Custom Picture Style for great portraits

pandyapragnesh

Hi, I am looking for a custom picture style for great portraits. Basically I want soft skin like my point and shoot camera, but I also want a sharp image. I am using a T2i with 50mm f/1.8 and 18-135mm kit lenses. Is there any other way to achieve this kind of photos like using some kind of filters? Thanks in advance.

t2iski

If you use Photoshop, their is a plugin called "Soft Focus" which works great for portraits.

pandyapragnesh

Thanks for tip. But I really looking for camera settings for this kind of images. I want to avoid post processing.

Moose

Howdy @pandyapragnesh - Have you experimented with the 'Portrait' picture style effect? You can enable it inside the 60D menu, by accessing the second shooting tab and selecting 'Picture Style'. The 'Portrait' picture style is designed to capture softer, more natural looking skin tones. If you want to smooth things even more, you'll need to achieve this effect in post-processing.

Additionally, your 50mm f/1.8 is a bit soft when shooting wide open which should smooth things out a bit. To do this, just enable Aperture priority (Av on the mode dial) and set the aperture to f/1.8. Focus on the eyes of your subject and everything else should be softer and blurred out.

Lastly, avoid using the built-in flash as it tends to bring out skin details. To get smother looking skin, use an external speedlite and bounce the light or shoot in natural light. Hope that helps and happy shooting!

pandyapragnesh

Thanks Moose, it really helps.

t2iski

Mosse has the fix...but, if you really really need to use the pop up flash for some reason use the flash comp at a value between -1 and -2. This will delay the flash a bit and not has harsh.