Basic Portrait Advice...

[GafferTape]

It appears that I've been ropped into taking pictures of my colleagues at work next week, seemingly purely based on the fact that I'm the only one that has a DSLR. :bonk:

I'm quite new to DSLRs, having owned mine for about 5-6months, but understand the basics of aperture, exposure etc.

The problem is that I've yet to have any experience on taking portrait photos, so was hoping for a few handy tips. For example, should I be looking at the widest apperture? Lighting issues given these will most likely be taken against a plane white wall in the office?

My equipment is restricted to my Sony A200, the 18-70mm kit lens, a nice copy of the Minolta 35-105 (was thinking of using it for the photos - thoughts on this?) , Tamron 18-200mm and a tripod. I have no other lighting apart from the on-board flash and a desk lamp or two from around the office.

The lighting in our office is pretty bright and quite harsh, so not sure the impact this will have. Ideally, i'd like to set up the camera and just get through the photos as quickly as possible - as to be honest, i dont really have time to do this in the next few days.

Any tips appreciated, however basic. (and apologies if posted in incorrect section).

 

[mrtoad]

tripod is essential
then a remote release
a canvas or textured background which doesnt reflect..not white.. a tarpaulin is great
front diffused lighting from an angle of around 30* to the left of the sitter at the tripod area
a reflector held by a colleague to the right to take out shadows but not as bright as the main light
long lens
around 5-8 feet distance camera to sitter
widish aperture
patience

 

[Red Handed]

Well the on-board flash is probably going to be a little harsh so it might be worthwhile trying to difuse it a little. You could hold any semi-transparent whitish plastic material in front of the flash when you take the shots.

Also, if you can set the white balence in the menu settings to the lighting in the office - flourescent for tube lighting etc.

Definitely some kind of reflector, as mrcrow says.

Good luck

 

[kilsbm]

Might be worth investing in some studio strobes. I bought the Elinchrom D-Lite 4 kit, didn't break the bank and really pleased with the portrait results of friends and family.

 

[ScarySquirrel]

tripod is essential
then a remote release
a canvas or textured background which doesnt reflect..not white.. a tarpaulin is great
front diffused lighting from an angle of around 30* to the left of the sitter at the tripod area
a reflector held by a colleague to the right to take out shadows but not as bright as the main light
long lens
around 5-8 feet distance camera to sitter
widish aperture
patience

May I ask why you think a tripod is essential?

I have only done a couple of portrait shoots and haven't used one as I liked the freedom of getting up high, low, moving around without the hassle of a tripod. Plus, with off camera lighting I didn't need to worry about lack of light.

Would be useful to know if I'm missing something

 

[sdb123]

Do the shots have to be taken inside? I would have a guess that the office lighting could play all sorts of tricks against a plain white wall...if you had some natural light outside, the shots could come out even better.

 

[Jamieconverge]

is this specifically for corporate headshot type pictures? ie uniform shots and fairly offical?

for general portraiture, im not sure why you'd want to use a tripod, it certainly isnt essential, and the only times ive used one are for medium format, however if you're taking the same shot over and over again it may be helpful at keeping everything the same. hardly more essential than lighting/light modifyers.