Portrait

South African light is not gentle. On the Highveld the sun climbs high and hard from a thin atmosphere more than 1,400 metres above sea level, while the Cape can hand you a week of flat winter overcast, and the KwaZulu-Natal coast softens everything through a standing haze of humidity. Portrait photography here is less about finding an interesting face than about learning to read the light falling on it. This guide works through the fundamentals — lens choice, exposure, portrait composition and how to shape light — against the conditions you will actually be shooting in.

What is portrait photography?

TAMRON 70-180mm F2.8 G2 (Model A065) Focal Length: 180mm　Exposure: F2.8　Shutter Speed: 1/30sec　ISO: 800

In photographic terms, a portrait is simply an image in which a person is the subject. The word carries a certain formality in English — it suggests a studio, a commissioned sitting, a framed print on a wall — and that formality is misleading. A photograph of your sister on the stoep

You have been invited to a wedding, you own a camera, and you would like to come back with something better than the pictures everyone else took on their phones. That is a different job from the one the hired photographer is doing. They are working to a shot list and they have access to positions you do not; you are sitting where you were seated, you know half the people in the room, and you can photograph them in a way a stranger cannot.

Wedding photo shooting is not one skill but several, and this guide covers guest photography at weddings in four parts: the scenes that come up on the day, the wedding photo tips and settings behind them, the etiquette that keeps you out of the professional’s way, and how to choose a lens for it. It assumes a South African wedding, which often means part of the day outdoors and part of it in a barn, a marquee or a cellar, with the light changing completely between the two.

Wedding Photography Scenes and How to Shoot Them

A wedding runs to a rough script,