Good starting manual settings for portrait photography with a Canon 550D, 50mm f/1.4, and 580EX II
Asked 12/7/2010
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I’m shooting portraits with a Canon 550D, Canon EF 50mm f/1.4, and a 580EX II flash. What manual settings are a good starting point for portraits? I’m mainly looking for general guidelines for aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, especially when using the flash as the main light.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
6
It depends a great deal on your environment (lighting, background, and the like), goals (formal, casual, artistic, action, other), etc.
That said, I tend to like to shoot basic headshots at about f/4 or so -- that usually gives me sufficient depth of field to have the parts of the face in focus that I want to. Shutter speed generally just follows what the light is, then -- I almost always am shooting at ISO 100.
If using lighting I can control, I'll most likely try to match it to the f/4 scenario, and go with 1/125 or so for the shutter speed.
But again, it all depends a great deal... so...
Tell us more about what you're after? Even if the answer is "general starting point guidelines"?
Originally by user2425. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2425
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
There isn’t one “optimal” manual setting for portraits—it depends on your lighting, distance, background, and the look you want. But a solid starting point is:
- ISO: use the lowest practical setting, usually ISO 100 or 200.
- Aperture: around f/4 is a safe headshot starting point because it gives enough depth of field to keep facial features sharp. If you want a blurrier background, try f/2 to f/1.8, but focus becomes more critical. If you need more of the face in focus, use f/5.6 or f/8.
- Shutter speed: if flash is the main or only light source, set a speed near your camera’s flash sync limit, such as about 1/160 to 1/125 sec. In that case, shutter speed mainly controls ambient light, while flash exposure is driven more by aperture/ISO/flash power.
If you’re mixing flash with ambient light, settings become more situational. Start with low ISO, around f/4, and 1/125–1/160 sec, then adjust for the look you want.
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