Create Great Portraits with Window-Lit Portraiture

You can take some interesting portraits with the help of one window and the light it provides. W a window that faces to the north is the ideal choice for even soft lighting. The white balance should to set to either the cloudy of shade setting so there is not a blue cast.

To have directional stronger lighting minus a blue cast, you need to select a south-facing or west-facing window. The setting on the white balance should be on daylight. The skin texture can be highlighted with a window is used that provides directional vivid side lighting. If you desire texture in the portrait that is fine, but there are those times that you will want to minimize this effect and there are some various ways to accomplish this.

Minimize the light by using some sheer drapery fabric or by having the subject stand at a distance from the window. You could lessen the texture effect even further for a softer look using a diffuser filter.

You can have the window-lit portraits in either environmental or posed. The 85mm up to the 105mm lenses should be use for the posed shoulder and head portraits. These lenses offer a mild compression effect that enhances facial features.

Turn to the 50mm lens to shoot half-length or full-length portraits. When snapping a posed portrait the field depth should be narrow as in f4 or f5.6 this will blur the background for distraction.

The most popular sitting for posed portraits is the three-quarter profile. This results in the half of the face facing the bright light on one side and much less light on the far side of the face. This pose works well if the subject has a broad or wrinkled face, prominent ears or any other facial defect affecting only one side of the face.

A variation of the three-quarter profile is the side profile. With this pose, the sidelight is illuminating the half of the subject's face directly facing the light. This results in an accented texture effect and works well for a subject that one would expect to have a weathered face such as a rancher, fisherman or anyone having spent much of their working life outside in the sun.

When you don't want to minimize the facial features, the side or three-quarter profile should be taken as described above or a piece of white poster board for a reflector can be used to shed light on the subject's shadowed side.

The amount of light reflected back onto the shadow side of the face is controlled by how close, or far away, the reflector is placed from the shadow side of the face. If you are going to add light to the shadow side of the face, you want the amount of light added to be about one-third as bright as the light illuminating the window-lit side of the face.

Front-lighting, light shining directly in the face of the subject, is better lighting for subjects having a long nose, narrow or double chin, or prominent forehead. Also, in these cases, a better pose is having the subject looking directly at the camera.

The environmental portrait is the second type of portrait shot. In this type of portrait, the subject is doing something and not just looking at the camera.

Some examples of this could be having the subject fly fishing, tying flies, sewing, reading a book or a number of other activities. Just have the activity match what people who are close to the subject would know the subject likes to do.

The wide-angle lens needs to be used since there is added surroundings with this person in his/her pose, it should have a range of 28mm to 35mm for ideal results. The 50mm lens could be turned to if you have adequate space to work. In addition, you want the foreground and/or background in these environmental portraits to be in focus, this means the aperture should be set on f8 or higher.

The greater depth-of-field you will need the farther away the subject is from the background. In this type of shot, you do not wish the background to be blurred since it helps in telling the subject's story.

You can experiment with the perspective. Do not be scared to use a lower or higher angle for your shot than that or a typical eye level shot. This can give your photos a unique look.

Environmental portraits are more creative than the posed kind. These have added visual stimulation than a subject simply looking into your camera.

Choose the white balance setting of warm as in the cloudy or shade for truer skin tones.

Window-lit portraiture when done correctly produces interesting results and it is fun to do on the cold wintry days, when it is too chilly to do an outdoor shoot, but the sun is out providing light. In addition, it is an excellent way to keep your photographic skills sharp with your digital camera.