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    ince its invention over 160 years ago,

    photographys most popular subject has always

    been people by a long way. While a relatively

    small band of enthusiasts have specialist interests such as

    landscape, still life or natural history, the majority of pictures

    taken are of family and friends. Whether were out having a

    wonderful time or simply relaxing at home, we like nothing

    more than to record the occasion for posterity.

    But all too often the results disappoint failing to

    capture the magic of the moment or the personalities of

    those present. Even people you know really well can get

    tense and nervous when a camera is pointed at them,resulting in awkward poses and cheesy grins that ruin the

    shot. Other images are let down by technical considerations

    such as poor composition, ghoulish red-eye, inaccurate

    focus, wrong exposure or unflattering lighting.

    Of course, one of the great advantages of using a digital

    camera is that you can review the pictures immediately, and

    shoot them again if theyre not quite right or even salvage

    them later on a computer.

    Getting it rightBut sometimes the opportunity has gone and there is no

    second chance such as blowing out the candles on a

    birthday cake. So it makes sense to get it right first time. At

    the heart of the problem is the fact that many

    photographers just pick up the camera and snap away

    without thinking about what they are trying to achieve orhow to get the best from the situation.

    However, with the right approach, a picture can be a true

    and lasting portrait that reveals something of the real

    people or a treasured memento of a precious moment not

    just a superficial snapshot. The bad

    news about taking pictures of

    people this time of year is that it

    gets dark so early, and if youre

    shooting after late afternoon the

    only option is to use the cameras

    built-in flashgun. The good news is

    that over the next couple of months there will be loads of

    parties, school plays and so forth, and you wont find

    yourself short of subjects.

    The problem with using flash is that its not subtle.

    Because it blasts light directly at your subject, youre not

    going to get the best shots in the world. All too often you

    end up with white, over-exposed faces staring out from a m

    018 DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE

    People are easily the most popular subject, but you need to think carefully about what you aretrying to achieve, says Steve Bavister, if you want to produce pictures with lasting appeal

    FEATURE

    YOUR GUIDE STEVE BAVISTER

    Steve is a photographic journalist and freelance photographer. He is editor of ThePhotographer, a leading magazine for pro photographers, and author of ten bookson photography including Digital Photography and Take Better Family Photos

    [email protected]

    PHOTOGRAPHINGPEOPLE

    PORTFOLIOSTEVEBAVISTER

    S

    Shallow depth of field isolates thesubject from the background

    Direct eye contact with the cameraengages the viewer

    Muted background colours dontdistract from the main subject

    The models hair and arm posehelp to frame the face

    WHYWE CHOSEOUR COVER PICTURE4

    Even people you know really wellcan get tense and nervous whena camera is pointed at them

    mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]
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    DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE 019

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    FEATURE

    020 DIGITAL CAMERAMAGAZINE

    PHOTOGRAPHINGPEOPLE

    black background. Worse still, your subjects may suffer

    from red-eye, caused by the flash reflecting back fromthe blood vessels at the back of the eye.

    While red-eye is not difficult to correct using an

    image-editing program, why make work for yourself

    when it can often be avoided?

    Dealing with flashMany cameras feature a red-eye reduction facility that

    will diminish and sometimes eliminate red-eye in the

    majority of situations. If you dont have such an option

    you could try switching on the room light the pupil of

    the person youre photographing will close down,

    reducing the risk of their eyes ending up red.

    You can minimise the likelihood of over-exposure

    when using flash by not getting too close to your

    subject. Around two metres is a good working distance

    with most built-in guns.

    If you have children, though, and want to photograph

    them in the Christmas play, you may need to increase

    the sensitivity setting on your camera, from ISO 100 to

    400 or even 800. The quality wont be quite as good,

    but it will increase the effective range, and reduce thepossibility of under-exposure. Getting there early and

    bagging a front row seat is also a good idea.

    Sometimes youll have to use flash, and its ideal for

    party pictures, but if you aspire to more than that

    perhaps taking portraits with style and quality its to

    the many moods of daylight you should turn.

    Making the most of natural lightIf, like many photographers, you associate taking pictures

    outside with sunlight and blue skies, you might not be

    inclined to step through your front door with your

    camera in your hand at this time of year. But, in fact, the

    gentle light you get in autumn and early winter is a

    lot more attractive than the fierce light of summer.

    Cloudy days in particular are perfect for people

    photography of all kinds. Shadows are much softer

    and more flattering, minimising lines on more mature

    faces. And even when the sun is shining, the fact that

    its lower in the sky means you dont get ugly, dark

    areas under the eyes, nose and chin as you do in

    brighter weather conditions.In fact, the position of your subject in relation to the

    sun is of prime importance and different results will be

    achieved at different times of the day, as the sun rises,

    circles the heavens, and then sets.

    Of all the kinds of lighting available to the

    photographer, top lighting is probably the least

    satisfactory. You get it in the middle of the day, when

    the sun is at its highest. Because shadows are point

    down and relatively dense, it really is best avoided

    whenever possible.

    The best times for portrait photography

    outside are morning and afternoon, when the sun is

    1 Touching heads together creates a sense of

    intimacy and avoids the camera sensor focusing onthe background

    2 Shooting into the light puts a halo of light around

    the girls hair and back

    3 Setting the built-in flashgun to give a burst of fill-

    in flash ensures that the faces are fully illuminated

    and theres an attractive catchlight in the eye

    4 Using the top end of the

    camera's zoom range and

    placing the girls some

    distance from the

    background gives a three-

    dimensional effect

    IMAGE EXPLAINED3

    1

    2

    3

    4

    An increasing number of digitalcameras allow you to select theaperture and shutter speed settings

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    4/9DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE 021

    closer to the horizon. Place the sun behind you and

    your subjects will be evenly lit, with a catchlight (a point

    of light thats a reflection from the sun) in their eyes,

    bringing them to life.A simple way to make the light even more appealing

    is to improvise a reflector of the type widely used by

    professional photographers. Any white or reflective

    material will do a white piece of card, an old sheet or

    a square of polystyrene. Simply ask the person to hold it

    at waist height, so its not seen in the picture, and youll

    be astonished how much it improves the lighting.

    If you have a friend on hand who can act as an

    assistant, try positioning your subject so theyre lit

    from the side, with the reflector held vertically on

    the opposite side to bounce light back into the

    shaded areas.

    Reflectors are also valuable when taking pictures intothe sun or contre-jour, as its also known. The

    backlighting from this arrangement can be attractive

    because of the Ready-Brek glow it gives to hair and

    body, but if you just shoot away you may end up with a

    silhouette. Setting your cameras flash menu to provide

    fill flash can be an effective, but less controllable, way

    of making sure people are fully illuminated.

    When taking pictures outdoors in autumn and

    winter its a good idea whenever you can to get your

    If your camera enables you to select the aperture, you have direct control over howmuch of the finished picture appears sharp. There is a zone, technically called the

    depth of field, in front of and behind the point on which the camera lens is focused,

    which varies according to the size of the aperture. When you set a small aperture

    (confusingly, a big number such as f/11 or f/16), theres a large zone of sharpness,

    with most things appearing in focus. When you set a large aperture (a smaller

    number, such as f/5.6 or f/8), the zone is much narrower, and only the main subject

    sharp. Choosing a small aperture is ideal where you want to show your subjects in

    their natural environment. Selecting a large aperture is preferable where you want

    to concentrate attention on the person.

    APERTURE CONTROL2

    By focusing on an area in

    front of the subject and

    choosing a large aperture

    setting, the subject is

    outside the shallow area of

    depth of field. This creates

    the unusual effect here

    By selecting a small aperture,

    more of the subjects in the

    shot remain in focus.

    Unlike their traditional

    film equivalents, digital

    cameras rarely offer a depth

    of field preview, so some

    experimentation may be

    required to get the result

    you want

    1

    1

    Extreme depth of field

    effects can be enhanced

    in an image-editing

    program. Here, the effect

    of shallow depth of field

    has been greatly

    exaggerated by digitally

    blurring the background

    Learn more about depth of

    field in our camera

    techniques feature on

    page 86

    1

    You can make people look thinner byasking them to stand at 45 to thecamera, rather than square on to it

    As well as photographing people standing andsitting, try out shots of them lying on the floor orleaning against a walla

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    FACIAL EXPRESSIONSThe best way to get an interesting facial

    expression is to be unobtrusive. Dont ask your

    subject to say cheese instead, lie low and snap

    off a few shots when theyre least expecting it

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    subjects to wear bright clothes, to stop them blending

    into their surroundings.

    Camera settingsThe lens setting you use and where people arepositioned in respect to the background are important

    factors. If you want people to stand out, so the

    emphasis is on them rather than the surroundings, you

    should use the top end of your zoom range and get

    them to stand well away from the background. What

    this does at a technical level is reduce the depth of

    field the amount of the scene that appears sharp in

    the finished picture. If you have a powerful zoom and

    the backdrop is some way behind, your subject will

    stand out almost three dimensionally.

    When you want to shoot an environmental portrait,showing people in their surroundings, you should do

    the opposite go for a wide-angle setting and position

    people close to the background.

    An increasing number of digital cameras allow you to

    select the aperture and shutter speed settings, rather

    than leave it to the cameras exposure system. If you

    have this option, you can control the depth of field in a

    direct and creative way.

    Taking candid photosWhether you shoot indoors or outside, getting your

    subjects to relax while youre photographing them cansometimes be a challenge. As soon as you pick up your

    camera and point it in their direction many people get

    tense and nervous with stiff body language and

    frozen smiles ruining the shot. Or worse, they start

    acting up and pulling silly faces.

    But theres a simple way to avoid these problems

    by shooting candid pictures. Instead of asking people to

    pose, you photograph them when theyre unaware of

    you. This allows you capture them as they really are, at

    their most natural, enabling you to get a glimpse of

    their real character.

    And shooting candid pictures isnt hard to do. Yousimply have to develop a different way of working.

    Instead of getting people to Say Cheese, you stand at

    a distance using a telephoto lens setting, waiting for the

    right moment to release the shutter. Expressions change

    in a fleeting second, and opportunities can arise and be

    gone before you know it blink and you miss them. So

    you need to concentrate on your subject completely,

    anticipating the right moment and acting decisively

    when everything falls into place.

    Of course, if youre shooting candids indoors using

    flash, the first picture you take will give the game away.

    Outside, though, you may be able to take a sequenceof pictures, especially if the person is immersed in

    some kind of activity or chatting to someone else.

    The downside of candids is that you have little

    control over things such as lighting or background, and

    for that reason you will almost certainly want to control

    the two approaches.

    Taking posed photosIf you do go the posed route, be prepared to offer

    direction rather than leave people to their own devices.

    The more you tell them what to do, within reason, the

    more confident they will be in your abilities. Its best to

    have some idea how you would like to start things in

    terms of location, pose, lighting and composition,and then make changes as you go along.

    The best way to put people at their ease is to chat to

    them about things that interest them, such as their

    hobbies or work taking pictures as they grow more

    animated and lost in the conversation.

    Photographing childrenThis works particularly well with children, who often

    have a short attention span, and get bored with posing

    quickly. Subjects such as pop music and TV programmes

    are a good place to start, and a fund of knock-knock

    jokes or amusing stories can help break the ice with

    DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE 023

    Experimenting with wide-angle lens settings can produce some interesting effects whenshooting people. Wide angle lenses cause some interesting, if at times unflattering

    distortion of the facial features, and the wider the lens you use the more this will be

    apparent. You can also try experimenting with the Spherize filter in Adobe

    Photoshop/Elements on a normal picture to recreate the effect of a wide-angle lens.

    WIDE-ANGLE CONSIDERATIONS2Only gloomy days it's a good idea to set yourcamera's flashgun to fire a burst of fill-in flash

    balanced to the existing lighting to make sure that

    your subject is fully illuminated.

    FILL-INFLASH2

    8

    Before you take a picture, look aroundthe frame to see if there's anythingmessy or potentially distracting

    When shooting indoors using room lighting,switch off ceiling lighting, which causes uglyshadows, and use table lamps insteadg

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    youngsters. As any parent knows, if youre bossy theyll

    start to rebel. Encourage them to try different posesrather than telling them to perhaps by getting them to

    play with a favourite pet or toy, or asking them to

    pretend theyre a princess or king.

    One of the key things when photographing children

    is to get down to their level, both literally and

    metaphorically. Crouching so youre the same height as

    them means you dont get awkward expressions as

    they strain to look up at you.

    Babies are easy to photograph, because they stay

    where you put them, but toddlers can be tricky because

    they tend to be in perpetual motion rushing towards

    you when you try to photograph them. For that reason acandid approach is more likely to be successful.

    Improving compositionAs with other areas of photography, composition plays

    an important part in portraiture. How big you make the

    person in the frame, and where you place them is, to a

    large degree, a matter of personal preference. And

    while you will obviously want to enhance images once

    you get them on a computer, you dont want to lose

    quality by throwing too many pixels away and its a

    good idea to get your composition as right as possible in

    the first place.

    One option is to include all of the person. This works

    well if you want to show them in context, but can lackimpact because they often seem far away. For general

    picture-taking a three-quarters crop, typically from just

    above the knees, is a good choice the face isnt so

    small in the frame but you can still see the background.

    For maximum impact, try cropping even tighter, to a

    head and shoulders. You get lots of eye contact, and the

    only real downside is you dont see any of the setting.

    If your camera has a zoom lens, its better to use that

    to fill the frame with the subject, rather than move

    physically closer. Avoid taking tightly cropped pictures of

    people at the wide-angle end of your range the

    distortion that results is far from flattering.As you go closer you need to make sure you focus on

    the eyes because the depth of field is greatly reduced,

    and if the eyes are unsharp it tends to make the whole

    picture look wrong.

    When photographing one person, youll often want to

    place them at the centre of the frame though its

    worth experimenting with other positions, such as to the

    side, or even dynamic compositions such as at a

    diagonal, by tilting the camera.

    When photographing two people together, you

    should aim to capture something of the relationship

    between them. If theyre related in some way, getting

    them to put their arms around each other and tip their

    heads together is a simple way to create a sense

    of intimacy. It also avoids the common problem of the

    focusing sensor going between the heads and focusing

    on the background with both people ending up out

    of focus.

    With groups, try to avoid lining them up like a firingsquad. The key to success lies in making sure you can

    see everyones face and that theres some kind of shape

    or structure. One simple technique is to create a

    triangle, with the tallest person in the middle, and

    others slightly in front and to the side.

    Whoever you photograph, and however you

    photograph them, one of the great advantages of using

    a digital camera is that you can show your subjects the

    results straight away, giving them immediate feedback

    on how theyre coming across. And once they see they

    look okay, theyll noticeably relax, paving the way for

    even better images.

    Some digital cameras may give you the option toshoot in black and white, but for greater flexibility

    shoot in colour and then convert the image on your

    PC. Contrasty images work best when converting to

    black and white but this can also be tweaked in your

    contrast settings in your image editor. Here we see

    various colour alternatives, as well as black and white,

    try experimenting with duo, trio and quadtones.

    1 Monochrome variation

    2 Sepia toned image

    3 Duotone image (black + yellow)

    4 Duotone image (black + magenta)

    01

    02

    03 04

    EXPERIMENTING WITHCOLOUR2

    One of the great advantages of usinga digital camera is that you can showyour subjects the results straight away

    DIGITAL CAMERAMAGAZINE 025

    Flatter people and make them look younger by using the flash whatever the weather.This softens shadows and bleaches lines. To reduce any potential harshness, secure apiece of tissue over the flash this diffuses the lightf

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    FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHINGPEOPLE

    DESATURATE TO GREY

    Shift the reds to greys. Under the Imagemenu, go to Adjustments and choose

    Desaturate. This turns the red in the eyes to grey. In the

    Layers palette, click on the Create New Fill or Adjustment

    Layer button and pick Hue/Saturation.

    02

    COLORIZE THE LAYERApply a new colour to the selected grey eyes.

    The Hue/Saturation dialog window appears

    automatically. Add a tick next to Colorize, drag the

    Saturation slider to the centre (50%) and drag the Hue

    slider until you find the eye colour you want. Click OK.

    03 REDUCE THELAYER OPACITYArtificially applied colour can look fake so toneit down with layer transparency. Tone it down

    by dragging on the Opacity slider in the Layers window.

    This allows some of the grey in the Background layer to

    temper the hue you chose.

    04

    ne of the most basic problems when

    photographing people, is red eye whenusing a flash. Red eye happens when the

    bright light from a cameras flash unit reflects off the

    the subjects retina. Some cameras have red eye

    reduction features built-in but even then, you may

    still have this problem

    Luckily, its something easily fixed. Many low-end

    photo editing programs feature dedicated red-eye

    removal tools and wizards. The latest versions of

    Paint Shop Pro, PhotoImpact and Photoshop elements

    all do but surprisingly the gorilla of the bunch,

    Photoshop, expects you to do it all manually.

    Weve used Photoshop to show you how to fix it

    without recourse to fancy tools, but if you have

    Elements 2, take a look at our tip opposite.

    Two steps to heavenThere are several ways to approach the problem

    using paint brushes and alpha channels, but here

    weve chosen the most popular method using an

    easy two-step technique: first turn the red to grey,

    then Colorize that grey to something else.

    Using an adjustment layer also enables you to

    temper unrealistically coloured eyes by making the

    layer partly transparent. Now take a look opposite:

    Red-eyeremoval

    SELECT THE EYES

    Mark up both eyes with a selection marqueeready to edit. Use any of the selection tools

    with the Shift key held down to select both affected eyes

    in the photo. For best accuracy, you should zoom in and

    trace around the eyes with the Lasso.

    01

    QUICK TIPS

    8Its a hoary old problem peoples eyesgoing demonic red when taking photosindoors with a flash. Its easily fixed

    FIXING RED-EYE IN ADOBE

    PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 2

    1 Select the Red Eye brush

    from the tools palette.

    2 Choose a brush from the

    pop-up palette and select an

    appropriate brush size. You

    can select the colour you

    want to remove when you

    click in the relevant part of

    the image.

    3 Choose a replacementcolour, either via Default

    Colours or Replacement

    colour. You will probably

    want a good, deep black.

    4 Choose a Tolerance (how

    close in colour different pixels

    must be to the ones they are

    replacing). The lower the

    tolerance, the closer the

    colours need to be to those

    they are replacing.

    5 Click the pupils to change

    their colour.

    O

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    FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHINGPEOPLE

    TUG THE CONTRASTAdding more contrast will prevent dark

    areas from colourising in subsequent steps.

    In the Curves dialog window, tug the diagonal line

    down slightly from the middle in order to turn it into a

    gentle curve.

    02

    ADJUST THECOLOUR BALANCEUse sliders to swing the emphasis from greens

    to reds in the photos midtones. Click OK, then

    use the Add A New Fill or Adjustment Layer button to

    create a Color Balance layer. Gently move the sliders to

    compensate one channel colour against another. Click OK.

    03 NUDGE LEVELSModerate the colour change by adjusting theLevels balance to finish. Create another

    Adjustment Layer, this time choosing Levels from the

    drop-down list. A tiny adjustment is required here. In our

    case, a slight movement of the middle slider to the right.

    04

    aking skin look correct is very difficult because

    people have an idea in their head what colourskin ought to look, regardless how the rest of

    the image appears.

    Another problem is certain kinds of lighting conditions

    or a predominance of colours like blue (like outside on a

    sunny day) can affect the balance of all the other

    colours, deadening them or making skin tones look cold.

    Luckily your image editor contains tools which enable

    you either to replace these colour casts or add warm

    colours to your image to offset them.

    On the other hand, once you begin editing a photo

    for skin tones, its easy to lose track and end up sending

    everyones faces pink instead of buff.

    Fixing it upThe quickest method is to experiment with Variations

    under Photoshops Image8Adjustments menu or

    Elements Enhance menu, but careful use of multiple

    Adjustment Layers gives you more control. This is

    especially important when youre trying to add colour to

    skin (as shown here) rather than take it away. You can

    do something similar in Paint Shop Pro 7 although the

    tools here are less flexible.

    Probably the best rule of thumb is: add reds, to warm

    up an image. Take a look opposite:

    ADD AN ADJUSTMENT LAYERStart with a new Adjustment Layer for each

    action. Open the Layers palette, click on the

    Add A New Fill or Adjustment Layer button and choose

    Curves from the drop-down list. An Adjustment Layer is

    created and the Curves dialog window appears.

    01

    8

    Correctingskin tonesGet that skin colour right!

    QUICK TIPSUSING PHOTOSHOP

    The best tool for repairing

    skin tones is Photoshop,

    because it enables you to

    work in CMYKmode (the four

    colours that make up printed

    colours Cyan, Magenta,

    Yellow and Black). You can

    precisely adjust the CMYK

    values separately.

    USING ELEMENTS 1 & 2The Variations tool (under

    Enhance) enables you to add

    more of certain colours.

    USINGPAINTSHOP PRO 7

    Do something similar using

    the Manual Colour Tool to

    remove a cold colour cast

    and replace it with a warm

    colour category like woods.

    See www.jasc.com/tutorials/

    robin/ for more information.

    M

    Correctingskin tonesGet that skin colour right!

    http://www.jasc.com/tutorials/robinhttp://www.jasc.com/tutorials/robinhttp://www.jasc.com/tutorials/robinhttp://www.jasc.com/tutorials/robin