Natural light portraiture

Posted by David Travis on 25 Apr 2021

Natural light portraiture

A few years ago I completed a one year project where I took 52 portraits of 52 different people over the course of a year. Since that time I've not taken many portraits and I miss it. With this project, I'm aiming to get back into portraiture.

To rejuvenate things, I recently attended a 1-day online workshop on natural light portraiture. These portraits were taken within about 30 minutes of each other during a break on the workshop. The portraits feature my mother-in-law and father-in-law.

60-second portrait

My aim here was to create a shallow depth-of-field portrait with a focus on the eyes. People say this is a difficult look to achieve with a micro four-thirds camera but the secret is to get in as close as you can with a wide aperture lens. This was taken with a 45mm lens (90mm equivalent on a full frame camera) at f/1.8.

Movie star

I like portraits that don't reveal everything and a mirror is a good way to create a sense of mystery.

Road trip

Another mirror shot. This time, I used a panoramic crop to emphasise the cinematic feel.

The potter

This is a bright, straight shot. With hindsight, I should have asked Les to face me more.

With COVID reestrictions beginning to lift, let's hope I can take more portraits over the coming months. Apart from COVID, one of the obstacles I face is finding people willing to be photographed. If you know someone who would like a portrait, or if you would like one yourself, get in touch.


If you liked this, try…

Backyard Bird Photography

13 Jun 2019

Cloud Inversion at the Roaches

21 Feb 2021

Imbolc: Return of the light

1 Feb 2021

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