Photography Gear For Portraits And Nudes
By Eolake Stobblehouse
In my position as editor and long-time camera/photography buff, I'm
often asked about what equipment to get, so I decided to write an
article about it.
Basically, you can use any camera for portraits and nudes. Accomplished
photographers have even made good nudes using plastic toy cameras,
using the cheap plastic lens and the light leaks for artistic effect.
But if you want to try to sell your work, or you want to make photos
people might want to frame for their wall, some gear is more
advantageous than other.
In the early 21st century, the debate raged for years as to if and when digital
cameras had caught up to the quality of film cameras. But in the years
since maybe 2006 some people were saying that they now have surpassed
it, and the film proponents are now most often saying that film has a
certain quality that digital cant match, not that it's superior in
sharpnes and color and so on. Personally I think modern digital cameras
give amazing quality, better than I managed with film myself, and it's
faster to use and cheaper per shot. I do admit though that the cameras
are more complex, there are so many menus and buttons that it's a
challenge to learn it all. But most of that learning can be postponed,
the cameras generally give very nice results even on full automatic.
For megapixels, let me cut it short and say that for most purposes, ten-twelve
megapixels is probably all you will need. Bigger
resolutions demand very expensive lenses to be useful, and you can only
really see the difference in very large prints, like meter-wide ones.
A pocket camera can be used. Many modern ones make high quality
pictures. The main downsides to pocket cameras are that they are fiddly
to use, and they are not so easy or precise to control as bigger
cameras. They are also not as fast to react due to weaker computing
chips inside. And importantly, they have a very small imaging sensor
(the replacement for the film). This sensor is often only the size of a
pinky finger nail.
A small sensor means for one thing that it gathers less light, so it is
less useful in dull conditions. And for another thing, it means that,
for optical reasons, they tend to make everything sharp from front to
back. This quality is often an advantage, in landscapes for example,
but with portraits and nudes it often looks nice to have the background
be softly blurred, keeping attention on the subject. And for that you
need a bigger sensor.
Big-sensor camera also generally have exchangable lenses, another good
thing. For example you can now use prime lenses, meaning non-zoom
lenses, these tend to be cheaper and smaller than zoom lenses, and are
often (though not always) superior in optical quality.
Also you can use "fast" lenses, meaning lenses with a big aperture
(opening). These let you work in less light, and they also help when
you want blurry backgrounds. And so does a lens which is longer, a tele lens or a telezoom.
I recommend pretty much any so-called "DSLR" camera. This means
"Digital Single Lens Reflex", which means that what you're looking at
in the viewfinder is projected there via the lens itself and a mirror,
which flops up and down very quickly when you take a picture. These
cameras tend to have big and high-quality sensors, and they tend to be
responsive and pretty easy to handle.
The new "mirror-less" exchangable-lens cameras, such as the Micro Four
Thirds cameras, are good too, but most of them have a smaller sensor,
which makes it harder to get the soft background when you want those. I
recommend a sensor which is at least "APS-C" sized, about 17x25mm.
Even the cheapest DSLR cameras ("entry-level") are very good these days. I often use
one myself, because they are also usually light and compact, which I
like. They have most of the features, and often all of the quality, of
the more expensive and larger models. The reasons to choose larger
models if you can afford them would be they can be more reliable under
hard use, they may have features you need (though maybe not), and they
may have faster and more precise autofocus, for action/sports shooting.
Some of them also have an even bigger sensor, called "full frame"
meaning it is the same size as the old 35mm camera negative, 24x36mm.
This gives a bit higher quality, a bit better low-light cabality, and potentially a
bit softer backgrounds if needed.
So in short, an entry-level DSLR camera with the kit zoom lens is fine.
It's an economical way of getting a good kit. Much fine work has been
made with those. What I would recommend for going further, for
portraits and nudes, is a short tele-lens. For example an 85mm F:1.8, a
100mm F:2.0, or something in this area. The lower the F-number, the
bigger the aperture. In fact the often cheap 50mm (F:1.4 to F:2.0) lens
may be used in a pinch, because the sensor which is smaller than
35mm-size in most cameras (APS-C size) makes it perform like a longer
lens (75mm), close to the ideal short-tele area which is good for
portraits/nudes. The reason it's good is that it give you a bit of
distance to the model which makes them more relaxed and also helps the
perspective of the picture, since wideangle lenses tend to make bodies
and faces look a bit distorted because you're close. It should be said,
though, that the cheap 50mm lenses don't usually give the most
pleasantly smooth background blur ("bokeh"), there are often "ridges"
or lines in it. The same goes for many zoom lenses, particularly
economical ones, sadly. There is a lot of
difference from lens to lens in this matter, I recommend finding
reviews and image samples on the Net.
If you have the means, a long zoom lens can be useful, although the
"fast" ones (F:2.8) tend to be very heavy and very expensive. It's pro
gear.
You can use wideangle lenses for special pictures, but be careful and
keep an eye on the perspective, as well as on distracting objects in
the background. A wideangle lens sometimes makes the model's body look distorted, so it's best used sparingly.
I recommend getting cameras or lenses, when possible, which are
stablized against camera shake. Read reviews. It's called various things, like IS, Image Stabilization, Shake Reduction, etc.
It is also often a good thing to use a flash to soften the shadows, for
example the eye socket (and thus the eyes) of the model are often a bit
dark. But how to do this right is a bit of a study. The most important
things is to dial the flash down a stop or two, so it looks natural.
Also, it's a good idea to soften the flash light with a "softener", a
large one, so the shadows of the "fill light" are not so sharp, this
will also make it look more natural. The fill light should not be very noticable.
With modern cameras and automaticity, it's easy to take pretty good
pictures. But if you want to make really good ones, it's a bigger
study. It's important to learn to look not just at the subject, but
also other things which are in the frame. How does it all work
together? In general it's a good idea to seek out calm and
non-distracting backgrounds.
I recommend a lot of reading on the web and in books, it will pay off.
Have fun!
- Eolake
