Basic potrait advice sought

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Guitarbloke

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Sean
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I've been asked to take some still shots of a friends band - group shots and individual portraits for use on their website. They're not a pro band and are very much aware that I'm still learning the ropes so aren't expecting the shots to be studio quality.

I have access to a tripod if needed and a large indoor space to take the photos in. I was thinking of getting a white backdrop off ebay, or making my own 'Blue Peter' vesion using white fabric and a couple of speaker stands, since my budget is a factor.

Regarding lighting - the space I'd be using is in a small warehouse with flourescent tube lighting - will this suffice or am I going to need to get hold of some sort of additional light source? The ceiling is high-ish - probably somewhere between 10-15ft at a guess, so the lights won't be within inches of the band.

It's nice and bright in the room, but I know tube lighting can be harsh and I'm worried that if my newbie photography skills don't ruin the shots then the lighting will! If it helps, I'll have an 85mm f/1.8, and a 35mm f/2 at my disposal to shoot with (on an EOS 20D).

Are there any recommended settings I should use for portraits to get the best results using my gear, or is it really a case of just try everything and see what works best? I was thinking of doing a mixture of colour and b&w pics.

Thanks :)
 
Is there a location outside you can use? Natural light might be the best idea, and you can buy a reflector very cheaply! (I bought one of those 5-in-1 circular reflectors for about £11 a few years ago off eBay).

For portraits in general, I would use a wide aperture (so a low f number). If you aren't sure about settings, do you have another friend or family member that would be willing to be your test model for a quick shoot? Then you can go to the location you're planning to use and roughly figure out your settings and what you're going to do, so when you come to do the proper shoot it's not all completely new :)

Hope that helps!
 
Ask yourself, are they the sort of band who would look good posed up against a white background?

Call it personal preference, but I generally prefer band portraits which are 'on location' rather than studio based.
 
Thanks guys that's some food for thought.

Richard - yeah I feel they would definitely look better on location rather than against a plain backdrop, problem is finding a suitable (and available) location round these parts is a bit of a nightmare. They've got umpteen live photos already so wanted something a bit more posed.

Briony - what are those reflectors used for? I've never seen those before, but they look intriguing!
 
They are used to bounce light to different areas that need a little more light. You can get them on 7dayshop.com for like £9 that's posted and all.
 
Group shots in low light are your problem as you'll want a larger dof, smaller aperture and therefore more light (unless you carefully line them up equidistant from the camera)

For individual shots I'd be shooting wide open or f/2 with the 85mm, or 35mm if you want to include more environment or give a distorted perspective.

Phil
 
philthejuggler said:
Group shots in low light are your problem as you'll want a larger dof, smaller aperture and therefore more light (unless you carefully line them up equidistant from the camera)

For individual shots I'd be shooting wide open or f/2 with the 85mm, or 35mm if you want to include more environment or give a distorted perspective.

Phil
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Off hand, the biggest potential issue I see is the fluorescent lighting. If you add flash or other light sources they will need to be color corrected to match. If your SS is to fast (greater than 1/60 in the US) you may get very weird colors and banding. Fluorescent lights actually vary color/strength/etc at the electrical current frequency (60hz here). Your shutter speed needs to be slow enough to see a full cycle.

And fluorescent lights often "seem" brighter than they are...actually most do. If you meter the scene it may take more exposure than you're thinking.

With a tripod and longish SS's you should be ok... assuming they can hold still enough.
 
You would be surprised at how many locations are available. Mad as it sounds a stroll down some side streets in a town centre will often yield some good locations for a quick shot. Grassland overlooking an industrial wasteland, industrial estate. bridges/archways/tunnels.
Yea, cliched at times. But good experience
 
Guitarbloke said:
Thanks guys that's some food for thought.

Briony - what are those reflectors used for? I've never seen those before, but they look intriguing!
Click to expand...

They are simply used to reflect light back in to your subject :) A good example would be if you are outside and you are photographing in to the sun, so your subject is backlit (which can look really nice), but the front of them is too dark, so you just use a reflector to bounce light back in to them and light them up a little. They are useful for all sorts of situations though. The set of reflectors I have are white, silver, gold and black, each of which do a slightly different job.
 
RichardtheSane said:
You would be surprised at how many locations are available. Mad as it sounds a stroll down some side streets in a town centre will often yield some good locations for a quick shot. Grassland overlooking an industrial wasteland, industrial estate. bridges/archways/tunnels.
Yea, cliched at times. But good experience
Click to expand...

This exactly^
Years ago, when I first got 'into' photography, I used to look at other 'good' photo's and think 'why aren't there any great sights like that where I go?'.

It was years before I realised that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' and that I can make the best of any place, all it takes is vision and imagination.
 
Guitarbloke said:
...

Briony - what are those reflectors used for? I've never seen those before, but they look intriguing!
Click to expand...

The 5 in 1 reflectors are a bit more than reflectors though.

A white reflector - good to bounce light back onto a subject or to subtly lift eye socket shadows.

A silver reflector - good to bounce light back onto a subject, stronger than the white.

A gold reflector - good to bounce light back onto a subject, warmer than silver or white.

Black (not really a reflector) - to deepen shadows, flag light sources, add definition.

A Scrim - right inside the reflector is a large diffuser, can be used to soften a light source.
 
Wow some really great advice - thanks so much everyone! And thanks Phil for the reflector descriptions!

I think I'll go out and try and view the area with fresh eyes, maybe there is somewhere suitable around which I've just been looking past all this time :)
 
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