Since portrait photography comes in many different forms, we wanted to start this article by talking about each of these styles. The actual photography gear you end up using may be impacted by the type of portraits you are wanting to take.
The simplest type of portrait you can take are those with natural light. Much of the time, these will be taken outside, but there is ample opportunity to get a natural light portrait by a window or well lit room. Natural light photographers, as you might imagine, prefer this approach as it means they only really need to learn how to work with the sun — not artificial flash and video light set ups.
Personally, natural light photography is our preference as professional photographers. It can be difficult to replicate the look of real light. If you are shooting on an overcast day or during Golden Hour around sunset and sunrise each day , the light is especially perfect for portraits.
Generally speaking, there is a lot of equipment around and the space is specifically setup to take portrait pictures. Headshots, senior pictures, family shots…these are all the norm in studio environments. The look of studio portraits has a tendency to be more formal and less artistic. Since these types of portraits take place inside and need to be consistent from one photo to the next, using additional photography equipment to help shape the light is essential.
When used effectively, you can create some really stunning portrait photos. While our first thought goes to picturing a solo headshot, we also are experienced with shooting a range of portraits. Some of these include:. While the gear used in any of these situations will be pretty consistent, the techniques for capturing a great shot may need to be changed up.
Before we give our portrait photography equipment for beginners recommendations, we want to briefly discuss the thought process that went into putting these together. We want you to feel like these suggestions can actually be valuable to you making a decision whether or not to buy certain pieces of equipment. As a general rule, we are assuming that as a beginner photographer, you have very limited photography experience.
As such, our recommendations will be for beginners with a budget in mind. Our suggestions are all based on our personal experience using certain pieces of equipment OR information we have gathered from reading user reviews. We hope all of these things combined give you some comfort in knowing the products suggested throughout the rest of this post can be trusted as great options for the starting portrait photographer!
As we mentioned earlier in this post, portrait photography equipment when you are planning to just use natural sunlight is really simple. We link to the best deals we could find on Amazon in the below links, though of course will recommend you do additional research as prices and kits change from time to time.
You want a body that enables high resolution images to be outputted, performs well in low light shooting conditions , and holds up to regular use. First, the focal length needs to be just right. We normally prefer 35mm to 85mm for portraits though longer lenses can work just fine too! We recommend lenses in this range because they tend to be the most flexible — usable both indoor and outside without much limitation. When shooting as low as this, you are able to really separate your portrait subject from the background.
Your digital camera will require a memory card to store the photos you are taking. In our experience, memory cards are not all made the same. Using the correct reflector has an undeniable impact on the image before applying any editing in post-production. Read this article for a side-by-side comparison of various reflectors. If you have space, it is a good idea to have one large reflector propped up on a stand in your studio lockable castor wheels are handy.
As this is to do with portrait photography, this article on setting up a home portrait studio might help give you more of an idea of the basics. I hope you found this article helpful. If there is any equipment you wish to add, share your thoughts in the comments below. Alexander Dummer. Table of contents Portrait Photography. The Photo Critique: Portrait Edition. Tips for Preparing for a Portrait Session. How to Scout for Portrait Shooting Locations. The Importance of Location for Outdoor Portraits.
Understanding the Focus and Recompose Technique. Overcoming Depth of Field Problems in Portraits. Stunning Portraits: Manipulating White Balance. Shooting for HDR Portraiture. How to Eliminate Reflections in Glasses in Portraits.
How to Create and Shoot Night Portraits. Understanding Light for Better Portrait Photography. How to Use Flash for Night Portraits. Side-by-side comparison between reflectors and diffusers for portraits. The Importance of Shadows in Portrait Photography. So You Have No Model? What Is Good Light? How to do Accent Lighting for Portraits. Review of the Westcott Eyelighter for Headshots and Portraits.
Shooting with Available Light — Lifestyle Portraiture. Portraits on an Overcast Day? Use a Reflector. Tips for Using Flash for Beach Portraits. Tips for Portrait Photography in Overcast Weather [video].
Tips for Posing Large Families and Groups. How to Pose People for Headshots. Tips for Posing People in Outdoor Portraits. Your Posing Guide for Maternity Sessions. This is not an exhaustive list, but in addition to the big name brands like Canon, Nikon, and Sony, there are plenty of flash units from other manufacturers.
Depending upon the features and functions, you may find that third-party brands are somewhat cheaper than their equivalent name brand counterparts. These are wireless devices that will trigger your flash when you take a picture. Make sure you get ones that are compatible with both your camera and flash. Yes, you can learn to take better photos!
Enroll in our free photography basics for beginners course, or part portrait photography course , also free. Home » Portrait Photography Equipment List. Take your portrait photography to the next level. Note: Do not add the tripod load capacity and the tripod head capacity together. They each must be able to hold the weight of your gear alone. So if your setup weighs 6 pounds, make sure you get legs that will support at least 12 pounds and a head that will also support 12 pounds.
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