Portrait Photography Tips - Shooting in Low Level Light

It is comparatively easy to capture portraits when you have complete control of the lighting. But what about when you have no control and the available light is limited? The following portrait photography tips are intended to offer some lighting and photography concepts to make a low lighting situation a bit easier.

Common situations dealing with low level lighting are conferences or weddings at the moments where something important is happening and a flash would be a rude distraction. In order to shoot portrait photography reasonably well in this situation you must know quite a bit about the characteristics of your camera.

The Camera

To take portraits in low lighting it is imperative that a single lens reflex (SLR) camera be used. SLRs allow complete control over the major characteristics of the camera: size of aperture opening, shutter speed, and the ISO setting of the image sensor (using a digital SLR).

The Aperture

The aperture is the iris like opening in the lens body that controls the amount of light that is let into the camera; the smaller the setting, the bigger the opening. Without a flash, the necessary setting of the aperture will depend on the amount of light in the room. There are lenses available that have very small aperture settings (large opening) but they can be very expensive.

The point here is that if you have a limited light source, start with the lowest aperture setting and adjust higher as needed.

Shutter Speed

Allowing the shutter to stay open longer will allow more light in but it also allows for any motion to be captured; motion to a camera translates to blur or streaking. Because of this, a tripod or some other stabilizing device will be necessary. The longer the shutter is open, the more necessary the tripod (this is one of the key elements in all of my portrait photography tips). If you are expected to move about a crowd, a unipod may be a better choice.

Try to keep your shutter speed slow enough to let enough light in but not so slow as to capture movement. This can take quite a bit of practice but can make the difference of having to buy an expensive large aperture lens or not.

ISO Setting

The ISO or film setting of your camera determines the sensitivity of your image sensor. The larger the ISO setting the quicker it reacts to light. Using a high setting in limited light will allow your sensor to react quicker to the light that is available. The balance here is that ISO settings above 400 tend to result in grainy pictures with some cameras; this is becoming less of a problem with the progressive development of image sensors but it still happens.

Balancing out your aperture, shutter, and ISO settings in different lighting environments can take a bit of practice but it is better to do this than to use a disruptive flash during the I Dos of a wedding or when the boss may be making a presentation at a conference.

I hope these portrait photography tips have shown some of the concepts to keep in mind when shooting portraits in limited lighting without a flash.

Check out our Photography Tips site for more Portrait Photography Tips.

More Portrait Photography Tips and Tricks For Great Portraits

In my last article on portrait photography tips and tricks we discussed some new or different ways to approach a portrait. Portrait photography can be the most difficult and the most rewarding type of photography. Difficult because it is a portrait and you want to have the subjects personality show. Most rewarding because when you can get that to happen you have more than just a photo, you have a portrait.

Here are some more portrait photography tips and tricks to get you thinking out of the box and engage your subject for a great photo.

Candid Camera

No, I'm not telling you to use a hidden camera but to get candid shots. Posed portraits can look artificial and staged. When you get your subject involved in doing something your pictures are likely to be more natural and show more of your subject's individuality. What is your subject's hobby? Are they a gardener? Do they tinker with old cars? Are they a cook? Get them involved in what they love and it will show in the portrait. Use a long zoom lens if you like so you feel less intrusive. Of course action sports shots like skiing, hiking, sailing, climbing etc are wonderful but unless you also participate in the sport, they're pretty tough on the photographer!

Use a Prop

This technique is especially good with kids. Give them something to play with and all you need to do is keep up! You do need to make sure the prop doesn't become the focus of the portrait instead of the subject. Do allow the prop to add interaction and a sense of place and story to the portrait and show your subject in a different light, adding another layer to them.

Focus on One Part of the Body

Get close up on just part of your subject and not necessarily the face. Think how much a person's hands say about them, especially if they work with those hands as an artist or craftsman. What would the feet of a dancer show about your subject? Or a many-pierced ear? Or the back of a neck with a small tattoo just glimpsed in part of the picture?

All of these portrait photography tips and tricks add interest to the portrait as well as showing parts of your subject's personality that might not otherwise show in a more traditional portrait.

I'm an amateur portrait photographer. My favorite subjects are portraits of dogs and kids, especially together. Stop by PHOTOGRAPHYPOSE.INFO for tips on how to pose models and taking great portraits.

Different Types of Portrait Photography - Tips & Suggestions

The term portrait may refer to Portrait Painting and Portrait Photography both - here, the facial expression of the subject is captured by the painter or the photographer. People interested in a career in portrait photography should know the basics of this subject and maintain these guidelines while taking pictures of people.

Portrait photography has many branches; let's learn about them first.

Different types of Portrait Photography:

Portrait photography is further classified under four main sections:


Close-ups

Facial Shots
Upper Body Shots
Environmental Portrait

Professional photographers always try to capture the true self of a person through photography. However, with a camera focusing on the face, people become nervous and make faces that do no represent their real personality or the mood. And the photograph looks artificial.

An expert photographer would follow his own tricks to make the person feel comfortable and relaxed so that the right facial expression is captured. As a photographer you have to make the subject feel easy and not worried about the camera. While taking pictures of professional models, you don't need to worry at all as they are quite trained on how to face the camera. But general people become very much camera-conscious during photo shoot. Hence, to capture natural photographs, you have to take few snaps without making them aware. You may go through portrait photography tips to know more about such tricks.

Some easy and widely practiced tricks are stated below:

Ask your subject to get ready for a photograph; let them prepare for the snap; and then take a

picture. Now as the shutter moves up and down and your subject starts to relax, take few more

snaps very fast. This would help you capture their true persona.

Some professionals tell funny jokes while taking pictures to ease up the situation; some ask the subjects to engage in some easy and fun activities and take the snaps when the person is unaware of the camera.

The activities may depend on the age of the subject. For example, if you are taking portrait of a child, ask him or her to look at a picture and count number of circles in it. OR ask them to play with toy, solve a puzzle or copy an easy illustration.

Tackling children is quite easy than adults. A matured person is very much aware of the situation and knows that you are trying to distract his mind from the camera. Hence, you may need to choose some other tricks.

Some professional portrait photographers prefer to chat with their subject for hours before taking them to the shooting floor. You can engage someone to talk with the subject when you prepare your camera, lens and lights. You can also ask them to continue talking when you take pictures.

You can also think of some tricks of your own OR consult professional portrait photographers for more effective ideas. Many such methods, tips and tricks of portrait photography are available online. You can go through online photography tutorials or attend workshops to know more about portrait photography.

Author's Bio:
Vernon Southward, a freelance photographer, self published author and photograper by passion. For more information on photography, portrait photography tips , macro photography, he recommends you to visit: Beyondmegapixels.