 DestBolo
Premium Member
join:2000-03-21
Naperville, IL |
Dest
Premium Member
2009-May-21 6:11 pm
[Help] Outdoor potrait workWell I'm a newbie to photography, but with virtually no experience dealing with potrait work due mainly to lack of available model.
This weekend I'll be going to the local garden with 2 friend who I can use as models. I've been reading up on portraits tutorials and stuff, but wonder if there's any tips from here?
Mainly I'm very concern with how to pose people. I mean I do candid work alright but that's just not the same as the good posed portrait works.
I've equipment wise EFL 60mm F1.4 sigma prime lens, EFL 100-400mm F2.8-F3.5 zoom lens I think those 2 will be my main use for portrait, for scenery I got my EFL 24-120mm F2.8-F4.
a wireless TTL capable Flash 36GN, don't have a reflective disk but I think i'll probably buy one |
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 OldEODDude
Premium Member
join:2007-02-13
Northern PA |
I haven't done any posed portraits, I catch what candids I can at family events... Someone posted this, The Rules Of Good Portraiture, »lumitouch.com/BenStudioT ··· les.html several months ago. If you haven't seen it, it may be worth a look. Good luck. |
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 PretoriousTheres more behind the pic than the wall
MVM
join:2003-01-08 |
to Dest
I've done a good deal of this shooting models outdoors, per your main concern I would suggest allowing them to pose how ever they choose to began with, usually after a short time they most always become more comfortable with working in front of the camera, so from my experience I would suggest getting them comfortable first, joke with them, laugh and make them feel relaxed as possible, once you can see this is usually a good time to start suggesting poses. Another concern of mine and probably the main one shooting portraits outdoors is light and shadows, its tough sometimes to get the proper lighting so DO remember fill flash, even if you're shooting in bright sunlight, of course positioning them to make the best use of the available light always helps. I hope this helps in some way to give you a few ideas. |
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 Exit
join:2001-04-10
Canada |
to Dest
What kind of pictures are you going for? Think about that and then look for examples of things you want. Show the pictures to the models and then let them figure out the posing. You can try to direct them, but for your first time you will most likely want to worry about the shooting.
Don't shoot between 10AM and 3-4PM because of the sunlight.
I'd use the 24-120 lens for all of your shooting. |
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to Dest
Great advice so far, and also, using reflectors is a great way to get natural light where you need it. Just snag some ever so cheap silver and gold windshield reflectors from Wal-Mart automotive and you should be good to go.  I too would use the EFL 24-120 and the EFL 60mm f/1.4 to shoot the portraits. |
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DestBolo
Premium Member
join:2000-03-21
Naperville, IL |
Dest
Premium Member
2009-May-22 8:48 am
the 24-120? at the long end its F4.0, I would have thought would use the 100-400 where the short end is F2.8
I think mostly will be like full body portraits, sitting down with the flowers maybe. |
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Exit
join:2001-04-10
Canada |
to Dest
Unless you have some kind of special edition 100-400mm the f/stop range on that lens is f/4.5-5.6.
Right around 100mm is a good working distance to the models. If you shoot with a lens that's too wide you will get unflattering results. Longer lenses compress the face (nose mainly) and in general make people look better. Some fashion photographers shoot with 300-400mm prime lenses even.
The car reflectors are a great buy. I have a pile of real reflectors, but the car window shades still get used a lot. |
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to Dest
Exit, he is stating the EFL of the lenses, EFL=equivalent focal length. Since he is using an Olympus, it would be a 2x. So his 100-400mm is an Oly 50-200mm lens in reality. His 24-120mm would be an Oly 12-60mm, and his 60mm is the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC.
Why is f/4 at the long end a bad thing? Personally the 55-200mm lens is going to be a bit long for portraits, especially full body ones. Doing full body definitely the 12-60mm lens. For torso portraits the 55-200mm will do the trick. Also, the 12-60mm has better Bokeh over the 55-200mm too, which makes for a nicer background on your portraits.
I would use the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC over the 55-200mm for the torso shots though, or even full body ones over the 12-60mm if you can get far enough away from your subject to do so. The Sigma is an amazing lens, and the f/1.4 could yield some fun DOF effects, and the Bokeh on that lens can't be beat either! |
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DestBolo
Premium Member
join:2000-03-21
Naperville, IL
1 edit |
Dest
Premium Member
2009-May-22 11:54 pm
well at 50mm (100EFL) the 12-60 is at F4 already vs the 50-200 at F2.8 so if i'm going for a blured back ground the 50-200 should be better.
at anything under 50, unless i'm going for a wide angel effect the 30mm is closer to a "normal" lens (60mm EFL close to 50mm Full Frame) and super large aperture starting at F1.4 may be a better choice, i can always zoom with my ft
but this is just my reasoning, as I said I've very little expereince when dealing with portraits of any kind, Feel free to correct me and point out where i'm wrong, i won't take any offense and would appreciate the oppournity to learn |
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 Jodokast96Stupid people piss me off.
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
NJ |
Not to mention at f/4 you have more DOF than most of the rest of us. Not sure what the exact difference is, but thought I remember seeing it as about a stops worth, which would be more like f/5.6 if true. |
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DestBolo
Premium Member
join:2000-03-21
Naperville, IL |
Dest
Premium Member
2009-May-24 10:45 am
1 stop more DOF vs APS-C and 2 stop more DOF vs FF
but same shutter speed vs Aperture regardless of sensor size for a given Aperture size |
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Jodokast96Stupid people piss me off.
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
NJ |
said by Dest:1 stop more DOF vs APS-C and 2 stop more DOF vs FF but same shutter speed vs Aperture regardless of sensor size for a given Aperture size Thanks. guess I remembered correctly after all. |
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 AzzKicker
Premium Member
join:2001-02-04
Edinburg, TX |
to Dest
Check out this tutorial, its pretty simple to follow and good for those starting out. » www.stansphotos.com/My%2 ··· rial.wmv |
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Exit
join:2001-04-10
Canada |
to Dest
Post some pics |
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DestBolo
Premium Member
join:2000-03-21
Naperville, IL
2 edits |
Dest
Premium Member
2009-May-26 3:14 pm
These are my personal friends, no signed model release forms or anything, I'm not even uploading them to my Facebook or Flickr account. I've only finish the post-processing and touch up work and send the final results to them.
All in all, wasn't bad except was a bit chilly and they were cold and so was a bit stiff when posting. and they wanted to see the background scenery in the pictures so I ended up taking alot more of the High DOF type photos instead of the shallow DOF blurry background type classic portraits shots.
Still a good learning experience for me
Azzk: thanks for the tutorial video link, will take a look when I get home
Gem: I took the suggestion and got some silver windshield shades for reflector(not the bright chrome/reflective one) didn't work as well as I hope, had to hold it fairly close to the subject to get decent result. I'll try ebaying for some i guess, just needed some right away and didn't have time to wait for delivery before Sunday. |
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You needed the reflective ones. The dull ones don't work that well at all, that is why you had problems.  . |
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 Splitpair
Premium Member
join:2000-07-29
Cow Towne
2 edits |
to Dest
Canon EOS 10D
70mm 1/250th F8 ISO200
Soundman using a collapsible reflector to provide fill lighting during a mid-day shoot. |
said by Dest: I took the suggestion and got some silver windshield shades for reflector(not the bright chrome/reflective one) didn't work as well as I hope, had to hold it fairly close to the subject to get decent result. While higher in price than a sunshade a collapsible reflector is a lot easier to work with as unlike a sunshade they open up and remain flat while in use even with a good wind blowing and since they open and remain flat they are also easy to properly aim and some of the models have a standard 5/8 inch mount on the rim allowing them to be used without a helper in conjunction with a standard lighting tripod. » www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh ··· =&clsgr=Wayne |
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Splitpair
2 edits |
to Dest
Canon EOS 10D
70mm 1/250th F11 ISO200
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said by Dest:don't have a reflective disk but I think i'll probably buy one Also if you plan on doing a lot of outside work keep in mind a reflector can be used alone or in conjunction with another reflector as a shade to knockdown the amount of light hitting one side of the subject while backfilling another side. The above shot is an example of a mid-day full sun shot using a reflector for shade and another for backfilling all in the name of managing natures lighting.  Wayne |
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DestBolo
Premium Member
join:2000-03-21
Naperville, IL |
to Gemologist
said by Gemologist:You needed the reflective ones. The dull ones don't work that well at all, that is why you had problems. . Well I didn't want the mirror reflective one as I thought it would be too harsh with the reflected lighting I got a silverish one that semi reflective in the sense that there's a Shiny/Sheen anyway I can start shopping for real reflector disk on ebay now just so i'll have it next time |
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1 edit |
to Splitpair
said by Splitpair:While higher in price than a sunshade a collapsible reflector is a lot easier to work with as unlike a sunshade they open up and remain flat while in use even with a good wind blowing and since they open and remain flat they are also easy to properly aim and some of the models have a standard 5/8 inch mount on the rim allowing them to be used without a helper in conjunction with a standard lighting tripod. Uh, the sun shades are identical to the actual photography ones. The ones we have are just rectangle versions of the round photo ones we have, no real difference at all, except the ones came from Adorama and the others came from Wal-mart Automotive, lol. Even the same basic material and one side is gold and one side is silver, just like the photo ones as well. Cost us $5 a piece on clearance at our local Wally World. They even fold and unfold the same exact way, they are identical in every way truthfully, down to frame, function, and material. |
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Splitpair
Premium Member
join:2000-07-29
Cow Towne
4 edits |
said by Gemologist:Uh, the sun shades are identical to the actual photography ones. The automotive ones I have seen are not comparable to the pop open ones I have used as none of the car window types I have seen have a spring loaded steel frame to keep them flat and stretched while open and in use, having that frame makes the reflector easy and predictable to aim even more so in windy conditions which is something that cannot be practically accomplished with a floppy fold up window shade. In my world time is money and time is tight as such I do not have time to fool around with rigups and MacGyverism’s. For what it is worth Stroboframe a division of Tiffen offers some very inexpensive collapsible cloth reflectors that are quite rugged and unlike car reflectors the reflective material will not flake off after a few uses. Wayne |
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| Splitpair |
to Dest
said by Dest:anyway I can start shopping for real reflector disk on ebay now just so i'll have it next time Here’s a couple of free tips for what that is worth. While slightly heavier a metal rimmed reflector will hold up better and last longer then a plastic rimmed unit. I have found if one clamps a plastic rimmed reflector the clamp will deform the frame which can cause it to fail where crimped this does not happen with metal rimmed reflectors. Unless you are just doing head shots avoid anything smaller then 30 inches, in my opinion a good all around size is a 42. Most reflectors come in two colors one on each side so choose your “colors” carefully, also another reflector “color” which is handy to have around is translucent, while not as efficient in reflecting it can double as a sun shade providing a diffused morning/afternoon looking light mid-day. While they fold for easy transport back to the studio do store your reflectors open to prevent creasing the fabric and to allow them to fully dry. Wayne |
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DestBolo
Premium Member
join:2000-03-21
Naperville, IL |
Dest
Premium Member
2009-May-27 7:19 pm
ummm..... I was thinking of those flip twist portable type.... not sure what you meant by metal/plastic rims.... can you give me some example links? |
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 JRSlaterWhat's that smell? Oh, it's you.
Premium Member
join:2008-01-11
Out There |
JRSlater
Premium Member
2009-May-28 8:46 am
said by Dest:ummm..... I was thinking of those flip twist portable type.... not sure what you meant by metal/plastic rims.... can you give me some example links? I have a flip/twist one and have only used it once, I really like it though. |
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Splitpair
Premium Member
join:2000-07-29
Cow Towne |
to Dest
said by Dest:ummm..... I was thinking of those flip twist portable type.... not sure what you meant by metal/plastic rims.... can you give me some example links? » www.tiffen.com/displaypr ··· =350-422Wayne |
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to Dest
SONY DSC-S750
5.8mm 1/40th F2.8 ISO100
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SONY DSC-S750
15mm 1/40th F4.6 ISO125
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Spring loaded framed shades, right at Wal-Mart. Identical to the plastic framed photo ones. The gold works exceptionally well for portraiture. |
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DestBolo
Premium Member
join:2000-03-21
Naperville, IL |
Dest
Premium Member
2009-Jun-8 11:08 am
I think this is what i brought, but have to be very close to the face, about 10 inches to have noticeable effect....? and it was bright sunny day |
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Shouldn't have to be, unless you got the incorrect non-reflective ones. The ones I pictures are not necessarily the right colors, just the framed ones that supposedly didn't exist, lol.
The gold one in the lower right of the multi pic are the type I have and use, very reflective and work flawlessly. |
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Splitpair
Premium Member
join:2000-07-29
Cow Towne
1 edit |
to Dest
said by Dest:I think this is what i brought, but have to be very close to the face, about 10 inches to have noticeable effect....? and it was bright sunny day Probably because it was not designed for photographic use. A standard pop open in white or silver will kick enough light (and heat) to be overbearing on a sunny day if held that close to the subject. Wayne |
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