P#28: An Adorable Shot of a Toddler Boy
Which lens can help you capture amazing portraits like the one of this charming toddler boy?
This close-up portrait of a sweet toddler boy is absolutely amazing. How did Cheryl create such a beautiful shot? Believe it or not, it has a lot to do with geometry and equipment. Here Cheryl explains the techniques and the equipment she used to capture this photograph.
Geometry in Pictures
Cheryl Dorskind: Nigel is the toddler boy in this photograph. I did a whole session with Nigel at the park. I love the lighting in this particular shot.
We went late in the afternoon on a fall day. We went right in as it's getting dark. It gave us the beautiful golden warm sun. That lighting can just make faces look beautiful. I purposely put Nigel in red and let him wear a hat because he really likes his hat. He thought he was cool in his hat. (click the image for a larger version)
Composition wise, you have the triangle under him from his shirt. Triangles create stability in a composition when you have a round face, so there's all this geometry. I'm also really into geometry when I teach because that helps create really nice compositions.
The Lens Factor
Audri Lanford: The background is so nicely blurred.
Cheryl Dorskind: Yes, the background is blurred. I don't know if I mentioned lenses, but portraits look best with around a 105mm lens. With a lot of the digital cameras nowadays, a 105mm isn't really 105mm because there's this lens magnification factor so a 70mm up to like 125mm is a good lens to take close-up with so you won't get distortion.
If you're looking for these kinds of close-up things that I actually like to do, then you want a nice telephoto lens, but not too long.
Audri Lanford: So it would be 105mm-ish.
Cheryl Dorskind: 105mm is ideal. That's a fixed focal lens from the zoom days. Now a 70mm lens for many digital cameras is a 105mm when you factor in the lens magnification. It gets sort of complicated so anywhere between 70mm and a 130mm is usually good.
In Summary
Portrait photographs can be some of the most challenging. It's not just about posing and skill and technique, equipment plays a big part in the outcome of your shots as well. Cheryl recommends using a 105 mm fixed focal lens, or a digital lens of somewhere between 70mm and 130mm for the best results. That's how she captured this adorable portrait of this darling toddler boy.
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