Portrait Photography

Choosing Aperture and Shutter Speed
Portrait photography requires a large aperture (low f-stop number), such as f/2.8 or f/3.5, which creates a short depth of field and therefore leaves the background slightly soft in focus. This makes the subject more visually prominent, while making distracting background objects less noticeable.

Remember that as you enlarge the aperture, you need to increase shutter speed to account for the additional light that comes through the larger aperture. In aperture-priority AE, the camera makes the adjustment for you automatically.

Finding a Flattering Camera Angle
For most portraits, you should position the camera at the subject’s eye level.  However, you don’t always need to have your subject looking straight into the lens.

Directing your subject’s eyes to a position slightly above or below the camera can help reduce red-eye; but a straight-ahead gaze creates a stronger sense of intimacy. You can also lessen red-eye by taking advantage of the red-eye reduction flash setting. When using the red-eye flash mode, warn your subjects that they will see two bursts of light. If you don’t give people this warning, they will think that the pre-flash is the real flash and stop smiling or move before the picture is actually recorded.

Quick Portraits
Look for opportunities to catch a subject enjoying an everyday activity.

Photographing Kids
Throw some big pillows on the floor for a quick and easy backdrop for photographing kids. If you’re trying to photograph very young children, fire the flash a few times before you really get serious so that they can get used to your presence. After a while, they’ll forget that you’re there, and you can capture them doing what they do best: being kids.

Photographing Animals
The best shots are achieved when your subjects are as natural as possible. Try not to use a flash any more than you have to, so as not to startle your subjects. You can also reduce how intrusive you are as a photographer by getting closer with zoom lenses.