8/12/2019 Tips - Portrait in Natural Light

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Let there be light!For close-ups you need soft natural light for thebest results, so if youre shooting outside avoid

bright sunshine. If the weather is miserable you can

shoot indoors like we did, positioning your model by

a window. Whether youre indoors or outdoors, use a

reflector to bounce light back onto your models face

and fill in unflattering shadows.

Macro lensThe Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro isideal, as you can get up close without being

restricted to the minimum focusing distance, as you

would with a non-macro lens. The 100mm focal length

enables you to get nice close-ups without distorting

facial features, and the lens has a four-stop stabiliser,

which is great for shooting handheld in low light.

8/12/2019 Tips - Portrait in Natural Light

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Camera settingsSet your camera to Manual mode for full control.

To shoot handheld youll need to set a wideaperture to let in plenty of light; depending on the

speed of your lens this will be somewhere between

f/2.8 and f/5.6. This will ensure that you have a fast

enough shutter speed to avoid camera shake, and

will also create a nice shallow depth of field, so your

models facial features stay sharp while peripheral

detail and the backdrop are thrown out of focus.

Shutter speedOnce youve set your aperture, half-press the

shutter button to meter the scene, and turn

the dial to adjust the shutter speed until the exposure

indicator is in the middle to obtain a balanced

exposure. Keep the ISO low for maximum image

quality; however, to ensure you have a fast enough

shutter speed to capture pin-sharp shots you may

need to increase the ISO to 400 or even 800,depending on the ambient lighting.

Focus on featuresMake the most of features such as the eyes,

mouth and hair, but dont feel that you have toinclude every feature in a single frame. Try shooting

half of your models face, or their profile, and come

in tight to emphasise details such as the eyes for

added impact. For precise focusing, manually select

the autofocus point thats closest to the detail you

want to capture youll need to change the active

focus point as you compose different shots.

ACR adjustmentsOpen the five start files in Camera Raw inElements (as theyre DNG files theyll open

in ACR by default). Click the portrait_start_1.dng

thumbnail, and set Exposure to +0.60 and Shadows

+20. Select portrait_start_2.dng and set Exposure

to +0.65, Shadows to +38 and Blacks to +23. Select

portrait_start_3.dng and set Exposure to +0.35,Highlights to -27 and Shadows to +43.

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Retouch the skin

Press Ctrl+J to duplicate the Background layer,and use the Spot Healing Brush tool to remove

minor blemishes and stray hairs by clicking on them.

Use the Brush tool to even out areas of uneven skin

tone by Alt-clicking to sample lighter or darker skin

tones and painting over areas at 20% opacity. Take

the Dodge tool, set Range to Midtones and Exposure

to 20%, and brush over the eyes to brighten them.

Make a montageGo to Layer > Flatten Image, then repeat Steps9-11 for each start file. Select portrait_start_1,

take the Crop tool, select Use Photo Ratio, click the

arrows below to swap the height and width values

and draw a landscape crop. Crop portrait_start_2, 3

and 4 to square format by changing the height setting

to match the width setting; leave portrait_start_5 asportrait format. Create a new blank document, copy

and paste all the start files into it, and resize and

position them to create a montage as shown.

Merge and sharpen

Move the Midtones slider left to brighten theimage, then change the layers blending mode

to Soft Light to subtly boost contrast throughout

the tonal range you may need to tweak the Levels

settings after doing this. Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E to

create a merged layer, then go to Enhance > Unsharp

Mask and set Amount to 70% and Radius to 2 pixels.

Convert to monoTake the Burn tool, set Range set to Midtones

and Exposure to 20%, and paint over the lips

and eyebrows to enhance them. Next go to Enhance >

Convert to Black and White, select Scenic Landscapes

and click OK. Add a Levels adjustment layer, and movethe Shadows and Highlights sliders in until theyre

below the outer edges of the histogram, to set the

black and white endpoints and boost the contrast.