How to take a good portrait without a flash?

Lead: For me, using flash is the most effective way to shoot high-quality portrait works. There is no better way to completely control the light, save time and get predictable results. Admittedly, you must know how to use the flash. But this ability can only be acquired through study and practice. Mastering the flash means mastering the light under any circumstances. However, sometimes, beautiful light is just there for you to discover and use. If you are willing to spend some time on the environment and model, and have some flexibility, natural light and ambient light can be your best friends. Let's have a look!

Looking for light source

Natural light. Windows may be the most beautiful light source you can find. It is like a huge soft box, and different curtains can also produce various effects. Just put the model near the window and let the light have a dramatic effect. I like to let the model pose with a shadow on one side, which is a classic portrait lighting method.

Indoor light source. Using indoor light bulbs can also produce good results. I like to take off the lampshade of the electric light and use only the light bulb. At the beginning, only the main light source is placed in front of the model, illuminating half of it, higher than the head. This can produce classic lighting effects. The second lamp can be placed far behind the model as a backlight.

Camera settings

What is my usual advice for indoor shooting? High sensitivity and large aperture? . At first, your camera should be set to ISO to keep the noise as high as possible within an acceptable range, and use the maximum aperture of the lens to get the fastest shutter speed. Of course, these settings are interrelated and all contribute to exposure. So you need to adjust them according to your shooting environment and the desired effect and make a compromise.

Fortunately, most modern digital SLR cameras provide good high-sensitivity performance, so most indoor light sources and low light are not a problem. But even if your camera produces a lot of noise at high sensitivity, it is not a serious problem. You can keep these noises, or you can use noise reduction technology to reduce them later. Many photographers actually artificially add noise to photos to simulate the effect of film. Simple advice: Don't worry about noise unless it affects your creative intention.

Another element of shooting beautiful portraits in low light is a large aperture lens. Large aperture means that the maximum aperture is at least f/2.8. The larger the aperture, the more light passes through the lens. This will give you more choices in ISO and improve the shutter speed. Large aperture lens can also create a shallow depth of field effect, which is very useful in portrait photography.

Shutter speed is an important consideration, not only because it will affect exposure, but also because low-speed shutter will lead to potential blur. However, you may find that occasionally some blurred photos are more artistic, and portrait photos don't have to be as sharp as needle tips.

Considering these factors comprehensively, try the following exposure combinations, which can be adjusted according to your own needs:

Exposure mode: aperture priority

Aperture: f/2.8 (or maximum aperture of lens)

ISO:800

Shutter:1100s or higher.

Using aperture priority mode, the camera will automatically determine the shutter speed. You should pay attention to the shutter speed to ensure that it is not too slow and blurred. Again, this is just the beginning. Mine? Iron hand? You can shoot115s by hand. For good results, you may want to use M mode to control all options. I recommend this if the lighting conditions on site are relatively stable.

Similarly, you may shoot in RAW format, so you can make many adjustments later, including white balance, exposure and contrast. Although it is impossible to set the white balance in the RAW format in the early stage, you can set it to observe the final effect. In addition, the selected white balance can tell the later software what the specific color temperature you set is.

post processing

In addition to creative post-processing, the following are some things to pay attention to:

White balance: Not all light sources have the same color temperature. No matter what they look like to the naked eye, different light sources will project different colors of light. Therefore, if bright tungsten lamp is used as the main light of portrait photography and the window light source is used as the background light, unexpected color temperature mixing will be encountered. Fortunately, you can correct this deviation in post-processing. But if these remixes have nothing to worry about for you, then leave it alone. These colors are acceptable. If you can't accept them, you can also treat them as artistic colors or black and white photos. So don't worry.

Noise: Many times, I personally like photos to have some noise. But if the ISO used is too high, noise reduction is needed. We have a lot of useful camera built-in software, third-party software or plug-ins to deal with. For example, I will use Lightroom's noise reduction tool or Photoshop's noise ninja plug-in.

Indoor photography with natural light and ambient light is a good way to learn how to use light in portrait photography. The experience gained in this way is equally effective when shooting portraits with a flash or in a studio. Different from outdoor photography, indoor photography without flash will bring some problems of poor light. With the above suggestions, you can take it easy and take good photos.