From Wikipedia: "Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_…
Given the nature of this theme, we'll be relying heavily on facial expressions. If you want to learn more about how to use the gpose tools for that, check out this thread:
While backgrounds can help tell the tale, we want minimal distractions.
We can do this by choosing neutral backgrounds, or negating a rich background by diffusing it.
We can also draw attention to the subject by creating strong contrast zones.
In this example, the soft blue and the medium yellow sources contribute to the contrast with rim light zones.
Being the focus of portrait shots, the subject's expression is front and center. And no element brings more attention than the eyes.
2 - Three-Point Lighting
We'll touch on the concept to explain one of the most commonly used composition setups. We'll use the three Point Lights available under Lighting Settings.
The Key Light gives shape to and emphasizes features.
The Fill Light, placed opposite the key light, creates a counterpart to it.
The Back Light helps delineate hair and headpieces.
Reminder: The Three-Point Lighting setup is -not- a mandatory rule. Feel free to play around with placement and intensity. I often use the 3 Point Lights to enhance environmental light sources, for example.
3 - Butterfly Lighting
Another option is the Butterfly setup. With two light sources - a key light placed top front, and a fill light placed bottom front, it creates a very well-defined delineation.
It provides clean, sharp features.
Slight variations in camera angle can bring completely different shadow areas and focus; give it a try, and you may land in unexpectedly nice shots.
With these hints in mind, let's pick some compositions apart!
This one, for example: Strong DoF to negate details, environmental light giving emphasis to the character's face.
DoF again, with two layers of diffusion (the bookshelf and the background), with environmental light providing the contrast zones.
Did I mention DoF? Yes, let's use some strong DoF to detach the character, and enhanced natural light to pop the features.
By now you may have noticed that I use these tips a lot: for example, most of my 'poster' and Eorzea Collection shots follow these rules.
Previously, we talked about gpose controls and how to use them in a controlled setting. But instances offer amazing places for scenario composition: so grab your backpack, we're hitting the Duty Finder!
One thing that may escape our attention when planning for solo shots is that it's very easy to use dungeons as backdrop: Newer dungeons benefit from Explorer Mode, while older dungeons can be entered solo by selecting Unrestricted Party. Both options can be found under Settings.
Raids, on the other hand, can be finicky. There's no Explorer Mode, but regular 8-people raids can be accessed with Unrestricted Party.
Some (I'm looking at you, NiER raids) have access points that you can use to jump into an empty copy of the raid instances.
Quick GPose tip:
You can use profile-relative positioned point lights to give volume and definition to faces and expressions. It's super quick to set up, and it cleans up jagged light projections too!
Did you ever lose your keybindings or HUD layout configuration?
Or maybe preset changes, or wish you could revert a preset you modified a bit too much?
Have some friends visiting? Maybe a themed event? Or maybe your static got World First?
That moment deserves to be remembered, so let's learn how to give everybody an opportunity to shine - together!
Group shots have their own complications. It can be hard to coordinate a large group, glams can clash with each other, or be unbalanced in the way they draw attention, and lighting can be tricky to set up.
So what can we do?
1- Scene Composition
If you can talk with the group about positions, there are several that work well with minimal effort:
- Taller characters behind, shorter characters in front