Great outdoor portraits start with great subjects.
Taking great portraits outdoors is a photographic skill that looks deceptively simple: sunlight, smiles and shutter speeds seem endlessly high. However, shooting good photos at the park or the beach requires technique, skills and common photographer sense. Keeping track of the basics and adding a few advanced skills to your repertoire can greatly improve your photos of people when you shoot outdoors.
Instructions
1. Choose a background for your subject. Preferably, you will be shooting fairly close to the subject, so your background should be innocuous when it's out of focus, instead of taking attention away from the person. Minimize the distracting elements in the frame, or choose another location if there is too much going on in the shot.
2. Step into the shade. Overcast days or areas out of direct sunlight are the best settings for outdoor photos. While it is important to make sure your subject is not squinting into direct sunlight or spotted with blotches of harsh light, it is equally important that the background does not fall victim to this hard light either, as it will distract the viewer's eye from your subject. Bounce light using a white board, reflector board or existing outdoor white surface if you need to increase the light on your subject's face.
3. Adjust the white balance in your camera to each location. Bring a gray card and have your subject hold it up in each new lighting situation before you begin shooting to re-balance the colors in your camera.
4. Use a longer lens, like a 50 mm or 70 mm, to capture your subject in focus while the rest of the shot remains soft in the background. Reinforce this effect by shooting at a high f-stop, like 2.8 or 1.4.
5. Position the camera on a tripod to frame up the shot. This way you will avoid motion blur and have the chance to look very carefully at the exact frame, taking in each detail before you shoot and making sure there are no unruly natural elements in the background.
6. Focus the lens on a single point in the frame: your subject's eyes. Well-focused eyes make the image look sharper and cleaner while ensuring that the person appears at his or her best.
7. Squeeze the shutter in a smooth motion to capture the photo.
Tags: your subject, direct sunlight, your camera