Portrait photography - anyone?
Radec
anyone recommend the best moderately priced camera for this purpose? I
assume my quality 35mm will be too grainy. Wht is the secret to good
portraits?
EC.
Sheheryar Hasnain
but the main things I feel are the format of the camera and (ofcourse) the
focal length of the lens. The format of the camera will make a difference in
the grain and sharpness and tonal depth of your photos. Ofcourse a 6X7 or 4X5
negative will give better results (given its shot properly) than 35mm. But
that is not an absolute since you may prefer a grainy effect that 35mm gives
for certain portraits. So lets forget the camera for now. Lets assume you are
going to use 35mm (which by the way is just fine and photos taken well will not
show grain to much).
Lens: Three lenses can cover bascically all portrait needs. 50mm for group or
figure stuff, 80 for face, shoulders and waist, and 135 or greater for just
face. The reason you want a larger focal length for just the face is due to
the distance you want to maintain from the subject so as not to distort the
perspective of the face. If you use a 50mm for a face shot you will notice the
nose jutting out and looking larger (which would work possibly for a flat faced
person). Generally we want to make each part of the face seem proportionate to
the other parts of the face. But this is not an issue if you are doing a full
person or a group of people since you will be far away enough from them for
there to be any distortion. Hope this helped.
By the way the best moderately priced camera is probably a K-1000. Try to get
some of the fixed focal length lenses of 50, 80 and 135 and you should be all
set.
Sheheryar
http://www.angelfire.com/il/sheher
Gene Windell
wrote:
> I am interested in doing portrait photography and family portraits. Can
>anyone recommend the best moderately priced camera for this purpose? I
>assume my quality 35mm will be too grainy. Wht is the secret to good
>portraits?
Before buying any additional equipment, I suggest you first read
several books on the subject of portraiture.
The "secret" to good portraiture is good lighting effects. Next in
priority is good posing and facial expression. Next in priority is
good rendition of an appropriate background. Compared to these
issues, the camera and lens you use is inconsequential.
Start out with the camera equipment you've already got, and use fine
grained films such as Fuji NPS or Kodak Portra 160 NC. Invest in
medium format equipment only after you can see that your sales of 11 X
14 and larger prints will justify the expense.
Gene Windell
Earl Fieldman
Radec wrote in message <#nUF7hMd$GA.215@cpmsnbbsa05>...
> I am interested in doing portrait photography and family portraits. Can
>anyone recommend the best moderately priced camera for this purpose? I
>assume my quality 35mm will be too grainy.
There is no substitute for practice, and practice using 35mm
is an order of magnitude cheaper than any other format. Not
to mention faster, those 1-hour guys won't do anything else.
35mm portraits compete with any other format at the 8x10
enlargement size.
Bottom line: start out using 35mm; you'll know when you
need more.
Earl F.
Javier Perez
I'm looking for any of these in any condition as long as the
mirror is ok. If you have anything, pleasee let me know and
tell me how much you want. I'm looking for defective lenses
too as long as the glass isn't scratched. Haze is ok though.
Best Regards
Javier
ski2_...@my-deja.com
Groups (up to 16 folks) ... 28mm
Family shots (3 or 4 persons) ... 50mm
Individual ... 85mm or 105mm
Lighting: get a flash umbrella (or two) and practice.
One or two light stands (or old tripods) to hold the umbrella(s).
...and if you can afford it: one or two electronic flash units
to bounce into the umbrella(s).
And then practice some more.
= = =
In article <#nUF7hMd$GA.215@cpmsnbbsa05>,
"Radec" <rade...@email.msn.com> wrote:
> I am interested in doing portrait photography and family
portraits. Can
> anyone recommend the best moderately priced camera for this purpose? I
> assume my quality 35mm will be too grainy. Wht is the secret to good
> portraits?
> EC.
>
>
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Javier Perez
Jean Marc Becker
objective.
JMB
Cliff Gholson
>Subject: Portrait photography - anyone?
>From: "Radec" <rade...@email.msn.com>
>Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 13:44:01 -0800
>
> I am interested in doing portrait photography and family portraits. Can
>anyone recommend the best moderately priced camera for this purpose? I
>assume my quality 35mm will be too grainy. Wht is the secret to good
>portraits?
>EC.
>
Practice, Practice
Possible wit and maybe a good saying:
Student "Mr. Author, I know that you have had many books which a lot of people
read. How can I start being a good writer?
Mr. Authur "Start writing a novelte and wite only a page once a day. When you
have wrote about a million pages you will become a great writer also."
Cliff
Joe McCary
education and practice. The "secret" to succesful portrait business
has nothing to do with either of those, it is all marketing.
Obviously one MUST be able to produce a somewhat high quality product
but again the business success and being a good portrait photographher
are different things.
One off the wall suggestion is to go to your local art gallery and
study the "masters" of oil painting. Their styles are what almost all
portrait photographers try to emulate./ Study carefully the WHY you
like or dislike an image. Study the HOW of the lighting and work at
duplicating those old techniques on film.
Thirdl/lastly, it is NOT the camera that makes or breaks the image.
Your cheap 35mm camera may be able to produce a better portrait than
my expensive Hasselblad if you KNOW what you are doing and I do not.
The camera's technicalbility only helps a good photographer it will
NEVER help a less talented shooter.
Joe McCary
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