Perfect portraits
Q I’d love to take some portraits of my young son, but I don’t have a flashgun or any studio lights. What’s the best approach to take?
A The lack of a flashgun and studio set-up isn’t a hindrance to getting some really lovely images of your son. You are going to use what is absolutely free for everyone – natural light. I’m a massive fan of natural light for portraiture – and where youngsters are concerned, it’s probably the best approach because rather than setting anything up. You just grab an opportunity as it arises. This does mean keeping a camera handy but again, one camera and lens is all you need.
For simple portraits, I like to use a lens with a focal length of about 80mm; if possible, it should also be a fast lens so that you can shoot at quite a wide aperture, such as f/4 or even f/2.8. Most important, though, is the light. Soft window light is great, but avoid strong sunlight, as this will just give you contrast issues and problems with shadows. The image example above was an impromptu photo taken on a train using the light through the carriage window. It was raining, so the light was diffused and by taking a spot meter reading from the skin, the exposure naturally darkened the background of the seat the child was sitting on.
I had his attention for about 10 seconds. I fired off two shots and was happy with the result – which was just as well, because he wouldn’t sit still again. That’s the trouble with kids: you have their attention so fleetingly that you really have to grab the moment.