Awesome outdoor Portrait with simple gears

Everybody must start somewhere, so did my journey into photography. Back in 2018 I was searching for a model for an outdoor photo shoot, and one of the best freelance models says she is willing to pose for the click. Let me share a few tips how I achieved this beautiful shot with just my simple gear, just a crop sensor DSLR Camera and a simple manual flash. Most of the time, I like to shoot out of doors, as I don’t have a fancy studio or modelling lights. I’m very proud to say that this photo was selected for an Exhibition in Europe at the stunning Espaço Espelho d'Água, Lisbon, Portugal. 

So, let’s gets started, I like to choose the best time to shoot a portrait and if I get the chance, I love to shoot at the afternoon say 2:00pm (IST) onwards as the sun does not produce harsh shadows and also the model will be more able bear the heat of the sun. No fancy dresses for the models, no heavy makeup, just a simple white shirt and a cowboy hat, at glance she looks so perfect. The perfect moment about this shot is when the wind blows her beautiful hair, I press a shutter button with a fast shutter speed of 1/160sec. It’s quite awesome and a memorable candid session of a lifetime.

The gear I used here is Canon EOS 700D, Canon EF-S 55 - 250 mm f/4-5.6 IS II Lens which is a kit lens and a Yongnou YN 550IV speedlite wireless Flash. Great thing about the Canon EOS 700D is that it can trigger this particular flash without using a Flash Trigger; this is an advantage, to accomplish the Off-Camera Flash techniques without having a trigger, if I had one, I would quickly mount it on the hot shoe.

Simple startup:  Switch on my camera and speedlite and as usual I select RAW image settings, turn my head to the makeup artist, ask her to hold the flash on the left side of the model face and try few test shots for the white balance and finding a sweet spot for this lens, and in just a few minutes I can figure out that F5.6 is a perfect aperture and an ISO of 100 is good to carry on this session. I believe that it’s not about a great lens at all but is about patience and the passion that you have, above all that, knowledge is most important. Though I know expensive glass works well, I will never underestimate the power of the Kit lens, never ever, as I found out that most of the time, my shots are stunning even with this simple gear. Focal length of 55mm and the shutter speed of 1/160 sec match perfectly with this particular lens.

Metering mode: Every Photographer has their own choice of metering mode and I love “spot metering”, as most of the professional photographers say that spot metering is the most accurate form of metering for great portrait and to get a correct exposure.

An awesome portrait of a cow girl.

Most Important: Post processing is one of the wonderful techniques to make a photo to stands out. For this particular image I used Adobe Photoshop to process it to the final look and feel. Photoshop works wonderfully in portrait photography, it gives wide ranges of adjustment, or if necessary, a very advanced image manipulation. Let me be honest, I process or edit in a very simple method with a very few adjustments. First and foremost, I adjust the exposure level and check on the histogram to confirm if it is at the correct exposure level, then move to pull a little bit of shadow below the model’s hat. Retouching is simple with the great tools that I have. I use imagenomic portraiture plugins, this tool saves a lot of time for retouching a portrait, especially head shots. Last but not the least, sharpening of the eyes is main key to make a photo an eye-catching one. I remember a pro-photographer mention lots of times to always shoot and focus on the eye of a model, it will come naturally sharp out of the camera and stunning after the post processing. If you want to post your image on the internet, like social media, a photography website or any other form of post, don’t forget to watermark you photo as I did.

Note: Being tech savvy, I will start covering various topics on technology, photography and some other topics that may help you. To teach is to learn twice, as the saying goes. Keep doing what you love to do.