How to take a great portrait
How to take a great portrait
When taking a portrait, you want the emphasis to be on your subject and not on surrounding elements. To do this, set the D5600's mode dial to P (Program Auto) or A (Aperture-priority) or M (Manual). Open up the aperture (use a low f-stop number) to get a shallow depth of field; the maximum aperture setting will depend on your lens and where you set the zoom. This softens the background and foreground, so your subject will be the main focus — literally and visually. Be sure to check your shutter speed; it should be around 1/125 of a second or faster to prevent blur from minor camera (or subject) movement.
If you're using the 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens, set the lens to 70mm (which is the 35mm equivalent of 105mm, which is great for portraits). Zoom all the way in to 55mm on the 18-55mm kit lens; this gives you a 35mm equivalent focal length of about 82.5mm, which is also good for portraits.
Forget about that old "rule" of keeping the sun at your back when you're shooting. That puts the sun in your subject's eyes and makes them squint — not a good look for a portrait. Try to find a slightly shaded area to position your subject. Or, place your subject near a window, and use the daylight to illuminate the scene or combine it with the flash, as seen below.
If you need to use the built-in flash, turn on red-eye reduction via the "i" button, and make sure your subject is not standing up against a wall; move him or her a few feet in front of the background, if necessary. Otherwise, you'll end up with nasty shadows, as in the second photo below.
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