Jeff Smith's Guide to Head and Shoulders Portrait Photography

than you might have in the past. This will provide the narrower depth of field

you want.

The biggest problem with the depth of field of these cameras tends to occur

outdoors. Working with medium format film cameras, a telephoto lens, and a

little diffusion, my outdoor scenes and backgrounds were beautiful. With dig-

ital cameras that have a smaller chip, I not only need to open up the lens more,

I have to use much longer telephoto lenses to get the same effect. For most of

my outdoor portraits taken with these cameras, I use a telephoto lens between

220mm and 400mm to give me controlled focus and soft backgrounds. The

only downside to working with a long telephoto is the distance I must be from

the client—but I look at going back and forth to fix hair or adjust a pose as

good exercise.

As you can see, my lens selection has changed since I have been shooting dig-

ital. To control background softness, I now buy lenses that have larger maxi-

mum aperture openings to reduce the depth of field and give me pin-point

critical focus. With film, I used to work with my aperture set at f/11, which soft-

ened the background while giving me a little extra focusing depth (since

medium format film cameras weren’t autofocus). With digital, I work with an

aperture around f/5.6. This makes my backgrounds appear as they used to with

film at f/11. If you’re going to shoot at f/5.6, though, the maximum aperture

of the lens should be at least f/2.8, since the best quality of a lens is achieved

two stops from the minimum or maximum aperture. (Note:Despite this, I do

shoot with my lens wide open sometimes; it achieves maximum softness for the

background and provides a slight vignette.)

Camera Support.

When I am shooting a head and shoulders pose, I always use either a camera

stand (in the studio) or a large tripod (outdoors). The reason I have the cam-

era supported instead of hand holding it has nothing to do with movement.

The two factors that sell more photographs than anything else are the expres-

sion and the look of the eyes. For both of these factors, I want the subject look-

ing at me—not at the lens of the camera.

The best expressions are possible when a subject is looking at you and “mir-

roring” the expression you want the subject to have. When a smile is wanted,

just smile at the subject, say something funny with an upbeat tone in your voice

and you will have a beautiful natural smile. To have the subject relax the smile,

just relax your smile and talk with a more relaxed tone in your voice (we’ll talk

more about expression in chapter 6).

The eyes are the other important reason for using a camera support. When

you look at some portraits, the eyes lack life. This can be because the portrait

was improperly lit or it can be because the subject was not looking into the eyes

of another person. There is a certain spark in the eyes when the subject makes

TOOLS OF THE TRADE 19

To control background

softness, I now buy

lenses that have larger

maximum aperture

openings...

A ball head on your tripod makes it quick
and easy to adjust your camera position.