Shooting Portraits Wide Open vs Stopping Down: The Breakdown with Miguel Quiles

In this video Sony Artisan Miguel Quiles shares why he chooses to shoot his portraits stopped down vs using a wide open, faster aperture. If you're looking to get portraits that pop use this method for your next shoot and compare the results!

Related Products at Adorama

Sony A6500

Sony 85mm 1.8 lens

Miguel Quiles
Snapchat @MiguelQuilesNYC

Model
Ashley Porto

Like, share, and comment on the video below...let's get the conversation started! Miguels show now every other Wednesday on AdoramaTV.

If you have questions, please share them below.

[ivanmadethis]

why would you make a video about showing skin texture and then completely remove all the texture from all the pictures??

[OLuvin]

I have this exact combo and LOVE this video because of Miguel showing love to the crop camera and not just focusing on FF

[stevenmeansphotography]

Is it possible to at f/11 iso 100 with alien bee strobe

[NLGwenster]

To be completely honest. The crop you show for the diff between f/1.8 & f/5.6 4:23 - you can easily close that gap of a difference between apertures by applying a sharpen filter selectively over the skin. It'd look the same as the f/5.6 pic - not counting any background bokeh.

[prathmeshp]

"I like to show the texture of the skin."
*turns airbrush to max*

[zt.cedric]

I'm sorry but the post-production looks super artificial really more a prime example of how to not post process any image ..

[momchilyordanov]

That "retouching" made her look plastic. I would take the out of the camera pictures any day.

[secretreleases]

She looks so beautiful in nature, why change it to something so artificial?

[nitinkushwah]

If you want to blur background, then you don't need to a good location :D

[johncantrell]

That stone archway would have made a good backdrop too I think....

[michaeleliseev]

Omfg.
“Shooting on 1.8 you loose texture of the skin. I prefer blur skin to hell in post”

[CharlesLe-thephotographer]

In my experience, most female clients don't want to reveal their skin texture. They prefer the skin melting away naturally. Only photographers appreciate seeing every pore of the model's skin.

[Needacreate]

Valid tip and awesome model. Still, keep wondering (and I don't seem to be alone in this) why you cite more skin texture as an advantage of stopping down to mid apertures and then end up retouching most of it away again. I'm pretty sure that Ashley's natural beauty would allow you to be a bit more daring in that respect, and it would bring out more of her individuality and humanity. At least I would prefer that for personal work, although I'm well aware that commericial clients will, alas, likely expect that photoshopped dehumanized look.

[thomaskaarup]

Sorry besides the good tips the retouch makes her beautiful face look plastic-ly

[imagoodperson]

legend say that girl still smiling that way.

[JeremyGalloway]

I think f/2.8 is perfect for portraits in most cases. It's a bit stopped down on most prime lenses, so you get good sharpness, but still lots of light and subject isolation.

[elr]

I typically find that F4 or F 4.5 works the best for portraits

[Synplex]

WHOA! You sir need to hold back on that surface blur, Clone stamp, and digital retouching in general. Those final pics look she's made of plastic, in not a good way.

[andtothewestamerica]

I was following along until your retouched what did you do to this poor girl?!

[ZBxRaptor]

Me for the first 30 seconds of this video:

"God she's beautiful, God she's beautiful, God she's beautiful"...

*Looks a millimeter to the left*

D: "