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Is there a preferable (or general rule of thumb) as to what is a good aperture (F#) for model photography? |
Obviously, with the cnage of setting in which the photos are taken, this would vary. However, I'm thinking in an averge studio setting without any attempt to go off the artistic deep end. It depends on what "look" you're trying to achieve. In general, for close-ups of a model I would be inclined to go with a wider aperture (lower #) for a narrower depth of field. In model photography, it can look quite sensual (which doesn't necessarily mean naughty) if part of the picture is in focus and another is slightly out of focus. For shots that are at some distance (full-figure or head & shoulders), go with an aperture that's narrow enough that you can get all of the model in focus, but not so narrow that you need her to hold still for an unreasonable length of time in order to get the right exposure on the film. You might take one roll of test shots where you do lots of bracketing, and take notes of the settings on each shot. Then, when you get those prints, take another roll (or two, or as many as you want) using the settings that gave the results you liked the best. I just checked my last shoot. Most of the shots were taken at f5.6 using studio flash units in soft-boxes. When I am doing head shots, I sometimes open to f/4.0 or f/2.8 if my the lens I have selected supports those f/stops Editorial, sports and glamour photographer There is no simple answer. An f/stop of 5.6 or less would blur out the background and depending how close to the head you are, possibly the back of the head. f/stop around 16 would give you the background in focus and all of the body/head. You should be more concerned about the type of lens you use. For a 35 mm camera, face shots should be done with around an 80 mm lens. There's already some good advice here, but be aware that the size of the format affects the aperture you will want to use for portraiture. What I mean is that the film or sensor size has a relationship to aperture in terms of depth of field. The smaller the film or sensor, the larger the aperture you can use. For instance, on 35mm cameras, you might want to go with f/8 for a tight head shot. For digital SLR cameras with a 1.5 or 1.6 crop factor (most Canon and Nikon digital SLRs) you might go with f/5.6. Then, for medium format digital or film, you might want to go with f/11. Each of these settings on these different cameras would look about the same if the images were printed the same size. These settings, by the way, are usually about what I use as a general rule of thumb. |
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