5 Easy Steps to Fantastic Natural Light Photographic Portraits

Have you ever wondered how pro photographers get those great portrait images that grab your attention so much, that you often forget your looking at a picture. Through my experience as a professional photographer I can pass on a few simple tips to make sure you get great portraits every time you click the shutter.

1. Learn to relax your model. Have a cup of tea and a chat, show them your work and talk about what you hope to achieve from the shoot. It is vital that you build a rapport with your model, they must feel at ease in front of your camera. Trust is vital to a good honest portrait.


2. See the light. One of the best lighting sources available is the humble window. Most houses have one or two and they are a lot cheaper than fancy studio lighting systems. So turn your flash off and position your subject in the middle of the room facing the window. Now that the lovely soft natural light is falling upon the model's face position yourself next to the window facing the subject. Be careful not to block the light or cause any shadows across the subject.


3. Keep your DSLR's aperture wide open. For a nice blurry background and an eye catching popped subject set your aperture or f stop to 2.8 or 4.5. You may need to set your ISO first depending on how light your room is. ISO sets the cameras sensitivity to light, a bit like the old film speeds of yesteryear. An ISO value of 400 works in average conditions, crank it up to 800 for darker rooms or gloomy days. This will keep your shutter speed up so you can avoid camera shake and properly expose your image.


4. Focus on the eyes. Your wide aperture will give you a very narrow depth of field so it is vital that the eyes are in focus. Eyes are the windows to the soul, and that's what we want to see in a great portrait. Nothing looks worse than a nose in sharp focus with blurry eyes peering out from the background. Use a single focus point and keep it firmly fixed on the models pupils.


5. Compose within the frame. Keep the model slightly off centre so that the eye area is roughly a third of the way in from the edge and a third of the way up down from the top of the frame. Keep backgrounds simple and free of distracting clutter.

Combine all of the above tips and you should be on your way to taking some great photographic portraits. Most of the worlds greatest portraits were made using simple natural light photographic techniques and made using costly and complicated equipment. Keep it simple, keep it fun.

Adam Gibbard is a professional wedding photographer in Cornwall, England.
Has has developed his style and expertise through practical experience and using the beautiful light available in Cornwall. Discounted wedding packages to suit your budget. View more of my work at http://www.adamgibbard.co.uk/.

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