For a novice portraitist, candid portraiture (as opposed to staged poses) takes a tremendous amount of tension and stress off your session. I would take a third (no more than one additional helper - you want help, not confusion) person who can be friendly to your subject to interact off-camera with your subject while you concentrate on focus, exposure, compostional elements and getting that perfect instant of facial expression you desire. Have your third person about 3 feet to one side of you and just talk to your subject about what interests her (or him.) Outdoors is a great idea, as it can aid the relaxed atmosphere that you need for best results. The beach can be very tricky and unless you are shooting under a diffusing canopy of trees or other shaded area, I would suggest you shoot early or late in the day to avoid extreme background reflections from sea, sky or sand. As to poses and clothing; best to leave those up to the comfort of the subject and you concentrate on recording the personality in various states of joy, wonder or solemn thoughtfulness as they actually occur while the subject is interacting with your helper off-camera. This is the essense of candid portraits. Tighten those shots to various degrees so when you are done you have from bust shots (full body shots are best made in studio after much experience) on into very tight closeups (perhaps just the eyes, nose and mouth) with various levels of closeness between the two. Compose your shots through the viewfinder with attention to every detail in the composition, especially keeping the horizon line from going into one ear and coming out the other. Shoot with an open aperature so your focus is just on the subject and the background is a blur. If you are in direct sunlight, don't forget to use the oncamera flash to fill in shadows on the face or take along a big white posterboard and have your helper reflect sun to the shaded side. But, most of all .... have fun. Hope you do good.
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