Portrait photography is an art that requires a keen eye, a creative vision, and the right equipment to capture the essence of a subject. Each of these artists brings a unique perspective and style, using Sony's cutting-edge technology to produce stunning portraits. From cameras and lenses to must-have accessories, explore the tools that help these photographers create stunning portraits that tell powerful stories.
Sony Artisan Brooke Shaden
What's Inside:
–Sony Alpha 7R V: I can shoot in low light and in unexpected spaces and still come out with great image quality that I can print large for exhibitions. I simply don’t need another camera.
–Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master II: With this lens, I don’t worry about a thing. I can shoot wide at 24mm, or tight for a blurry background/portrait effect. I can shoot wide open, too, and given that I don’t often use lights in my work, that f/stop allows me to create separation between my subject and background.
–Sony TOUGH Memory Cards: My fleet of nine Sony TOUGH cards (a mix of 128gigs and 64gigs) gives me peace of mind anywhere I go.
–Sony ECM-GZ1M Microphone: It’s no secret I do everything myself: shooting, modeling, editing, and filming. Filming my photoshoots is often the last thing on my mind, so having a microphone I can slip onto my camera and know will work without a hitch is essential to ever getting any behind the scenes or educational content filmed while on location.
Read more in What’s In My Bag: Brooke Shaden's Single Camera & Lens Kit For Streamlined Self-Portraits.
Sony Artisan Scott Robert Lim
What's Inside:
–Sony Alpha 9 III: I primarily use this camera with global shutter because it has revolutionized my lighting kit.
–Sony Alpha 7R V: This is primarily used as a backup and is perfect for super high resolution images when high detail is needed.
–Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master II: It is very versatile and is probably my favorite travel portrait and street photography lens. It can literally do it all.
–Sony 55mm f/1.8: I also like creating shallow depth-of-field images while traveling, and the 55mm is the perfect choice because of its high quality and very small size.
–Sony 16-25mm f.2.8 G: For wide-angle environmental and travel portraits, I love using thisl ens It is excellent in low light and has a very small footprint.
–Sony HVL-F46RM & Sony HVL-F60RM2: these two portable flashes with my Sony Alpha 9 III allows me to get way more light with a fraction of the size.
Read more in Best Travel Portrait Photography Gear: See What's In Scott Robert Lim’s Bag.
Sony Artisan Monica Sigmon
What's Inside:
–Sony Alpha 7R V: It's so fun and so fast and so easy and so intuitive. Really what I find is that it just frees us up to concentrate on the subjects in front of us, concentrate on the image that we're trying to create and not worry about any of the technical details.
–Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master II: It’s a really powerful tool, the compression is beautiful and it’s just a strong go-to lens for me.
–Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II: An exceptional lens and one of my very, very favorites. I use this quite a lot with window light, and also when I want close-ups with the modeling light only on my strobes. I love the forced perspective of the fixed 85mm, and the fall-off when shooting wide open is stunning.
–Sony 135mm f/1.8 G Master: This is the most beautiful portrait lens I’ve ever used. Perfect for super intimate images because of the 135 perspective.
Read more in Creating Art Of Black Label Portraiture With Inspiration From The Classics and What’s In My Bag: 2 Zooms, 2 Primes & A High-Megapixel Workhorse For High-End Portraits.
Sony Artisan Miguel Quiles
What's Inside:
–Sony Alpha 7R V: Having 61 megapixels is great for those situations where I might need to crop into the image, and the autofocus performance makes these shots a lot easier.
–Sony 28-70mm f/2 G Master: This lens could easily be one of two lenses that I exclusively shoot my studio portrait work with, mainly because of the amazing optics and insane image quality that’s possible with this.
–Westcott X Drop system: It’s fast to set up and it supports large backdrops.
–Nanlite Forza 720: It puts out a lot of light, but I mainly choose to shoot with these lights any time we’re capturing video.
–Nanlite Forza 300 inside of a Harlowe Strip Box: I also had a silver reflector that I used to add some fill for the close-up shots, as well as adding some interesting catch lights.
Read more in High-Resolution Portrait Photography With The Sony Alpha 7R V & 28-70mm G Master.
Niah Aldrich
What's Inside:
–Sony Alpha 7 IV: I primarily shoot in the studio in low light situations, and am very color oriented in my editing so this camera has has been well worth the upgrade for me.
–Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master II: I have that nice, creamy bokeh. Beautiful, beautiful headshots. But you know you have to really step back if you want a full body. It is sharp from edge-to-edge.
–Sony 50mm f/1.2 G Master: I can be somewhat close, but still have that low aperture, that lower number, that f/1.2, and still have that nice, creamy blurred background. And I’m not losing sharpness at f/1.2 which is amazing.
–Sony 35mm f/1.4 G Master: I’m able to really capture a lot more of my environment. So for my full body shots or something like whenever I’m shooting outside, and the location is really cool, I’m going to pick up my 35mm so I can show where I’m at.
–Sony VG-C4EM Vertical Grip: I love my battery grip just because I do primarily shoot portraits. Just having my hand here, I’m able to interact and talk with my clients more than having to hide my face.
Read more in Take A Look Inside This Pro Photographer’s Kit For An Outdoor Portrait Shoot.
