What F-stop for portraits?

I'm doing some portraits for my neighbors tomorrow and have a quick

question about F-stop settings. I have about 14' to work with from

back drop to wall. I am using continious lighting and my Canon 20D

and 24-70/2.8. What F-stop would you recommend. The lens if pretty

sharp at 2.8, but thinking DOF and other issues. I planned on the

subject being about 5' in front of the backdrop so I'd be around 0-9

feet from the subject. I'll figured I'd do some tests around 2.8-

8.0, just looking for suggestions.

Thanks,

 

Mark

Depends on the effect you want to get...sharp, dreamy, etc. Since you have a SLR just press the preview button and see what looks best with your subject.

Definitely test. You might as well go down to f/11 and f/16. DOF may be more important than obtaining the highest image quality. You can use the self-timer to test on yourself.

 

In focus is good, sharp often is not, for portraits. Sheer black stockings can be stretched over a lens to soften the face. Not the whole stocking, but a piece cut out. I prefer the neutrality of black. You can do the repair work on faces in Photoshop instead. Try it both ways in your tests. They are not identical, in my limited experience.

 

If these are to be record shots, stop down. If arty, play around, but keep the eyes sharp. The eyes are the big deal in sharpness for portraits. If the hair is just not that great, diminish it by lighting or DOF. Same for other features.

 

If you are shooting straight ahead, a smaller DOF, say 3 inches, will capture the person compared to a 3/4 shot, which shows more depth, say 6 inches. You can use a more open aperture on the straight on shot and have your subject in focus.

 

Think about some backlighting on your subjects to separate them from the background.

 

Bill

I suspect you won't be able to make the background go totally blurry with that set-up- try some test shots and see, though- what digital is good for...

depends how interesting the backdrop is.

Depends on the background and the amount of light you've got to

work with. Most of my portraits are shot between f/1.4 and

f/16. With lots of light and a clean background, f/8 or f/11

usually works well. With a messy background, opening up is good,

as long as you're careful to focus on the eyes. If the depth of

field is too narrow, the ears and nose will be out of focus, but

that's not critical as long as the eyes are in focus.

It also depends on the look you want -- do you intend for everthing about the subject

to be in focus?

F4 always - never anything else.

<p>Dollars to doughnuts you will be end up shooting at around 50mm and about 6 feet from the subject for a headshot. At that focal distance I would be very careful about going wider than F8. I was just in the studio here taking some test shots for a cramped room lighting setup I will have to do in a couple days.<br>

at 4 feet from my test subject at F4 I accidentally focused on the far eye and found that the near eye was out of focus. That would be way too shallow. Sometimes your test subject does not cooperate, be sure to bring treats. :-)</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

<p>I was about 5 feet from the cat.</p>

<p>Make : NIKON CORPORATION<br />Model : NIKON D300<br />ExposureTime : 1/60Sec<br />FNumber : F4.0<br />ExposureProgram : Aperture Priority<br />ISOSpeedRatings : 200<br />ExifVersion : 0221<br />CompressedBitsPerPixel : 4/1 (bit/pixel)<br />ExposureBiasValue : EV-1.0<br />MaxApertureValue : F1.7<br />MeteringMode : CenterWeightedAverage<br />LightSource : Flash<br />Flash : Fired(Compulsory/return light not detected)<br />FocalLength : 50.00(mm)<br /> <br />ExifImageWidth : 4288<br />ExifImageHeight : 2848<br />ExposureMode : Auto<br />WhiteBalance : Manual<br />DigitalZoomRatio : 1/1<br />FocalLength(35mm) : 75(mm)<br />SceneCaptureType : Standard<br />GainControl : None<br />Contrast : Normal<br />Saturation : Normal<br />Sharpness : Normal</p>