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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> Secrets to portrait shots
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 03/26/2009 10:31:21 PM · #1
I currently own a point and shoot camera. I was wondering if anyone has any good tips on how to get great portrait shots with a point and shoot, if so please let me know because it is definatley not working for me.



03/26/2009 10:33:33 PM · #2
Work to the strengths of the camera. Fill the frame with your subject and work some interesting compositions. There is a lot more to great photographs than the camera :)
 03/26/2009 10:36:43 PM · #3
just as long as the eyes are in focus i think you CAN have a successful portrait. also just remember to keep the subject comfortable and make the shots fun!
 03/26/2009 11:02:32 PM · #4
ok thank you i will try it!
 03/26/2009 11:19:36 PM · #5
post the pics here we can give you some tips and critiques too
 03/26/2009 11:22:56 PM · #6
Im having a problem posting the pictures here


Message edited by author 2009-03-26 23:23:39.
 03/26/2009 11:30:14 PM · #7
Originally posted by Be-real:
Im having a problem posting the pictures here


Upload them to your portfolio and then click to post your image. You will get a popup box asking for ID of the image, (found after ?IMAGE_ID= on an image page's URL.

For example "//www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=774213"
would be "774213"
giving you the result of
03/26/2009 11:33:06 PM · #8
oim not a "member" i dont have a portfolio
 03/26/2009 11:35:57 PM · #9
Originally posted by Be-real:
oim not a "member" i dont have a portfolio


I think that's some peoples' way of saying "just give the site $25 already". hehe.
03/26/2009 11:50:02 PM · #10
This girl does all her work with a point and shoot. She has some great portraits. It is all about the lighting and focus on the eyes. Shade is best:
Cadence
03/26/2009 11:51:44 PM · #11
Originally posted by K10DGuy:
Originally posted by Be-real:
oim not a "member" i dont have a portfolio


I think that's some peoples' way of saying "just give the site $25 already". hehe.


I have to agree here, You're looking for help on which camera to buy, how to take professional portraits and how to edit pictures, I seriously think your best bet is to fork over the cash and take advantage of what this site has to offer you.
 03/26/2009 11:54:12 PM · #12
Originally posted by lovethelight:
This girl does all her work with a point and shoot. She has some great portraits. It is all about the lighting and focus on the eyes. Shade is best:
Cadence


I wouldn't say it's ALL about lighting but it does play a very large amount with a point and shoot. I would just like to add creativity to the mix. If you can't get your model to relax and come up with something fun and creative then it's all down hill.

BTW Good find, she has some very interesting shots here.
 03/27/2009 12:09:24 AM · #13
Ok i have no money first of all! :(
And second thank you for the advice.
 03/27/2009 01:00:31 AM · #14
Originally posted by lovethelight:
This girl does all her work with a point and shoot. She has some great portraits. It is all about the lighting and focus on the eyes. Shade is best:
Cadence


not to mention shoop skills will always win the day.
 03/27/2009 03:09:09 AM · #15
You don't need a new camera or a DPC membership to make great portraits. John (aka jmsetzler [or is it Jim?]) gave you some very good advice. The deep DOF that PS cameras provide can make it hard to isolate a portrait subject using foreground/background blurring, and details in a foreground or background can often be distracting and ruin an otherwise great photo. Filling the frame with your subject is one way to solve that problem. There are lots of other ways. As John said, try to create some interesting compositions. You can use props that you provide, or make use of existing elements in the foreground or background. Many portraits are shot against a plain black, white, or colored background. Seamless background paper works great for this. With paper, even if the DOF includes the background there's no detail to distract the viewer. You could also try shooting at night with nothing but darkness behind your subject, or maybe early evening on the beach with a nice sunset in the background.

However you decide to shoot your portraits, be sure that everything that shows up in the final image is there because it makes the image better and you wanted it there.

BTW, it's easy to post photos in DPC forums without a DPC portfolio. Just get a free account at one of the online web hosting sites that allows direct/hot linking to your files. Ripway.com is free and it works great. I use my Smugmug site.




03/27/2009 03:17:03 AM · #16
You can also try shooting your subjects at different angles, for example up against walls - the subject stands against a wall, and instead of shooting straight at them, go to the wall yourself and shoot across the wall to the subject, keeping in mind the rule of thirds. Even a point and shoot camera will give you some depth of field to work with, especially if it has a portrait mode (the little head on the dial) - that should give you at least f4, although I don't know your camera. Mick's shot is perfect, don't always assume you need to shoot the whole head, bring it in and crop as tight as you can, fill the frame with the face, or get right away and put the subject in a nicely lit background, put them towards the side and not the middle. If you don't have lights, you can use a $20 tungsten work light set on a stand from a hardware store - probably better for then converting to B&W as they cast an extremely yellow light, but they do work. If you can disable your flash, even better.
 03/27/2009 08:09:12 AM · #17
Originally posted by Be-real:
Ok i have no money first of all! :(
And second thank you for the advice.


none? ;) <--- note the winky!

You'll find that most people here are very very helpful. K10DGuy was joking, hence the hehe in his post.

Anyway, in response to your OP, lighting really is a huge part of using a P&S. This was taken with a P&S:



so was this:



and this:



so it can be done. Try not to do too many outdoor portraits with it because of the greater DOF. Get somewhere where you have total control over the subject, light, and background.

If you upload your pics to a flicker account or photobucket you can post a link from here and we can go see them that way :)

BTW, welcome to DPC!!
 03/27/2009 09:18:27 AM · #18
Originally posted by Be-real:
Ok i have no money first of all! :(
And second thank you for the advice.


My apologies. I was, as TCGuru pointed out, joking. I should have followed up with instructions on how to post your photos from an external website, but was needing to head to bed soon. Do you have your photos up on a gallery site like flickr or something similar by any chance?
 03/27/2009 09:41:02 AM · #19
Originally posted by Be-real:
oim not a "member" i dont have a portfolio

If you have your photos posted elsewhere, you can still place thumbnails of them here using BBCode. If you have a Flickr account, the easiest way to do it is with Firefox, the Greasemonkey extension, and the All sizes+ script.


These thumbnails are linked to Flickr in this way, and are also some candid/portrait shots from my stepdaughters wedding that I wanted to show off. This thread seemed like a good place to use them as examples. I'm really pleased with the kiss shot and how some of the others came out, especially considering this was in midday sun.


If you need a sample/template of the BBcode so you can do it manually, let me know and I will PM it to you.

Message edited by author 2009-03-27 09:42:59.
 03/27/2009 10:49:26 AM · #20
OK thank you guys


Message edited by author 2009-03-27 10:51:08.
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