Shooting portraits

Camera position

Standing: Tripod to waist height, straight lens.
Chest: Tripod chest height, lens straight.
Head and shoulders: Tripod to eye height, lens straight.
Around 3/4m away from subject.

Technique

Best focal length is 85mm/100mm, as there is no wide lens distortion or tele photo compression. Aperture priority, f/4 for internal shots gives sharpness and depth,f2.8 or less could be used externally if we want to blur distracting backgrounds. Best backgrounds are white or black. For whites, point light directly at background, for blacks, backlit the subject to make it emerge from the background. The background shouldn't be brighter than the subject. For outside portraits, shot in the shade not in direct sunlight. Use collapsible reflectors to direct light to subject both indoors and outdoors. For sunset portraits, flash off, lock light at the sky. Turn to subject, shot with flash. That way both sky and subject are lit.