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Anonymous
Was originally interested in landscape, but couldn't resist the cheapness of 50mm 1.8.
and has discovered it can be a portraiture lens

how do you take good portraits? How much bokeh should i be using? composition? overexpose? underexpose? anything?
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>> Anonymous
USE THAT BOKEH!

It almost annoys me how improperly used this word is...
Anyway, Shooting at 1.8 will seem cool at first, But sometimes to get both eyes, or a full head in focus you need to stop down to 2.0-2.8 (depending on how far away you are)

Portraits are all about lighting, the 1.8 just lets you use less light than most lenses, so look for naturally flattering light or learn how to use strobe's / flash's
>> Anonymous
My advice to you would to simply get used to that lens as fast as possible. If you really want to take good portraits, take a portrait shot of everything you can.

Okay, personally I hate that kind of advice because it's too vague, but it's true. You'll find that truly good portraits draw a lot from the style of the shooter and the look of the sitter, so things will often fall in the range of "it depends."

IMO, composition is 99% experience. If you don't know the Rule of Thirds, that's a good place to start and master. And even when you're using extreme bokeh, don't forget about the background either; even if it looks like colored blobs, the right background will have an amazing effect on the subject in a good portrait.

My cheap n' simple 50mm f/1.8 lens is really one of my top favorites to shoot with, so I hope this all helps and that you'll get as much fun out of your lens too.