera, but there is another factor that may cause the camera to blur. The object moves faster than the shutter speed. Sometimes portrait photography is not always an adult, but a child running back and forth. All we have to do is use a higher shutter speed. Many times, the shutter speed of1125, 1/200 or even higher will be used to shoot children running around.

4. Set the shutter speed for indoor shooting.

The speed used in indoor portrait photography or shopping mall lighting needs to be kept at the lowest speed, and the shutter speed = lens focal length will be used to keep the model still as much as possible without exceeding this shutter speed.

(Sony A7II+Sony 85mm F 1.4 G-Master, @ 85mm f1.41125, ISO 100 +0.7EV).

In addition, you can use a lens with a slightly larger aperture, perhaps F 1.4-F 1.8, to get the maximum light input.

5. Use shutter speed to shoot outdoors

Outdoor photography has sufficient lighting. F 1.4-F 1.8 aperture is widely used. If the standard shutter speed is used, the light will overflow. When the sun is strong, it may be 1/400. If the shooting effect is not ideal, you can adjust the aperture.

6. Aperture setting for portrait photography

The larger the aperture of our camera, the more blurred the background. F 1.4-F 1.8 is recommended.

If someone wants a clearer background, use the same lens, but reduce the aperture to get a clearer background.

(Sony A7II+Sony 85mm F 1.4 G-Master, @ 85mm f1.71100, ISO 320 +0.3EV)

7. Portrait photography should choose the appropriate lens distance.

Sometimes we may choose to take a portrait in front of the melting lens after the lens is a little big. The lens may be 85mm or 135mm, depending on the lens distance.

(Sony A7II+Sony 85mm F 1.4 G-Master, @ 85mm f1.41160, ISO 100)

Everyone has different preferences, so you can try and practice in shooting.

(Sony A7II+SIGMA 35mm ART F 1.4, @35mm F 1.4 1/200, ISO 100)