Indoor and Outdoor Portrait Settings for Nikon DSLR cameras

[Rani]

I'm curious as to what Nikon owners use for their settings when taking facial portraits indoor (with appropriate artificial lights) and outdoor portraits (bright natural light)....

[nou]

I usually set my ISO to the lowest number.  I shoot in "S" mode and just adjust as needed.

I'm still learning how to fully function my camera(s).  But I find the "S" mode to be the most comfortable for me as I can control the shutter speed.  I do a lot of googling and youtubing to learn the functions of my camera... I refuse to read/understand the monster user's guide the camera comes with.

Let us know of any tricks you find! =)

[Benevolent_One]

Per kouasupra, you must use a light meter to get the best setting.  I am trying to use mine.

I shoot mostly with prime lens.  For portraits, I NEVER set at the widest aperture.  Go down one or two stops.  I noticed that this creates pleasing bokeh.  The down side to this is that other body parts may not be so sharp due to the shallow depth of field.  If your subject takes up most of the field, set to F/8. 

My ISO is 98% set at 200.
With kids or sports, my shutter is 1/500.  Need to freeze them.

Make sure your subjects are wearing make up!  Yes, even the guys.  For me, this means less work in post production.

Do let us know what works for you. 

[zena]

I change the settings often depending on what my goal is.  I would think it's the same for anyone who loves photography and especially for pros.

Personally, I never use artificial light ever.  That's just not my style.  I love natural light indoors and outdoors.

nou, you really should read the manual.  That's your best friend right there. 

[nou]

nou, you really should read the manual.  That's your best friend right there. 

I know I should.  But I am just not patient enough. I've been taking a lot of tips of my photographer friend and she's been really helpful.  Youtube and Google helps a lot too as well. 

For the new camera, I have been considering taking a photography course. I prefer to listen, than read.  Did too much of that back in college and now at work. I learn more from meetings than reading a bunch of emails everyday. So in other words, I like to take shortcuts. LOL.  I know, it's not the best tactic for every battle. 

[callaesthetics]

if you're not shooting RAW/NEF, "Picture Control" plays an important role on how you want the colors to look.

[kouasupra]

I'm curious as to what Nikon owners use for their settings when taking facial portraits indoor (with appropriate artificial lights) and outdoor portraits (bright natural light)....

Setting will varies. Whether it's Nikon, Canon, Sony or etc. It depends on what your trying to achieve. For outdoor, there's fill light, balance light, over power, and etc. Each will require a light meter to get the right exposure. I don't trust the built in light meter on the camera. It gets wacky and tends to throw the exposure off by a stop or two.

Keep in mind that "shutter" controls the ambient light, and "aperture" controls the flash light. If you have a good understand how that works and know how to balance them correctly then your ready for outdoor flash photography. If not, I stick with indoor flash photography.

The purpose of artificial lighting outdoor is to give the subject more "POP" or a 3D look to it in most case.

What lighting are you using BTW? Post your equipment as far as camera to lens to lighting.   

[Rani]

kouasupra, I have the d90 with a 18-200mm VR lens. It works for everyday stuff. For indoor lighting, I have used my friend's professional lights.

I have another question. It seem that on cloudy days, my shutter speed is greatly reduced if I shoot in sports mode. With the shutter at only 1/80, the pictures are not as sharp. And if I chose the shutter-priority or the manual mode, choosing a higher shutter speed and a higher iso, the pictures are dark. Even if I up the exposure to +4.0 to compensate for the lack of natural light, the pictures doesn't have the bright natural light I'm looking for.