Best Mode in Portraits

canon400d

I usually shoot Manual but at motor rallies I use TV mode. Which would you say is the best mode to use for taking close ups of people or portraits? I use a 40D with a 17-55 2.8 lens. I have never used this lens for close ups or portraits so what would you recommend for AV and shutter speeds?
Regards
Bob

ivar

Hi Bob,

If you are doing portraits, aperture usually 'trumps' shutterspeed. You want to create a certain Depth of Field and the people are posing, they are relatively motionless usually, so the shutterspeed is not that interesting. Of course, there are exceptions.

So, in general, I would want to control the aperture, so your best bet is to shoot in Av or Manual, but you have to figure out what works best for you

dogwood

I shoot 99.9 percent of my work in manual. I'm a bit of a control freak though and don't always trust my cameras to find the exposure I want. It's more of a personal choice though.

Oh-- and I use strobes for most of my portraits/beauty work so for that, I usually use a meter and set the camera accordingly.

And even for weddings or photojournalism, I prefer manual. I usually shoot a test and adjust exposure on the fly. But again-- that's what works for me. Others may vary.

anwmn1

I use P for Professional
A for Awesome when I want to wow the client
and S for Sellable when I want to make some money.




Okay seriously though if you are having a hard time with manual it is not a bad idea to switch to Aperture priority and set your F stop to your desired setting. Take a few shots and chimp. If they are close you can then make a not of the settings switch back to manual and make the neccessary changes to match that of what the camera just did. This will then give you a little more control to make additional fine adjustments.

I am sure a few others can provide the technical details on focusing distance by f-stop to prevent lens distortion.

canon400d

anwmn1 wrote:

I use P for Professional
A for Awesome when I want to wow the client
and S for Sellable when I want to make some money.




Okay seriously though if you are having a hard time with manual it is not a bad idea to switch to Aperture priority and set your F stop to your desired setting. Take a few shots and chimp. If they are close you can then make a not of the settings switch back to manual and make the neccessary changes to match that of what the camera just did. This will then give you a little more control to make additional fine adjustments.

I am sure a few others can provide the technical details on focusing distance by f-stop to prevent lens distortion.

Thanks Ivar, Pete and anwmn 1 for your help and I think I will have to take a few test shots. I also have a Speedlite 580 ex11 with a diffuser but I must admit I haven't used it much and certainly not for close ups or portraits.
Regards
Bob

WingsOfLovePhoto

what works for me is Manual...

in the studio with softboxes F8, 1/200th, Iso 100

outside without flash for less than 3 people F4, ISO 400 Shutterspeed to keep your histogram happy.

With little ones I will up the ISO to 800 to keep the shutterspeed up to compensate for movement.

I will occasionally shoot in aperature priority if I know that the lighting will not trick the camera.... so only under certain circumstances.

Art Scott

I do manual and meter with a hand held Sekonic incident flash meter.......I do not trust relected metering for portraits......and is using flash again I use a handheld Sekonic incident flash meter.........I want total control.....I also focus manually for portraits..................

divamum

80% of my shooting is done in Av mode, especially when shooting portraits in variable light - I just find it quicker and more accurate when things around me are changing (ie portraits outside) and I don't have lots ot time to stop and think. I will often use the spotmeter setting if the lighting situation is tricksy.

In the studio (with a lightmeter), I shoot manual; with my speedlights, I generally shoot manual, but with the flashes set to ETTL.

Scott_Quier

You already have a strong relationship with Manual - I would stick with it. You understand the relationship between aperture and DOF and that, like ivar said, aperture trumps shutter speed every time. The one exception I can think of is shooting outside with ETT-L flash - then I think Av would be your friend. But, if you are in any other situation with or without flash, then manual is the way to go - it's all about the control baby!

canon400d

Scott_Quier wrote:

You already have a strong relationship with Manual - I would stick with it. You understand the relationship between aperture and DOF and that, like ivar said, aperture trumps shutter speed every time. The one exception I can think of is shooting outside with ETT-L flash - then I think Av would be your friend. But, if you are in any other situation with or without flash, then manual is the way to go - it's all about the control baby!

Thanks Scott and everyone else for replying and giving me your sound advice which I truly appreciate and this has given me enough to work on.
Regards
Bob