5 Easy Concepts for Great Portraits in Any Park
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the host demonstrates five basic portrait photography concepts using two Tamron lenses: 28-75mm and 70-180mm, paired with a Sony a7r4 camera. They explore techniques like backlit shots with foliage, using a reflector for additional light, open shade for soft lighting, shooting through grass for a compressed effect, and positioning subjects against bright background openings. Each technique is explained with practical examples, showcasing how to enhance portraits in any park setting.
Takeaways
- 📸 Use backlit scenes with foliage to create depth and separation in portraits.
- 🌞 Position subjects to capture backlighting and hair light for a more dynamic look.
- 🔧 Adjust camera settings like shutter speed and ISO to achieve the desired exposure in different lighting conditions.
- 🖼️ Frame the subject against bright spots in the background to make them stand out.
- 🤳 Utilize different focal lengths to control the level of background compression and subject framing.
- 💡 Employ a reflector to add fill light and improve the quality of light on the subject's face.
- 🌳 Take advantage of open shade provided by trees to achieve soft, even lighting on the subject.
- 🌿 Shoot through foreground elements like grass to add depth and lead the viewer's eye to the subject.
- 👯♀️ Incorporate the subject's interests or talents, such as dance, to create unique and engaging portraits.
- 📹 Experiment with different angles and perspectives to add variety and interest to the final shots.
Q & A
What are the five basic portrait concepts demonstrated in the video?
-The video demonstrates five portrait concepts: back lighting with foliage, using a reflector to add light, shooting in open shade, shooting through grass to compress the scene, and shooting into a brighter part of the background.
Which two Tamron lenses were used in the video for portrait photography?
-The two Tamron lenses used in the video are the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 zoom lens and the Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 telephoto lens.
What is the significance of using a backlit scene with foliage in portrait photography?
-Using a backlit scene with foliage helps create depth and separation in the portrait, enhancing the subject by isolating them against the background with a beautiful backlight effect.
How does the reflector technique, or 'reflector bump', improve the lighting in a portrait?
-The 'reflector bump' technique improves lighting by bouncing direct sunlight into the subject's face, which adds catch light, cleans up the color of light, and reduces harsh shadows caused by bottom-up fill light.
What is 'open shade' in photography and how does it affect portrait shots?
-Open shade refers to a location that is shaded from direct sunlight but still receives soft light from the open sky. This provides even, soft lighting on the subject's face, which is ideal for portraits.
Why is shooting through grass suggested for portrait photography?
-Shooting through grass helps compress the scene and adds a foreground element that leads the viewer's eye to the subject, creating depth and visual interest in the portrait.
How does the position of the subject relative to the light source affect the outcome of the portrait?
-The position of the subject relative to the light source can create different effects such as backlighting, which can add a rim light around the subject, or open shade, which provides soft and even lighting on the face.
What is the purpose of using a scrim in the 'reflector bump' technique?
-A scrim is used to diffuse and soften the direct sunlight when using the 'reflector bump' technique, which helps to create more natural and even lighting on the subject's face.
What are some tips for shooting portraits in a park as suggested in the video?
-Tips for shooting portraits in a park include finding backlit areas with foliage, using a reflector or scrim to add light, utilizing open shade, shooting through grass for compression, and positioning the subject against a bright part of the background.
How does the choice of lens focal length affect the portrait photography as demonstrated in the video?
-The choice of lens focal length affects the portrait by controlling the compression and background blur. A longer focal length, like the 70-180mm, is used for tighter shots and more background compression, while a wider focal length like 28-75mm is suitable for wider shots with less compression.
Outlines
📸 Photography Techniques in Parks
The video introduces five basic portrait photography concepts that can be executed in any park setting. The host, Pai, demonstrates these techniques using two Tamron lenses, the 28-75mm and the 70-180mm, both with an aperture of f/2.8, paired with a Sony A7R4 camera. The first concept discussed is back lighting with foliage, which creates depth and a beautiful look. Pai advises on camera settings, such as a fast shutter speed and low ISO, to achieve the desired effect. The video also features Sabrina, a dancer and friend of Pai, who models for the demonstration. The host emphasizes the importance of positioning the subject to achieve the best lighting and separation from the background.
🌞 Utilizing Reflectors for Enhanced Lighting
The second technique showcased is the 'reflector bump,' which involves using a reflector to add additional light to the subject. Pai explains how to use the white side of a reflector to bounce sunlight onto the subject's face, thereby reducing shadows and enhancing the overall lighting. The video illustrates the significant difference this simple tool can make to the final portrait. Pai also discusses the importance of positioning and camera settings, such as focal length and shutter speed, to achieve a balanced and natural look.
🌿 Capturing Portraits in Open Shade
The third concept discussed is shooting in 'open shade,' which refers to areas under trees that are partially shaded but still receive some direct sunlight. Pai demonstrates how to use the natural environment to create soft, even lighting on the subject's face. The video also includes a creative element where Sabrina holds a leaf to add visual interest to the shot. Pai switches to the 70-180mm lens for a closer, more compressed perspective and provides tips on camera angles and subject positioning to optimize the use of open shade for portrait photography.
🌾 Shooting Through Grass for Depth
The fourth technique involves shooting through grass to create a sense of depth and compression in the image. Pai recommends using a longer lens, such as the 70-180mm, to compress the scene and bring the foreground and background closer to the subject. The video includes a dance element, with Sabrina performing in her pointe shoes, adding a dynamic aspect to the portraits. Pai provides insights on camera settings, angles, and composition to ensure the subject stands out against the backlit grass and other elements in the scene.
🚂 Framing Subjects Against Bright Backgrounds
The final technique demonstrated is shooting with the subject framed against a bright part of the background, such as sunlight filtering through tree openings. Pai explains how this draws the viewer's eye to the subject and creates a natural vignetting effect. The video shows how to position the subject and adjust the camera angle to achieve this effect. Pai also emphasizes the importance of using the environment to enhance the portrait, such as sitting on a train track to add context and interest to the image.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Portrait Concepts
💡Backlighting
💡F-stop (f/2.8)
💡Shutter Speed
💡ISO
💡Reflector
💡Open Shade
💡Composing
💡Telephoto Lens
💡Vignetting
💡Focal Length
Highlights
Introduction to five basic portrait concepts that can be achieved in any park.
Use of Tamron 28-75mm and 70-180mm lenses for portrait photography.
Technique 1: Backlighting with foliage for depth and separation.
Avoiding harsh direct sunlight and flat background for better portrait lighting.
Camera settings for backlighting: 1/1000s, f/2.8, ISO 100.
Technique 2: Using a reflector to add fill light and catch lights to the subject's face.
Benefits of the white side of a reflector for versatility in lighting.
Technique 3: Shooting in open shade for soft, even lighting.
Using natural elements like leaves for creative posing and composition.
Technique 4: Shooting through grass to compress the scene and create depth.
Incorporating the subject's dance skills into the portrait for dynamic shots.
Technique 5: Positioning the subject against a bright background to draw attention.
Camera settings for shooting into bright backgrounds: 1/1500s, f/2.8, ISO 200.
Practical tips for shooting in parks, including using train tracks for unique perspectives.
Conclusion and call to action for feedback on the video and potential for a part two.
Praise for the quality and value of Tamron lenses used in the video.
Transcripts
in this video i'm going to show you five
basic portrait concepts you can pull off
in any park
[Applause]
[Music]
what's up friends my name is pai welcome
to slr lounge let's get right into this
tamron has sent me two awesome lenses
that we're gonna use and i'm just going
to walk you guys through some basic
portrait concepts you can pull off in
essentially any park on my left side i
have the tamron 28 to 75 i believe this
is an f28 zoom lens and it's paired with
the sony a7r4 on my right i have the 70
to 180 so we have a little telephoto
that's at f28 both these are fantastic
lenses they come in at a good price
point but let's get to shooting so first
i'm going to put this away introduce you
to sabrina coming out my friend
this is sabrina
she's my friend you guys can follow her
on instagram at sabrinamico and sabrina
is also a dancer so we might incorporate
some of that into our shots
let's start with kind of the first
concept we're in a spot that is really
beautifully backlit and that's kind of
the first idea that i want to give you
guys is whenever you're in a park and
you see something that's kind of backlit
with foliage you'll get a really great
look and great depth
first i'll show you what not to do so
sabrina come stand over here
i'm going to put her in direct sunlight
and you'll also notice that we're
shooting in a direction where we don't
have a lot of good um background depth
meaning like the background is pretty
far away and and it's just not going to
look great plus she's lit very harshly
what i'm gonna do though is uh take a
before shot because
i gotta make my befores look as bad as
possible even though sabrina looks great
but the before is not gonna be good but
that's on me sabrina not on you
all right we're to bring this to uh
1 1000 no 1 2 000 of a second f 2.8
and iso 100 and let's go ahead and just
take this quick before shot and i'm
actually going to get a little bit
closer so we can also kind of shoot with
a similar frame
to compare the before versus the after
okay we've got our crappy before photo
the first technique that i want to walk
you through is actually back lighting
and shooting into foliage and the great
thing about this sabrina why don't you
come on over here the great thing about
this is that you don't need to be doing
this during golden hour or anything like
that this is like four or five hours
before the sun actually sets as long as
you have a bit of direction to the light
you're good to go especially because you
have a park that has a lot of good trees
and foliage
what i'm going to do is place sabrina
right in a spot where ideally i have
some backlighting that's kind of landing
on her i'm going to make some tweaks in
just a second but i would say the recipe
to this is as you're dialing in your
settings what i want to do is i have the
28 to 75 i want to first zoom in to
around 75 and if you have the 7180 great
use that but for now let's go ahead and
use this lens i'm going to shoot it wide
open which again for this is at f28 and
i'm going to go ahead and just find a
shutter speed that's going to work okay
so
from where we were i'm going to bring my
shutter speed down to about 1
500 of a second and i might even bring
my iso up a little bit so that way i can
just kind of keep my shutter speed a bit
quicker
and take a look at my overall settings
and right about there it's good
from here i'll take a basic shot of
sabrina kind of in the same sort of crop
and composition we did before
and immediately if you compare that to
the before shot
thousand times better but we're still
going to improve on that now go ahead
and give me like a little bit of pose
where i can kind of kick the hip a
little bit
and what i want to do is i'm going to
bring you forward a tiny bit where
you're out of the light i want to
demonstrate one small thing that i like
to tweak here
i love that the arms look great right
there
okay
what i'm going to do as a final
adjustment here is move her feet just a
little bit so we get some hair light so
all you're going to do sabrina is kind
of step back a little bit and my trick
to this is just having them look at the
shadow and making sure that their head i
don't know what kind of garbage that is
but making sure their head is basically
backlit by the sun so they can see their
head you know creating a shadow on the
ground and we see that right here so as
soon as she does that we get a really
beautiful backlight right on the hair
that's really cute
sabrina go ahead and move it a little
bit
i love that
here's the before versus the final this
one's a super simple technique i know
but what i love about it is that you can
do this anywhere and it does a great job
of separating the background really all
you got to do on either these lenses is
open up to f28 place them against
something backlit and you get this
really nice separation and background
effect that really isolates the subject
let's go and find something else we're
at our second spot
which is literally five feet from our
first spot
so this is a technique number two we're
gonna call it the reflector bump maybe
this is cheating a bit but i like to go
out with one of these this is just the
inside scrim of like a standard five in
one
reflector right i don't think it's
cheating because this is like a 20
accessory that each of you probably
should have anyway and i love to have
handy i'm going to show you in this case
how we're basically going to use the
reflector to add an additional light to
the scene i can do it all myself enough
talking let's just show it so sabrina
what i'm gonna have you do is actually
step in we're gonna use this tree as a
posing element so she's gonna pose kind
of against it
and i'm gonna go
maybe to around 50 millimeters on my
focal length and what i'm going to look
to do is kind of get a nice exposure
for sabrina and for my background okay
so i'm kind of looking at it right here
i'm at 1 500 f 2 8 and iso 200
and this is already like a pretty nice
shot i would say what's happening here
and what i want to show you guys is we
have this direct sunlight that's coming
through here it's hitting the ground and
we're getting some fill light coming
back up into sabrina's face
the only problem with this is that not
only is she a bit dark but that fill
light is coming bottom up and it's
pretty powerful so we get a little bit
of up lighting on the face which isn't
that natural so what you're going to do
is grab your little scrim and here's
what i would say is i love using the
white side of a scrim because it's super
versatile and what we're going to do
here is bounce this direct light right
into sabrina's face in fact if i
actually add it you can see how much of
a difference it's going to make so from
here
holding it up into that direct light and
bringing it down
makes a huge difference in terms of the
light on our face and adds a lot of
catch light it cleans up the the color
of light on the face all of it so with
the exact same camera settings and now
kind of shooting from this angle where
basically this tree kind of frames
sabrina we have some nice depth in the
background from here i'm going to go
ahead and actually bring this up and you
might be wondering
papy
i don't have an assistant
neither do i check this out my head is
my assistant i learned this from jiu
jitsu i use my head a lot in jiu-jitsu
okay so i'm just gonna bring it over
here so it's lighting the face
and from right there sabrina go chin
down and eyes right into my camera
beautiful just like that
perfect give me a couple looks with it
take a look at the before versus the
after remember exact same camera
settings what i love about this
reflector bump technique is it looks
like we're basically adding flash but we
don't have to carry around a flash with
us it's as simple as just a foldable 501
reflector or the scrim inside of it we
get a massive difference in our shot now
a quick rundown again what you're
looking for with this kind of a
technique is some spot where i can get
sort of even light on my subject where
she's kind of standing in the shadows
you could also put her in a spot where
she's being backlit but we want to have
direct light that's bouncing off the
white and then we're getting fairly
close shooting around 50 millimeters or
so so that 28 to 75 is going to be the
ideal focal length just make sure that
you're not framing your subject too far
towards the edges because there will be
a bit of distortion let's go on and find
something else
okay i dig this spot we're gonna go to
technique number three which we're gonna
call open shade okay let me walk you
through what i love about this this is
just
a tree that you would find everywhere
but it's thick enough that it's kind of
blocking all the sunlight so we're
getting really good shade right here i
also love the fact the leaves are kind
of nice and they're evenly shaped and
whatnot and they also have different
tones of green so what i'm thinking is
sabrina why don't you come over and sit
right here to give me an example because
i call this open shade because one side
is basically shaded and the other side
is completely open so on this side we're
open to the sky and this is where our
light comes in so as soon as sabrina is
sitting right here you notice that we
have this really beautiful
soft light on the face because the sky
this open sky is kind of lighting into
the shade right open shade to add a
little bit of interest to this i am
gonna break off a little leaf
if this part triggers you
look away
hello mr tree i will just take this one
piece
okay just a nice little leaf to sort of
add a little bit of shape to the shot
i'm going to have her hold it we're
going to use it to kind of lead into the
face just kind of play around with a
little bit and kind of bring some of the
background more into the foreground a
bit and add a bit of interest on this
one i'm going to switch out to the 70 to
180 just because i have it it's a little
bit better for these kind of close-up
portraits it'll pull the background a
little more forward
might as well use it uh what i might do
is just bring the shutter speed down
she's not moving quickly or anything
i also like that she's bringing the
elbows in and what that does is it
creates a taper on the shoulders which
is really nice so as i kind of crop
right at that shoulder line it sort of
tapers in like that
that's really nice
i'm going to get a little closer
and what i'm going to do is also angle a
little bit to this side so if i shoot
from this angle i can get a little more
of the leaves behind you so
rotate actually stay right there stay
right there and yes bring it right there
give me a soft smile sabrina there you
go
and now start to kind of cover the eyes
or like kind of almost point to the eye
straight in the face towards me
and like even turn a little bit towards
me right there right there
perfect bring it back a little bit so
it's not quite touching that there it is
right there
brush the bangs
yep
you can control the shape of that light
by just simply controlling your
direction so when i shoot straight on
like this it's going to be a really nice
and beautiful flat light but as soon as
i start taking an angle the light takes
some shape as well we start getting a
little more dimension in the light so we
get a really fun and interesting look
and honestly we could do anything in
this spot open shade is a fantastic spot
just to get any type of portrait and
know that you have that sort of flat
light coming right on from the front and
then as you move to the side you get
more directional light and you can shoot
from any of these directions so open
shade great tool use it let's find
something else okay we have a great
scene here for technique number four
we're going to shoot through the grass
and kind of compress the scene now
what's going to be awesome about this
we'll have this foreground of grass that
kind of leads up to our subject that's
backlit let's walk through sort of
things to consider right starting with
the gear well lens wise i would
recommend something longer so of course
in this case we're going to use the 70
to 180 because it'll allow us to
compress it allow us to kind of zoom in
a bit stand further back and really
bring the foreground and background sort
of closer to the subject
we're not going to get into the details
and then just use that focal length it
looks cool all right now another thing
to consider is the scene itself i have
sabrina here sabrina is actually a
dancer like i mentioned earlier and she
has her point shoes so i actually have
her put her point shoes on i'm gonna
have her step out to here we'll do the
shot just like a basic portrait and i
think it'd be fun to kind of incorporate
her incredible dance skills and get an
action shot as well
the first thing you might be thinking so
we're going to stay right there for a
sec is when you get to a scene like this
you know you get overly enthused you're
like man this is going to be red we got
backlit grass it's gonna look so cool so
you just kind of like pull up to the
scene and uh all you start doing is kind
of thinking composition thinking like
you know all right let me get my
settings dialed in i'm gonna go to one
let's go to one
1000 of a second and we'll bring this
down like iso
100 and let's make sure from our
histogram we are good
there we go
okay and so you shoot a shot like this
one
and again it's not bad sabrina is
already making it great in and of itself
it's not a bad shot per se either but we
really haven't put a lot of thought into
this so i want you guys to slow down and
kind of piece some things together first
thing i want to show you is the hair
light look if i'm down low and i shoot
this image right here
with her head against a brighter
background we don't notice the hair
light as much as if i kind of move my
angle a little bit and shoot her over
something that's darker now she pops so
that's the first thing i want you guys
to think about is where you want to
shoot against to get your subject to pop
the next thing is i'm going to find an
angle where i can get a little bit lower
and shoot through all the backlit
objects which is basically about right
here so what we're going to do now is
sabrina you're going to walk into the
scene
i'm going to find a spot for where she's
still backlit
because the sun's up higher
right there so sabrina right there turn
around
that's it so she's still backlit we have
this beautiful scene i even have some
foreground stuff kind of leading in if
we're able to capture it in there and
now i'm going to lower my perspective to
shoot across the frame
so from here sabrina you don't have to
do anything dance related yet let me
just kind of zoom in and get this shot
as just a basic portrait so maybe just
bring the hands kind of together a
little bit
there you go right there this will be
our basic portrait
i'm going to get a little higher so that
that leaves in the background don't kind
of compete with her
beautiful
and already that's a really nice shot
now we're gonna go ahead and add the
action piece to it so this is where i'm
gonna have her go on point and
well do her thing
got it she's in a spot where not only do
we have a hair light we have kind of
that light landing on the feet landing
on the arms it does a beautiful job of
like really lifting her out of the
background we're done with this
technique but whatever she wants to do
dance wise i'm going to shoot a few more
of them
fifth and final technique is shooting
into a brighter part of the background
and in a park that's very easy to do see
our eyes are naturally drawn to the
brightest part of a frame so what i love
to do is place my subject in a spot
where i can kind of shoot against a nice
bright opening in a park that's
basically like openings in the trees
like you see in the background where the
sun's coming through and what this does
is it draws us right into our subject to
do this i'm gonna have sabrina actually
step into this little spot so we're
gonna shoot on a train track but
don't worry relax it's a kitty train
track this is the only train track that
is okay to shoot on it's a baby one
plus it's closed down uh go ahead and
have a seat
and what i'm gonna do is you could kind
of shoot from up here i'm gonna
demonstrate this for just a second like
notice that i'm gonna shoot this at one
let's go to one five hundredth of a
second iso 200
and uh f28 right and shooting from up
here we don't really have much going for
us and i know that you guys don't have
train tracks probably in your park
that's not the point of this the point
is the background i want to show you
what happens as i start to come down
lower and i can actually frame sabrina
right against that highlight in the
background notice by the way i've also
had her sit in that bright spot where
the sun is landing so we're gonna frame
her right here
against that background
beautiful
cute lean into the
legs a little bit kind of pull into it
now what this does is compared to that
shot where i'm standing notice how the
shot where i'm standing it's not that
interesting number one but the second
thing is that we look at the subject and
we look right at that bright spot right
but as soon as i get down low my subject
is placed against the bright spot so it
has this natural vignetting effect and
again when you're in a park all you need
is just an opening the trees where the
sunlight's coming through and that's it
so she's in the shade we have the
opening and we're good to go i'm gonna
get a couple more shots but that's it
[Applause]
i hope you all enjoyed the video if you
did comment below let me know what you
think if you dig it maybe we'll do a
part two on more techniques of shooting
in a park i also got to say that i love
these lenses i think for the price point
they really offer a fantastic value for
what they can do and the quality they
can achieve
also we'll be linking up sabrina so you
guys can give her a follow you can also
see everything that we used in the
description of the video and i'll see
you guys back here next time peace
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