Camera skills Shoot your ‘joiners’
Capture the set of images you need to create your collage
01 Camera Controls
These tend to be our stock exposure settings for outdoor portraits: Manual Mode, Shutter Speed 1/250 sec, Aperture f/4, Auto ISO. This way the shutter speed will be fast enough to freeze the action, and the wide aperture blurs the backdrop.
02 move around
Take a series of shots of the face; you’ll need at least 20. Move around slightly as you shoot to capture different angles. Try adding variety with your focus point; perhaps focus on the closest eye in one frame, and the furthest eye in the next.
03 subject movement
As well as shifting your camera position, ask your subject to move between frames. Shoot them straight on, try capturing their profile, or position them at 45 degrees. For a strong shape to your collage, keep the neckline clear from clothing.
04 White Wall
You can try the technique on any scene, but if you want to create the kind of strong shape of the head shown opposite, a simple, clean backdrop will work best as it helps to define the shape of the face. We used a plain white outdoor wall here.
05 soft light
We shot our set of portraits outdoors on a cloudy day. Being soft and diffuse, not only is this kind of light flattering for portraits, it’s also perfect for the joiner technique as it means the light stays even and consistent across the different frames.
06 Zoom lens
You’ll want to vary the crops as you shoot, with some frames tight to different parts of the face and others further away. A zoom lens like this will help you to shoot in this way. At longer focal lengths, brace the camera as you shoot to avoid shake.