Essential elements of portrait photography : lighting and posing techniques to make everyone look

128 Pages·2015·10.82 MB·English

by  Bill, Israelson

ESSENTIAL
ELEMENTS
of
PORTRAIT
PHOTOGRAPHY
Lighting and Posing Techniques to Make
Everyone Look Their Best
Bill Israelson
Amherst mediA, inc. BuffAlo, nY
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my loving family—my wife Katherine
and beloved sons Christopher, Jeffrey, and Steven.
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank all those who appear in this book. Without you,
the book would be far less interesting! A sincere thank you also
goes out to my wife Katherine, who supported the development
of this book by coordinating the logistics and administration
of the photographic shoots. I am grateful for her never-ending
patience.
The “Three Amigos,” circa 1994.
Copyright © 2015 by Bill Israelson.
All rights reserved.
All photographs by the author unless otherwise noted.
Published by:
Amherst Media, Inc.
P.O. Box 586
Buffalo, N.Y. 14226
Fax: [phone]
www.AmherstMedia.com
Publisher: Craig Alesse
Senior Editor/Production Manager: Michelle Perkins
Editors: Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt, Harvey Goldstein, Beth Alesse
Editorial Assistance from: Carey A. Miller, Sally Jarzab, John S. Loder
Associate Publisher: Kate Neaverth
Business Manager: Adam Richards
Warehouse and Fulfllment Manager: Roger Singo
ISBN-13: 978-1-60895-751-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014933303
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise, without prior written consent from the publisher.
Notice of Disclaimer: The information contained in this book is based on the author’s experience and opinions.
The author and publisher will not be held liable for the use or misuse of the information in this book.
Check out Amherst Media’s blogs at: http://portrait-photographer.blogspot.com/
http://weddingphotographer-amherstmedia.blogspot.com/
Contents
Author Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Portable Battery Pack and Strobe. . . . . . 28
Refectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Studio Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
The Goal of This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Light Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Obstacles to Good Photography . . . . . . . . . 9 Strobes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Learning to See the Light . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Softboxes and Umbrellas . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Posing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
I’ll Fix It in Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Photography Is Art—But It Involves
Technical Know-How . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1. Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
What Equipment Do I Need? . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Basic Portrait Photography Kit . . . . . . 15
DSLR Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
tech tip: Digital Sensors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
tech tip: Aperture and F-Stops. . . . . . . . . . 22
Flashgun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Loupe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
tech tip: Ambient, Incident, and Refected
Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Tripod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Light Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
All That in One Small Bag! . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Mobile Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Scrims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
CONTENTS 3
Refectors and Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2. Photographing People . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Backdrops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Idealize the Subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Stands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
What You “See” Is What You Get . . . . . . . 37
Advanced Studio Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Posing: Keep It Simple. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Posing Women. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Posing Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Posing Children and Families. . . . . . . . . 40
Glamour and Fashion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3. A Simple Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Key Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Fill Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Rim Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Step 1: Carefully Evaluate Light Sources . . 49
Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Step 2: Compose the Image in Your Mind . . 56
Step 3: Position and Pose Your Client . . . . 59
Step 4: Measure Light Sources and
Set Camera Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
tech tip: White Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Step 5: Position and Set Power to
Light Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
tech tip: ISO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Step 6: Take an Exposure, then View
the LCD and Histogram . . . . . . . . . . 66
The LCD: Seeing Is Believing . . . . . . . . 66
tech tip: Histogram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
The Histogram: Seeing Is Verifying . . . . 69
4. Outdoor Portraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
The Person Is the Central Object of
Your Photograph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
The Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
tech tip: Lens, Aperture, and Depth of
Field (DOF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Close Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Distant Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Panoramic Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
Diminishing Line and the Horizon . . . . 77 Camera Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Sunlight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Light Ratios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Bright and Sunny Sky Techniques . . . . . 80 Portrait Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Using On-Camera Flashgun. . . . . . . . . . 83 Short Lighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Using Off-Camera Flash (Mobile Strobes) . 83 Broad Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Shady Areas Under a Bright Sun . . . . . . 84 High Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Overcast and Cloudy Sky Techniques . . . 86 Mid Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
tech tip: RAW versus JPEG . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Low Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Beach Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 tech tip: Inverse Square Law . . . . . . . . . . 110
5. Studio Portraits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 6. Indoor Portraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
The Studio as a Workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Refecting Light Off the Ceiling . . . . . . . 115
Incident Light Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Using a Window as the Key Light . . . . . . 116
Lens Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Strobes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 7. Practice, Practice, Practice . . . . . 120
tech tip: Focal Plane Shutter and Now You Are Ready! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Flash Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Follow the Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Softboxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Review Your Work with a Critical Eye . . . 123
Feathering the Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Editing the Digital Image . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Umbrellas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Attend Workshops and Photography
Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Seminars by Great Photographers . . 124
Refectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 A Short List of the Photographers
Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Whom I Admire Most . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Backdrops and Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
tech tip: Light Ratios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Author Biography
Bill Israelson is a portrait and wedding photographer based in the Panama
City/Destin Florida area. He operates a state-of-the-art studio and is happy to
go the distance, work as hard as he can, and do whatever it takes to satisfy his
customers.
As a young teen in the ’70s, Bill used his dad’s Minolta SRT-101 35mm SLR,
which soon became his go-to camera for high-school yearbook work and
taking photos of friends. His photography journey had begun, and Bill had been
“bitten.” Since then, photography has been his strongest interest. Throughout
the 1980s and ’90s, Bill employed a Pentax ME Super 35mm SLR with a variety
of Tamron lenses to photograph family, friends, and events. After years of pro-
ducing thousands of negatives, Bill went digital—and professional—in 2006.
Bill currently conducts photography workshops ranging from the funda-
Author photo courtesy of Katherine mentals to advanced lighting techniques. Rarely is he seen without a camera
Israelson. strapped to his shoulder. He is the real deal—an enthusiast, perfectionist, and,
above all, a passionate photographer.
Look for Bill’s work at www.williamisraelson.com.
➤
Introduction
The Goal of This Book photography and the art and skill of photo-
The goal of this book is to help you greatly graphing people to ensure that they look their
increase the quality and beauty of your photog- very best. Perhaps the most important idea
raphy. The book covers the essential elements of in the entire text is the process. Conducting a
portrait photography—from common mistakes successful portrait photo shoot, no matter the
to the needed equipment, we lay a foundation location, is based on a repeatable and reliable
of how to use the tools of the trade. We then process that increases the quality of the images
get into a discussion about the point of portrait and creates a well-conducted experience for
An example of a beautiful mid-key portrait taken in the studio.
6 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
➤
➤ One-light-source portrait.
A fve-foot octabank with
600 watt/second strobe. The
softbox in this portrait was less
than one foot away from the
subject and two feet from the
backdrop. The falloff from the
light source lit the backdrop
suffciently.
(left) An overcast day
provides soft, even light on
the subject, yielding excellent
results.
(right) An example of excel-
lent bokeh. Note the way the
subject “pops” off of the page.
INTRODUCTION 7
➤ ➤
(left) In this portrait we see the use of a rim light (hair accentuation) and a close background.
(right) A great pianist photographed in my studio. Since the subject is male, the image was shot straight-on. The keyboard was the
perfect prop.
the photographer and subject. The unique and of situation such as bright sunlight or setting
important issues of photographing people in the strobes in a studio environment. I am always
studio, outdoors, and indoors on-location are glad to assist and provide advice on what I
examined in detail with example photographs know works for me. This book contains many
and descriptions of how the images were of those questions and answers. Technical
produced. jargon has been minimized. This book is not an
Frequently, I am asked by other photogra- attempt to impress the reader with complicated
phers to demonstrate how to use a particular ideas or complex technical information. Quite
camera control or tackle a specifc photographic the opposite—the information in these pages is
problem. Sometimes the question concerns the presented as a straight-forward, one-on-one dis-
setting of camera controls in a particular kind cussion on using proven portrait photography
8 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
➤ ➤
techniques to quickly make huge improvements
The biggest obstacle to creating a
in your image capture.
As you turn the pages of this book, you’ll great portrait is learning to see the
encounter Tech Tips. Don’t be put off by the
light that surrounds your subject.
term “tech tip”—these sections, like the balance
of the book, have been written to be easily un-
derstood and enjoyed. Each Tech Tip presents In addition to learning to see the light, you
insights that support or build on information must learn how to work with the sun, strobes,
presented in the text. The major points covered refectors, and fash to illuminate the subject,
in the book can be learned even if you decide to ensuring that the light levels are not too high or
bypass the Tech Tip text. too low. This brings us to our next concern . . .
It is my sincere hope that you will enjoy the Exposure. In order for an image to be
content of this book and that the tips and tech- effective, the exposure must be correct. Sounds
niques presented will help make a signifcant obvious, right? Digital cameras are less forgiv-
increase in your knowledge and skill and prepare ing than their negative flm predecessors. When
you to be a better portrait photographer. using flm, you could take an exposure that was
close to being correct, and the lab technician
Obstacles to Good Photography who processed your flm was able to correct the
Learning to See the Light. The biggest obsta- exposure. With digital, if your portrait is over-
cle to creating a great portrait is learning to see exposed, the subject’s skin may lack detail. If
the light that surrounds your subject. I cannot the image is underexposed, the shadow areas
emphasize this point enough. You’re proba- may lack detail, and digital noise may result.
bly thinking, “C’mon Bill, we have heard that Not to worry—in this book, you’ll learn to
one before.” Yes, I know. I remember feeling avoid making exposure mistakes that can under-
the same way when hearing such a statement. mine your otherwise perfect portraits!
There was a time when while taking a portrait, Posing. Posing rounds out the list. In my
I excitedly wanted to pose the subject, then opinion, posing people for portraits is an art all
show off and set up my state-of-the-art camera, in and of itself. Unless you are working with a
then hurriedly get back to the shop to print professional model, you will be responsible for
the image. The frst and most important step in posing your subject, couple, or group. Many
the photographic process—seeing and evalu- books offer excellent examples of posing—pos-
ating the existing light—was sidestepped, and ing for weddings, high-school seniors, families,
it showed in my work. I’m going to help you and glamour. I recommend that you purchase
avoid making the same mistake. I’m going to and read a few that appeal to you. But please
talk with you about light, the various kinds and understand that posing your client is not some-
qualities of light that we encounter every day of thing that you can do from memorizing photo-
our lives, and why you the photographer must graphs. I know because I tried; it did not work.
train yourself to relax, take a deep breath, and The reason is very simple: everyone and every
see the light around you. situation is different. The people that you will
INTRODUCTION 9
10 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY