Portrait photography: Home Studio Portraiture

Home Studio Portraiture

So you want to take great portraits but feel that you need the latest and most expensive lighting kit to achieve this? Well, you don't. Photography in its most basic form is about 'painting with light', and that means any available light not just the artificially generated type.

And the beauty of using such a source is that it's free, gives you natural-looking images, and can be manipulated in the way you want, and with the minimum of equipment. And to guide you we've enlisted the help of professional photographer and author, John Freeman.

As John will tell you, one of the great benefits of shooting portraits in this way is that you don't need to find exotic locations, or spend money on hiring a studio, everything can be done from your own home, where you can utilise the available light, find brilliant backgrounds, be it a wall, curtains or window. Use a mere handful of props to create stunning images.

As with anything to do with photography, there are no boundaries, the only thing standing in the way of the creativity is yourself.

So what are you waiting for? Grab a camera, a piece of white card, get yourself a subject, and away you go!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED...
'Before you can begin'  says John, ‚'you'll first need the right equipment.' But fear not, there isn't a great deal of it. 'Which camera body to use isn't a major concern, but the type of lens you use is. For this shoot I opted for a fast (f/2.8) 70-200mm lens. Its speed is beneficial because, even though you are using an area that has sufficient light, you'll need a lens that can transfer as much light to the sensor as possible. The short telephoto option I went for will enable me to crop in and come out as much as I feel is needed.

'Because you won't be using any flash to light the scene, there is every likelihood that you will need to shoot at a slow shutter speed in order to capture enough of the available light, so a tripod is advised. Some of you may feel confident that you have enough of a steady hand to shoot at such a setting, but I'd certainly recommend the use of a tripod, and one where the camera can be moved from landscape to portrait format with the minimum of fuss. My tripod of choice is a Manfrotto, but any decent quality one will do.'

Reflectors
'The next vital piece of kit is a reflector. There is a huge range of these available on the market, Lastolite being a well-used brand, but you can, if budget is a problem, simply use a large piece of white card, or even a towel. The reason for using a reflector is that because your light source will be coming in from one location, it means that one side of whatever you are photographing will be in shadow. By using the reflector you will be able to position it on the other side of your subject, have it facing the light, and bounce the available light coming through the window into the shadows, giving a more balanced and natural look, and not a shot heavy in contrast. In this shoot we went for two reflectors, a circular Lastolite reflector and a large piece of white card.

'If you are lucky enough to have an assistant you'll be able to ask them to hold the reflectors for you, but if this is not the case, you may require a stand that you can use as a prop. Failing that, you can always ask the subject to try and hold the reflector, but that might produce an awkward-looking shoot. This is where it is handy to possess some light stands and clamps, and then position the reflector accordingly.'

'A common photography tool, and one that will ensure your exposure is correct, is a grey card. This is a popular piece of a photographe's kit bag, and placed next to the subject's face will allow the camera to determine what the correct settings need to be.

Find a Suitable Model
'Last, but by no means least, is the model themselves. It's always a good idea to use someone you know if you're just starting out, as they'll feel relaxed and the shots will look more natural. For this shoot, we used Jenna. Jenna's a professional model and made things very easy as she's done such shoots before. Great subjects need little prompting, and whenever they hear the shutter go, they will immediately alter their pose so that the photographer captures a variety of different shots to choose from.

'It's also worthwhile allowing yourself the opportunity to experiment. Don't feel you have to organise everything the way a book or person may tell you.'

'Grey cards help the photographer get exposure and colour balance right, and the way to use them is to first set your camera to manual so that you have total control over it, and then, using spot metering, take a reading from the grey card to see what the ideal exposure would be given the available light. The grey card should be placed as close to the subject you are photographing as possible, if not in its place. There are no rules to say that the readings you get are the only ones you can use, but it will give you a benchmark from which to work. And by using spot metering you are isolating the area you want to get exposure for. If, for example, you used matrix metering you will be taking a wider reading around the subject and come up with settings that won't expose your subject correctly.

'Taking some test shots is an ideal way of determining what settings you will need the camera to be set at, so before firing off the shutter for real,' I had a few test-runs first.

'As with any portrait shot, and because we weren't lighting the scene artificially, I wanted to use a wide aperture so that the eyes and a large part of the face were in sharp focus, pick up all of the available light, and at the same time, blur out the background. When I took my grey card reading, with an ISO of 200, this was giving me a shutter speed of 1/15th sec. To calculate such a setting, I set the camera to manual so that I had full control over it. At this stage camera shake isn't a huge issue, but for the later shots, using a remote shutter release counters this problem and allows me to get sharp images even though I'm using a slow shutter speed.

'And then, we begin...'