Shallow DOF portraits tutorial using continuous lighting 

That little girl is so beautiful.... she made me smile. Thanks for the lessons, they help out alot!

@smickphoto I look for photographers who not only talk sense, but shoot well as well. You're one of them.

Great photos and that little girl is a natural.

Wow. Just amazing. You are truly a wonderful photographer, Gavin.

Best model and photographer ever! :-)

i like gavin as he understands the word budget unlike most photographers who think 800 or under is cheap for a lens

I love how your videos make me feel like I should be sitting on a matt in the middle of a primary school classroom with my arms folded. Beautiful images mate! Think I might just have to try a few of my own.

Excellent tutorial, so many magazines show this style of portrait but rarely explain how to achieve it

Man thank you for such a nice ideas. Your videos are full of information and to the point. I love learning through u!!

One of my favorite tutorials. Well done. And what a cutie!

wow wow...stunting work Gavin...you rocks

You're right. You can achieve a slightly greater depth of field by using a longer portrait lens like a 100mm or 135mm Prime lens, while using a wide open lens. You nailed the problem on the head when you said that a 1.2 or 1.4 f-stop on a shot lens (50mm or less) leaves you with too narrow of a depth of field. Often the tip of the nose or back edge of the head are noticeably out of focus at wide open.

Love this video, thanks Gavin. I've had a set of continuous lights sat in the corner gathering dust and was looking for something to do with them. This is brilliant and i now know how to use them and what to do with them.

Stunning pictures…..another excellent tutorial..thanks.

Am digging those older videos of Gavin Hoey the master, I think Smith.co.uk gave us the best low budget gear, fantastic results, kits that are there for ever to teach lighting in small studios at best.

Your tutorial is one of my favorites, thank you!

Nice one. Simple and efficiantly

She's so adorable!

THANK YOU Smickphoto and Gavin!!

@ChaosConRad a lens wider than 50mm will distort and make the centre of the image appear larger, giving your subject a larger nose. A lens longer than 50mm will flatten the perspective, The 70-200 f2.8 is a versatile lens, and if you're shooting for a whole day it's actually quite tiring on the eyes to shoot a long lens without IS- I own the 85mm 1.8 and I would fully recommend the 70-200 or the 100mm macro IS instead. A lens slower than 2.8 wont allow you to blur the background as much

Hay gavin great video ..But can you tell me If you used a flash I didnt see one and was wondering what mode you were shooting it in..

Great job Gavin. This was really informative. (Also, I can't think of a better way to sell lighting gear than this. If I had money to spend, I would probably buy smick gear after seeing a video like this)

Love that! Can use my 50mm while I'm saving up for my 70-200mm! Thanks heaps!

Thanks just what i was looking for.

Wondeful tip and beautiful model as well. I would like however to offer one caveat to those who would fix their lens to the largest opening...if you miss your target when shooting at f2.8 or so, it isn't always pretty. A well focused nose and soft eyes do not go. So, a word to the wise, be very cautious and keep checking your previews when shooting at very shallow depth of field.

Always found your videos inspirational :-) Love your work, approach to it and the will for you to share your secrets... that's my favorite part. Thank you for all the effort - we greatly appreciate it :-) Vesko

@horton5571 We would not know what shutter speeds Gavin used but you need a shutter speed fast enough to give you sharp results. I depends on the amount of light and you can also alter the iso to get a fast enough shutter speed.

@StrawberryBlog Both take good pictures its what you do with the light a flash setup is more versatile that all.

@annierodri ...Annie. You can get the Flora continuous lights which are sold in the States and are virtually the same specs as these Micansu`s. There are plenty of RU-vid clips on these. Regards

Thanks Gavin. I love your videos!

youre the greatest, thanks

Great techniques and photos :)

Love the video, thank you for sharing this!

I don't know what Gavin was using but it does depend on sensor size as crop sensor needs less focal length than full frame usually about 80mm for portraits.

@ChaosConRad -quality glass -no stretching or warping like with a wide angle lens But if you want a nice cheap lens, the Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 is pretty sweet.

Great video , very helpful and insightful , thanks for sharing ..

5:22 best photo thanks for the tutorial

@gavtrain You really did great job, photos have nice artistic look to it. I thought you might added a bit blue color to the background, because in video it seemed really bright and white.

really good video!

the nifty fifty REPRESENT!

@ionxi The backdrop is vinyl

@burningbaba Set you camera in Av mode and select the widest aperture and your camera will set the speed if its too slow increase the ISO

@TheRiversideChurches You control the exposure with the shutter speed.

Fantasic Gav..... PS i hope your paying Fraya good money ha ha, great shots and great ideas to try out thanks

Gavin now works for AdoramaTV there is a macro video due with tips but there will be overview videos that will be made clear so you don't have to watch. We are still looking for a replacement presenter.

@frankytap Yes its possible if you can get a wide aperture

Yes, a slightly smaller f-stop would increase the depth of field perfectly.

Gavin love your videos. quick question please. if you were to shoot her at 2.8 or lower (say you had a 1.4 or 1.2 lens) I see that the eye is in focus but the other side of face and eye goes soft.) could you increase your depth of field by keeping everything the same but moving further back from the model if you had room say 10-12 feet(just far enough to keep her pretty dominate in the scene) would both eyes then appear in focus. hope you understand my question thanks

Gavin I notice that the pictures are blurred around the outside. Is this the results of the lens type ? Paul

@smickphoto Thanks for the reply! You think its a good idea to buy a package with two 430ex II, two tripods, radio transmitters and two umbrellas or to buy a package with Elinchrom D-Lite 4 it -To Go set? I wanna be flexible, to bring the flashes where ever i wanna go without external light source. But also i want to have a decent/good set of flashes.

I wonder how much of PS work was done on photos. Great tutorial btw, really detailed.

Awesome... I actually use Rolleiflex TLR cameras. I'm sure I could get the same effect with my speedtron brown series light kit.

@ 5:31 The Keeper .... very nice ...

Approximately what focal length were you shooting at was a closer to 200 mm or 100 mm?

@smickphoto Hi there, what about the white balance? did you adjust that?

@annierodri No we only sell in Europe

@smickphoto so that's 4 350 watt bulbs? thank you! big help are these tungsten?

woo 1 views first view.. nice vid man.. nice pictures too!

hi, which bulbs did you used in this and how many. Could you please give me some details about bulbs and wat?

@smickphoto sry I meant the light, and btw what did you set for your white balance?

hi, nice video could you tell me what shutter speeds was the camera picking?

Good photos, I like them.

@143mark6275 350 watts with energy efficient lamps equivalent to 1400 watts

@2zporygon You will find Gavin at his own channel Photogavin as the tutorial explains this is using continuous lighting and Not flash the mode would have been aperture priority.

@TechTechReviews Gavin is not part of smick.co.uk he is over on Photogavin channel

Nice shirt!!!!!!

@abdulwasay Not easy to see your models expressions clearly if you have an ND3 or ND4 on tho

Excellent

Can you tell me where it's best to place the focal point? I use the 50mm1.8 and focus on the eye but the lashes are in focus and not the eye itself. I tried the inner eye tear area but the nose sometimes gets the focus as the red focal point size in relationship to the eye is fairly big when doing a head and shoulders so which part of the red square do you use ? Im shooting with a 5dmk2 so that maybe a part of my issue as Ive read this model has issues with focus.

what focal length are you at you seem so close also what white balance do u use

Did you photoshop-out the hair clip at 5:22 ?

Lovely

Do you sell in Australia? if not, which brand do you think should I buy similar to this one? Thanks!!

is this possible with flashes like the 430ex ?

why are 70-200 2.8 such a good or popular portrait lens ?? or is it JUST the fact that it's 2.8 ? like any lens 2.8 or less is good ?

how many watts do you have on the lightbank?

what focal length are you at you seem so close

How many watts does that strobe have?

do the Micansu products sell in the states?

@desmondlaugh You won't find Gavin here, if you want to increase the depth of field you need a smaller aperture such as f8

Nice video thanks!

when will you get the 400 Light back instock, I see its out of stock at the moment

Are the photos straight out of the camera?

half of her face is gone little blurr.. can that be fixed with little smaller ap..?

How much does such a lighting set up cost in US?

The link is in the description

@ny1fanta This is a continuous light not a strobe.

You should get the "I shoot RAW" shirt ;)

@pjos111 Thanks Gavin I thought that was the case but was not sure. Thanks for all your work you do for us. If I lived near you I would be on the list for the days out you are doing. I live in Belfast.

What about using an ND filter to keep a wide aperture while still using flash?

@michaelandcarina Sorry but we only sell in Europe.

@burningbaba Best idea would be to go on a course local to you.

That was the point to make that effect...

It should be soon but the 300Ws will do exactly the same.

If you focus on the eyes then this is where the focus should be I think you need to have your camera/lens looked at.

@antananarivo201 sorry we don't sell in Australia

Gavin, You probably get tons of these questions everyday but would you consider sending our review samples? In return ill review the products on my channel and also on my website. Ill PM you this aswel so you see it.

Another great lesson as usual .... but few can afford $2500.00 for a single lens..... How about a few videos with less expensive lenses ( 85mm, 50mm ect )..... and tricks to enhance our photos. Thanks Gavin ( Big Fan of your videos !!!!!! )

@smickphoto I live in Germany but wanted a USD estimate- :D

have you ever gone to school? just wondering