Portrait Photography

[sfoster]

I have been studying video but also playing with a t2i lately and still pictures.

Maybe you guys can help me out with a few things..
I read somewhere I should use something like 105mm lens to look best for portrait photography. I don't know if that accounts for crop factor, I'm guessing no. But if it did then 65mm would be ideal and 50mm seems pretty close. What do you guys think of this ideal focal length ?

Another question, I can't seem to account for flash when I manually set the exposure / shutter speed, etc. Is that just a matter of trial and error until I find out how bright the flash is? But I'm thinking I would need a flash location off to the side anyway, so the light doesn't flatten the subject

 

[JWerner]

For full frame DSLRs, 85-105mm is usually the suggested portrait lens range. This allows for a nice head and shoulders closeup without distortion. 50 to 65mm should be good for the T2i.

The T2i allows you to adjust the exposure and the flash separately, to balance the lighting. Look in the manual for Flash Exposure Compensation. You could check out the Flash Exposure Lock button as well.

If you're going to use flash as a main light, you definitely want to get it off the camera. The one exception to that would be a ring light.

But you can use the on-camera flash as fill if you adjust the output. You'll have to be careful about red eye with the flash that close to the lens axis though. Also consider diffusing the flash for a more pleasing look.

 

[icba pictures]

With a 50 1.8 you won't need a flash if your room is well lit, or the subject sits near a window (often the best source) with a bounce card (poster board) on the other side to reflect some light onto the dark side as fill. Otherwise do a test shot or 2 in your"studio" with a stuffed animal before your victim....ahem I mean subject arrives. Adjust the shutter speed to meet your needs.

 

[sfoster]

For full frame DSLRs, 85-105mm is usually the suggested portrait lens range. This allows for a nice head and shoulders closeup without distortion. 50 to 65mm should be good for the T2i.

The T2i allows you to adjust the exposure and the flash separately, to balance the lighting. Look in the manual for Flash Exposure Compensation. You could check out the Flash Exposure Lock button as well.

If you're going to use flash as a main light, you definitely want to get it off the camera. The one exception to that would be a ring light.

But you can use the on-camera flash as fill if you adjust the output. You'll have to be careful about red eye with the flash that close to the lens axis though. Also consider diffusing the flash for a more pleasing look.

Thanks man, i appreciate it

With a 50 1.8 you won't need a flash if your room is well lit, or the subject sits near a window (often the best source) with a bounce card (poster board) on the other side to reflect some light onto the dark side as fill. Otherwise do a test shot or 2 in your"studio" with a stuffed animal before your victim....ahem I mean subject arrives. Adjust the shutter speed to meet your needs.

With a 50 1.8 you won't need a flash if your room is well lit, or the subject sits near a window (often the best source) with a bounce card (poster board) on the other side to reflect some light onto the dark side as fill. Otherwise do a test shot or 2 in your"studio" with a stuffed animal before your victim....ahem I mean subject arrives. Adjust the shutter speed to meet your needs.

The problem is you can't always use 1.8.
Someone asked me recently if I would take some pictures at a wedding. I figure I may need a wider dof to ensure everyone is in focus

 

[Lucky Hardwood]

Portrait photography and wedding/event photography are two very different animals. Using a 50mm f1.8 wide open on a T2i at a distance of 10 feet from the subject gives you just over 9 1/2 inches depth of field (plenty) with a full frame equivalent focal length of 80mm. Moving another 5 feet from the subject (15 feet) gives you almost 22 inches dof. Since a short telephoto lens helps to separate your subject from the background and visually thin their profile, 80-110mm (35mm film/full frame) is considered ideal-ish for most portraiture. If your model is overly thin, you might want to consider a mild wide angle lens to help fill them out a little (35mmFF), just move them farther from the background.

 

[stef]

Someone asked me recently if I would take some pictures at a wedding. I figure I may need a wider dof to ensure everyone is in focus

Tell them "I'll take pics only after the pro you hired takes pics".

Do Not Shoot the Wedding as the sole photographer. There are a ton of things to think about which you do not know, including how to shoot events, how to shoot portraits, how to shoot people in motion, or how to use a flash effectively.

The advice you got above is sound, and 50mm is fine for portraits on crop cameras, and I use that on my 7D often. For full frame, anywhere from about 80 to 135 is good for head/shoulders shots to not flatten out or distort the face too much, and I generally use a 70-200 or 70-300 lens. Canon makes a very nice EF-S 60mm that will work perfect on your crop camera, and they make a nice EF-S 15-85 that is also high quality for general shooting.

And yes, I make my living as a pro photographer.