Portrait Photography?

[Kenny P]

I want to get better at taking portraits. Should I set my camera settings to the portrait mode, or are there better settings? Where is the best location to take a portrait besides a studio?

Also, is this considered a portrait or a "snapshot?"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kennyprice/2322041751/

[Pooky]

At least leave your camera at P mode--and shoot it in RAW. To set your Digital Rebel XT camera to "portrait" mode will only produce JPG files.

Think before you take a shot of a person--do you want the aperture to be wide (to get less depth of field?)--all you need to do is move the little dial so the aperture setting will be wider. Look at page 52 of your manual under "program shift" which "after pressing the shutter button halfway, turn the dial to change the shutter speed and aperture setting combination."

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2116/2342191704_56d38d9881_o.jpg

If you only have your kit lens--zoom in as much as you can. If you have to get close to the subject at wider setting, they look funny (like this:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3152/2294122425_bf78cafba2_o.jpg

and take a lot

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2315292548_25ed4f4208_b.jpg

some hopefully will be usable.

And if you can, put it in manual focus, and focus on the eyes... ( http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3152/2298723223_ce04efd2d7_o.jpg ) this is not a close up photo of his eye--it's a cropped of this one: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2158/2299519750_552f2890c9_b.jpg

Locations? Not in direct sunlight. I love cloudy days--but we don't get too many of those here where I live. Under a shade, or something.

[oneeeelove]

best time to take pics outside is morning or lte afternoon b/c the lightin is nice :}
or on a cloudy day :]

[totspotathome]

Well for a beginner, auto settings are easiest since they take all of the work out of it, so yes portrait mode would be fine. As you read more into your manual (depending on your type of camera) it will be easier for you to delve into manual settings. These give you more control over your photography and will eventually give you much better results. Outdoor lighting is great for portraits, shoot in the late afternoon, early evening so the sun isn't directly over your subject which will cast harsh shadows on the face. As for your picture, it's in the eye of the beholder, the composition is pretty good and it looks like your camera has great clarity