Practical Photography - UK (2020-04)

42 PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY

MEET JAMES

CORBETT

James Corbett is a

documentary and fine

art photographer

whose work is regularly

published in The Times,

The Observer and the

Telegraph Magazine.

Assignments have taken

him from the streets of

Kabul to the workshops

and studios of makers

and designers.

jamescorbett

photography.co.uk

25 Portrait Tips

#10Settings

Even the most basic of cameras have multiple

settings for pretty much every eventuality, so my

advice is to use them. At the same time, be in control, get

to know your camera and understand its limitations as

well as its strengths. It all depends on what you want to

achieve with your portraits, so that’s your starting point.

If you need great depth-of-field to show the background

as well as the foreground, then use a small aperture such

as f/16 or f/22. Alternatively, if you want your subject to

stand out from the background, set your lens as wide as

it will go. Use the camera’s functionality to help you and

set it to aperture-priority, but remember that ISO, shutter

speed and aperture all work together.

USE CAMERA FEATURES

TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

ADD LIGHT IN STAGES

#11 Lighting

As I spend most of my time on

location, I prefer to travel light and

pack accordingly. Don’t overcomplicate

a situation or over-pack with equipment.

If your environmental portrait requires

additional light, then add light in stages.

If there’s daylight, that’s your starting point,

then perhaps add a reflector or a little

bounced or defused flash. It’s all about

reading the situation you’re in and deciding

how you wish to portray your subject.

The boot maker pictures were all shot with

available light. One of my favourite portraits

is this one of Timothy Batten. The window

light was sufficient to allow me to make

a simple but effective portrait. Sadly,

Timothy Batten has since passed away.

I use mirrorless cameras

and the main reason for

this is the combination of size

and capability. I don’t want to

be carrying bags of equipment

with me, so the size and weight

of these cameras is ideal. I also

use fixed focal length lenses.

The Fujifilm X-Pro and X100

series cameras have cropped

sensors, so the full-frame

equivalent lenses I use are

35mm, 50mm and 85mm. This

gives me a great range of focal

lengths. Remember, you don’t

need the latest, biggest kit to

produce great pictures. Be

comfortable and confident

with your equipment and then

you’re free to concentrate

wholly on your creativity and

image making.

FOCUS ON

BEING CREATIVE

#12 Gear