Over the course of his career, Sony Artisan Miguel Quiles has photographed tens of thousands of people. “Portrait photography is all about capturing the decisive moment,” he says. “As photographers we gamble every time we press the shutter button and we hope that our timing is just right and we capture the perfect shot.” In this episode of Artisan Advice, Quiles shows you an important setting and approach to shooting portraits that will help you consistently get better images.

Sony Artisan Miguel Quiles shows you an important setting and approach to shooting portraits that will help you consistently get better images.

“The most common drive mode that I and many other photographers use is what’s called a Single Shooting Drive Mode,” Quiles explains. “All that means is when you press the shutter button on your camera, a single image is taken and each time you press the shutter button, a single image is taken again. This is certainly a valid way to shoot portraits, but there’s a certain amount of luck that’s involved in capturing that perfect pose, that perfect expression and that perfect mood – especially when you’re photographing multiple people at one time.” 

People naturally move and give different looks to the camera as you’re taking their portrait. Sometimes by the time you notice the perfect moment, it’s already gone. In order to capture those in-between moments and not miss the best looks, Quiles suggests shooting in Continuous Drive Mode, specifically the Low or Mid Continuous Shooting Modes.

“When I’m shooting portraits outdoors, I’ll usually shoot in 3-4 image bursts. So every time I press the shutter I’m holding it down to take 3-4 images at one time. Doing this will give me a much higher probability of capturing that perfect micro-expression or that micro-pose that might take a great shot into the territory of becoming an incredible shot.”

Subscribe to the Alpha Universe YouTube Channel for more.