Cameras Still Camera Reviews & Comparisons How To Build A Camera System
How To Build A Camera SystemSelecting cameras, lenses and accessories for your favorite subjects |
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People & Portraits The entry-level D-SLRs have great features for photographs of people, offering Portrait modes and even “face detection” technology, which identifies human faces in a scene and adjusts focus and exposure accordingly for optimum results. Serious portrait photographers, though, may be better suited by higher-end models because of the better overall image quality and skin tones they produce. Portraits look most natural when shot from around 3.5 to 5 feet away. If you move much closer, features will elongate; if you move much farther back, features will flatten. A short tele lens (80-105mm on a full-frame D-SLR, 55-75mm on an APS-C D-SLR, 40-55mm on a Four Thirds System D-SLR) will produce a good head size at the ideal 3.5- to 5-foot shooting distance. So a prime lens in that range, or a zoom that includes those focal lengths, is an ideal first-lens purchase for a portrait enthusiast. Faster lenses (ƒ/2.8 vs. ƒ/4 or ƒ/5.6) will let you reduce depth of field more to really throw a background out of focus and concentrate attention on the subject. They do cost considerably more than slower lenses of equal focal lengths. An accessory flash unit with an adjustable head and diffuser will let you “bounce” the light off a nearby wall, ceiling or reflector for soft, pleasant lighting. A flash bracket will let you move the flash off-camera away from the lens axis, eliminating red-eye and allowing you to vary the lighting angle.
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