What are my best options
I'm a beginner photographer and have a recently purchased Nikon D5100. I bought the kit lens (18-55mm) with it as well.
I'm helping a friend out with some portraits. They know I'm a beginner and aren't expecting unbelievable quality, nonetheless, I myself want decent quality photos.
Like stated, the only lens I own is a 18-55mm. So what are the best settings and options for setting up my camera for single portraits of people and a few group shots? I'm going to say mainly outdoors for this situation.
So how should I set up my camera?
Always use the long end of the lens in this case the 55mm when shooting individuals. With group shoots you do not have that luxury and are better off using the lens towards the wide side. Be sure to crop as close as possible on the individual shoots. Like head and shoulders. You don't want to take a full length of a person and then crop the digital file to head and shoulders.
50mm would be a good focal length for the individual portrait shots. For the individual portraits, you could take closely cropped photos of them from the shoulders up or depending on their poses, maybe from the waist up. As for the group shots, you should use the 18mm to perhaps around 24mm focal length so as to fit everyone in the group into the frame. When you do this, however, you need to be sure there isn't a humongous amount of space around your subjects so adjust your focal length accordingly. Also, as you'd be outdoors for this shoot, you need to take note of the lighting and change your ISO when you need to. But from my experience, the ISO range of 100-400 would be enough unless you are in a heavily shaded area.
Set the camera to Auto mode, auto ISO, auto white balance, AF on and EV to 0. Read the manual on how to do those. Since you don't know anything yet about settings, that will do for the time being. All you need is a correct exposure and Auto everything will do it.
It's all in the light. Look for a spot outdoors where sunlight bounces on something huge first before bouncing on the face of your friend. A wall or a tree will do. Avoid shiny windows and rooftops. The face shouldn't be directly hit by sunlight straight from the sun. This is soft light which makes skin look flattering.
Check the Preview all the time. If there are too much white-outs on the skin, light is too harsh. Look for another location. If picture is too bright overall yet skin is soft and pores don't show up, lower EV a bit then try again. If the picture comes out dark, try raising EV up a bit then shoot again to see if it improves. Have fun and be creative. Don't be too concerned with poses. Just shoot and play around.