How to shoot a portrait with large aperture and shallow depth of field

Lead: Do you know how to take a portrait with shallow depth of field? How to use aperture and background? I think this should be the most common problem that many players face when they are exposed to large aperture portrait photography. This time, we will take these problems as examples, and with the actual shooting examples, let everyone deeply understand the changes brought by the large aperture and its application in portrait photography.

The collocation of scattered scenery and scenery

When using a large aperture lens, players must be familiar with the meaning of the scattered scenes in the picture, rather than simply opening the aperture. Why do you say that? Because the depth of field represents not only the requirements for scattered scenery, but also an expression of emotional evolution. Generally speaking, when shooting, we don't recommend players to open the aperture to the maximum. In addition to the illusion of the depth of the scene, it will also make the image fall into a state of no emotion, just like a seemingly beautiful painting, but it does not need attachment and can be replaced at any time.

When shooting portraits, the depth of field can appropriately blur the background, soften the lines in the field of vision, and enhance the perspective of the image.

When shooting portraits, the depth of field can appropriately blur the background, soften the lines in the field of vision, and enhance the perspective of the image.

Therefore, at the moment of shooting, we should first observe the elements that can be used in the scene, and simulate the depth of field in our minds to preview the results of image shooting. Take the following legend as an example. From the scene environment, we can see that all the trees are arranged in an orderly way on the roadside. At this time, if the aperture is fully opened, the depth of field of the image will become layers of color blocks, and the layers that should be there cannot be expressed. On the contrary, the image will lose its meaning and become an ordinary image. Therefore, how to control the depth of field and the collocation of the scene is a part that players need to pay special attention to before operating the large aperture lens.

In addition to carefully observing and balancing the elements and pictures constructed between the scene and the depth of field, there are other photography methods that can be implemented, such as replacing the meaning presented by the depth of field with large colors, or constructing the whole image by using the pale yellow halo generated by the backlight of the sunset. These are good composition skills, which not only test your own view of the image field of vision, but also challenge your composition ability.

You can make good use of scattered scenes with large aperture blur and integrate background lines or borders into the composition.

Observing the elements and colors in the environment at the right time can add the aesthetic feeling of sequence and model expression to the image and form a beautiful landscape photo.

Left: the scene is deep (the background is clear), and right: the scene is shallow (the background is blurred).

If you use a lens with the same focal length (such as a fixed-focus lens), you can also adjust the depth of field and composition style by changing the distance between the photographer and the model. The closer the distance, the shallower the depth of field (the more blurred the background). Conversely, the deeper the depth of field (the clearer the background).

Relationship between depth of field and focusing distance

The effect of shallow depth of field in the background will be more dreamy.

In addition to large aperture, the formation of depth of field is also related to focal length. We all know that the depth of field of macro lens is quite shallow, because the focus distance is very close, and the larger the magnification (the proportion of physical size on the photosensitive element), the more blurred the part farther away from the focus. When we use it in portrait photography, when we use telephoto lens, we can not only enlarge the aperture to blur the background, but also get closer to the model within an acceptable composition range. It can be seen that after only two steps, the proportion of models in the picture is slightly larger, and the effect of shallow depth of field in the background will be more dreamy.

Another interesting problem of focusing distance and depth of field involves the angle change of real three-dimensional space. When we determine the focal length, the photos should be clear and focused within the same depth of field of the camera. We can simulate it by shooting food. When we put the camera on the desktop and shoot food from a horizontal perspective, you will find that only the plane in focus is clear and the background is fuzzy. At this time, if we pick up the camera and shoot at a 45-degree angle, almost a whole plate of food will be in a clear state. The reason is that the range of depth of field in the picture can be changed because of different shooting angles.

Control the most suitable depth of field effect

The same principle applies to portrait photography. We can see that one was shot from a flat angle and the other was shot from a higher angle. As a foreground in a photo, the clarity is different. If you adjust the aperture, you can freely control the most suitable depth of field effect.

Numerical difference between focal length and aperture:

When shooting, according to the numerical difference given by focal length and aperture, the image can present different effects. It is suggested that players can try more large and small apertures and experience the beautiful pictures displayed by different lenses. In addition, players can also look for some surrounding scenery, and use the principle of large aperture and shallow depth of field to create a dreamy foreground effect and beautify the impression of the overall composition to the viewer.

Focusing technology in low light environment

Many good low-light portraits, sharp and deep eyes, or dreamy scenes revealed by artificial light are believed to be wonderful works that players will be attracted to after seeing, and people can't help but want to shoot similar pictures. But often after the actual shooting, I often feel a little confused, or I don't focus on the position I want accurately.

Players are advised to use single-point focusing or real-time shooting to ensure that the focus is within the required depth of field.

The main reason may be that the focusing system of middle and low-order models can not effectively distinguish the hierarchical distribution of images in low-light environment, and thus can not focus accurately. Another point is that because the depth of field of the large aperture is extremely shallow, phase shift focusing occurs during the secondary composition movement after focusing. So, in the face of such a problem, how can we improve the focusing accuracy? Will you spend a lot of money on top-notch equipment? Or take more photos and gamble? Of course, these are all options that can be considered, but in fact you have a better choice.

There are generally two quick and simple methods for players to use when insufficient light affects the focusing accuracy. First of all, the player can make good use of the focus auxiliary lamp owned by the external flash to assist the focus, and then use real-time shooting to manually frame the image and fine-tune the focus for details.

Both the external flash and the original wireless trigger have quota infrared focusing auxiliary lights, which players can make good use of to help improve the focusing success rate of portrait night shooting.

According to the former operation method, the player needs to turn off the external flash first, which has avoided the loss of environmental atmosphere caused by turning on the flash. The infrared focusing auxiliary lamp is used to make up for the accuracy caused by the lack of light level and enhance the focusing performance of the fuselage. In the application of real-time shooting, players can frame the position they want to focus on, and gradually manually adjust the definition of the image until the area they set is in focus. Although this processing technique is clumsy and has no speed at all, it is a slow and stable shooting method.

When shooting at night, you can consider using a long mirror to compress beautiful traffic lights, but you must pay attention to the handle of the safety shutter.

If you want to put the model in a beautiful scene, you must carefully avoid the aura of the model's five senses and present the model's beautiful face.

Although the above can make players slightly improve the shooting success rate of some large aperture images when taking low-light photography. But basically, it is recommended that players try to control the aperture at F2.2~F2.8 when shooting, and lean against railings, corners, or other stable equipment to assist the clarity of the image in time to ensure the accuracy and clarity of the image.

A new world of high-sensitivity applications

For many players who use large aperture to shoot portraits, shooting at night is the best time to use a large aperture lens, which can not only improve the shutter speed, help stabilize the image, but also show the charming scene of thousands of lights in the city. I remember the magazine contents in previous years. We often advocate players to minimize the use of high sensitivity to reduce the impact of noise on the picture, and even hope that players can use flash to fill the light, so that the image effect is more intense in the night style.

However, with the improvement of photosensitive element technology and processor performance, ISO has already surpassed the past and reached a higher level. So it is no wonder that in the past year, players' ideas about portrait night shooting have been constantly changing, not only gradually reducing the use of flash, but also paying more attention to the unique atmosphere dominated by weak light, trying to use the emotions generated by light and atmosphere.

For players who want to try this kind of theme, it is recommended to prepare at least one large aperture lens with F 1.8 (F 1.4 is recommended), whether it is 24mm, 35mm or even the most basic 50mm F 1.8, and use a high sensitivity above 1600 to match the Av aperture. When shooting, players can first look for the ideal light direction around the artificial light source, and first capture the light with the methods of front light, back light and side light. After getting familiar with the environment, they can freely use the existing light direction to change it, such as using super-bright street lamps to make their hair shine, which is also a good expression.

Application of environmental props: If the composition can be properly configured, you can even use street lamps as props to show the colorful light at night.

Color adjustment of night portraits

Backlight tip: When shooting at night, players should carefully observe the surrounding lights, let the model stand in a suitable position, illuminate the model's face with panoramic light source, and try to use the strong background light to set off the outline of the model.

Moderate adjustment of white balance can not only correct the high warm tone brought by night shooting, but also convey the emotional style of cold silence at night in the light blue department.

In the color presentation of night shooting, because most street lamps in Taiwan Province Province use yellow light, after shooting with large aperture and high sensitivity, the image will inevitably be excessively warm. It is suggested that you can fine-tune the white balance before shooting, or modify it with RAW file afterwards to find out the hue and style suitable for night shooting.