Quick portrait tips in bright light

Aussie_girl

I just purchased my first really nice digital camera, the Nikon DS-3200 and it is arriving tomorrow. I purchased it to take my daughters engagement pictures this weekend. I have a little photography experience, a few classes in college (portrait, black & white, and color) that I shot with a manual pentax , but it was in the early 90's before digital photography had truly began to take off. I am an illustrator by trade and have a considerable background in graphic design, so I know how to set up the shot, but I just am not familiar with f-stops, camera settings, etc.

I will be shooting in Lubbock, Tx. I am planning to get there around 7:00 pm to take advantage of the evening light (it's an 8 hr drive), but if it takes longer I will most likely be shooting in harsh sunlight the next day. I was hoping to get some tips on getting some really nice shots. I also purchased a tripod and cable release. I do not have any other lenses, only the one it is coming with. I hope to slowly add different lens's over the next few years. Additionally, how important is a light meter in taking nice portrait shots? Should I invest in one even though I have no idea how to use one?

ohyeahar

A dedicated light meter is probably not necessary because the camera actually has a light meter built-in. On higher-end bodies, you can have the light meter displayed permanently on the bottom part of your viewfinder. On the D3200, it only shows up when in M (Manual) Mode or if you’re over/under-exposed when in P, S, or A mode.

I would highly suggest you to try it out in M-mode. Adjust your aperture, shutter speed, and ISO and see how the light meter reacts. If the indicator is in the middle, that means you’ve got a good exposure.

In general, a pleasing portrait is one where the subject is in focus and the background is blurred. That means you’ll want a small depth of field. There are 3 ways to minimize your depth of field:
1. Shoot at a long focal length. This also has the benefit of flattering your subject’s features.
2. Shoot at a large aperture.
3. Have the subject close to the camera and the background way out into the distance.

On your 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, that means you should:
1. Zoom out to 55mm.
2. Shoot at f/5.6 which is the maximum aperture at 55mm for your lens.
3. Compose your subject in a way such that the background is off into the distance. The minimum focus distance for the lens is about 1 foot, but if you place your subject 1 foot in front of your camera , you won’t get a good composition. So use your own discretion.

Focus is very important in portraits, and the most important thing to focus on are the eyes. Use single point focusing, compose your shot, move your active focus point to your subject’s eye using the camera’s d-pad, and then shoot.

Shooting portraits in harsh daylight may be tricky. If you use a fast lens and shoot at f/2 or greater, you run the risk of overexposure since the camera’s maximum shutter speed only goes to 1/4000 sec. But at f/5.6, you should be fine. Applying the Sunny 16 Rule (i.e. assuming f/16, 1/100, ISO 100 is a good exposure on a sunny day), your exposure settings should be something like f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO 100.
The aperture of f/5.6 is a must, so don’t adjust that.
In daylight, you shouldn’t need anything higher than ISO 100, so don’t adjust that either.
Just adjust your shutter speed based on your lighting conditions (i.e. watch the light meter and adjust the shutter speed until the indicator is in the middle).

A few more tips:
If you use your tripod, turn off VR on your lens. You may want to cover the viewfinder because light can leak in through there to your sensor.
On the 18-55mm lens, if you use shutter speeds faster than 1/100 sec, it’s not necessary to use a tripod; just hand-hold the shots. The shutter speed is too fast for motion blur from camera shake to mess up your shot.

bruto

I think ohyeahar has about covered it, but I would add just a little. This is a digital camera, of course, which means that you can take a million shots as experiments and erase the ones that don't work. Don't be afraid to mess around a little. The 18-55mm is a pretty decent portrait lens if you follow his guidelines, but because it does not have a very wide aperture with which to blur unwanted background, you may have to get a little creative to keep backgrounds from intruding.

If you're shooting in harsh sunlight, read up on the possibilities for fill flash to reduce shadows. Although in many cases "active D-lighting" is a mixed blessing, it can help also to reduce unwanted contrast. I think it's on by default in the D3200, but check it.

You may also find in some cases that spot metering works better than matrix, though the matrix meter in the camera is very good. Try all metering modes, and make sure you get familiar with the exposure compensation as well, as very bright backgrounds and harsh skies can lead to underexposed faces and "raccoon eyes."

Remember that if the camera is set to "auto ISO" in the P,S, A and M modes, it may decide to override your selection if your shutter speed goes too low. If you want to be really sure that your choice sticks, go to the menu and cancel the "auto ISO". Manually changing ISO on the fly is very easy on the D3200 (better, apparently, than on some fancier models).

If you shoot in RAW mode, remember too that there is a fair amount of compensation you can do after the fact. The ViewNX2 program that comes with the camera gives you some post processing options, some of which can be used only in RAW mode, such as changing white balance and exposure compensation.

Edit to add: One thing I forgot to mention is that you may want to experiment with white balance settings. When set to "auto" the camera does a pretty good job of guessing, but it often errs on the cool side, especially if weather is overcast.

Aussie_girl

Thank you so much for the tips. I was hoping to experiment a little bit today, but made the mistake of purchasing a refurbished model (from Nikon with a limited warranty). I thought I would be ok seeing as it was sold through Amazon directly from Nikon. When I received the camera the lens was sticky; so much so that it was almost impossible to adjust the focus. I called Amazon and they issued an immediate refund. UPS is picking it up tomorrow. I ordered another camera, the same model, but new this time.

I am so frustrated because I wanted to try out your suggestions today...sigh. I did invest in a large reflector just in case I needed to shoot with the sun behind, or in the shade. I also watched a YouTube video on using the cameras histogram as a light meter by taking a shot inches from the face and looking at the results. Have you tried that method?

Again, thanks for the tips. I will let you know how it goes when I get my camera tomorrow!

bruto

Too bad about the camera. I don't think you'll regret getting the same thing new.

Do be aware that unlike some, this camera's kit lens does not allow you to manually fine tune focus when it's on AF. If you want to manually focus you must turn the auto focus off (switch on the lens is sufficient, you don't need to go into the camera menu). Some other lenses (for example the 18-140mm that comes with a D7100) do allow this, but the 18-55mm does not.

I confess I have not had to bother with that version of using the histogram, which is not to say it is not good, but that you may find the meter works well enough in the normal way, and it may be quicker and easier to take several shots and throw the bad ones away than it is to study the histogram.

The histogram itself, though, is very handy, especially if you like to play with manual lenses which don't meter on this camera. You don't need to carry a meter when you can evaluate the picture a moment after it's taken.

Make sure you check out the instructions, because the camera's default review setting does not show the histogram; it's a menu option.

The instruction book that comes in the box is not complete. The book in PDF form on the accompanying CD is longer, and complete.

ohyeahar

@Ausssie_girl, I hope you didn’t try to force the focus ring to turn without turning AF off on the lens. As @bruto mentioned, the 18-55mm lens doesn’t allow manual focus override when AF is on. If you force it, you may damage the focusing motor in the lens. Keep that in mind when your new one arrives.

Also, the 18-55mm isn’t really designed for manual focusing. The focus ring doesn’t have much travel. It only turns possibly a quarter circle (maybe less). I wouldn’t use manual focusing with it unless it’s really necessary.

bruto

By the way, I did some experimenting today. I have the usual 18-55mm zoom that came with the D3200, and I also have access to my wife's very fine AFD-50mm f/1.4 lens. That is an AF lens that does not autofocus on the D3200, but I still get the focus confirmation dot in the viewfinder, and with a little magnification it's easy to manually focus very accurately.

So I "raced" them. I put the camera on a good tripod, aimed at a couple of complex scenes in dim and bright light with the zoom set at 50mm or so. Both were at f/8, which is appreciably near the "sweet spot" for either lens. I used a remote with a 2 second delay and tried a few shots with each, making sure the focus of the 50mm was on target, while using only single point AF for the zoom.

Now perhaps my samples are better than some (the camera's focus certainly seems right on the dot), but if there is a difference in detail or resolution between these two lenses, I'm not seeing it. In terms of convenience and speed, the kit zoom wins. At least with my samples of camera and lens, the AF is very accurate.

Of course you get better low light capability with the f/1.4 prime. I'd imagine that under difficult lighting conditions it will give less flare and have other virtues, especially with a different camera that can use its AF. I threw this comment in just to confirm that the kit zoom is surprisingly good, and within the range of light at which it works well at all I think it will prove more than competent.