family portrait advice please

Ewan Hitchcoe

Ewan Hitchcoe

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ewan
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Hello,

I have been roped into taking some family portait photos for my girlfirends family, and i would be grateful for any practical advice or tips on this.

ill be using a 40d and sigma 17-70, i have no flash, no lighting, and they may well want the photos taken indoors :bang:, especially as we are forecast heavy rain.

I have taken a few individual portaits under these conditions and managed to pull it off, but any input from you guys will be gratefully recieved to avoid this ending up a complete diaster.

Thanks

Ewan
 
Mmm, toughie. I understand what you mean, one of those "obligatory" things.

Do they have a plain wall or something there? Is the lighting really naff or is it ok-ish? Do you have floor/desk lamps at all and a reflector? Do you have a flash?

When I did some, I did use a backdrop, but the first shoot I did I used floor lamps and a flash with a shoot through brolly.
 
MagicMynx said:
Mmm, toughie. I understand what you mean, one of those "obligatory" things.

Do they have a plain wall or something there? Is the lighting really naff or is it ok-ish? Do you have floor/desk lamps at all and a reflector? Do you have a flash?

When I did some, I did use a backdrop, but the first shoot I did I used floor lamps and a flash with a shoot through brolly.
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I have no idea as i have never been to the house before:lol: I have tried to make clear to them that it will be very helpful if it can be done in a room that gets a decent amount of natural light in it.

Iv also said that if they have some decent lamps they may come in handy, i thought about ordering some reflectors, but with the state of the postal service i doubt that they would arrive in time.

The only flash that i have is the built in pop up flash :|
 
How dark? I have done indoors and if it is bright enough I can just adjust my ISO to what is best. But I would have a back up plan. Go to a hardware store buy some cheap construction lights? Some people do family photos on a nice comfy bed, with simple bedding, lots of pillows? It's been done before, not too original, but as long as you capture their personality it should be good. It's better, than everyone smooched on a dated sofa. Or if they have hardwood floors, maye just sitting on the ground, with a blank wall, arranged kind of fun.
 
Give your self a break, don't do it at their home, take them out somewhere, any where outside thats dry, under a railway bridge for example, get them on the edge of it, doesn't matter if you get wet does it, get them all under broliies, you might get them laughing too, make it fun and you'll get great shots. Specifically set you lens to 5.6 and adjust the ISO to give you at least 1/80 shutter speed or quicker, and keep the length up above 50 mm so you don't get funny distortions.
 
have you access to a conservatory..
 
mrcrow said:
have you access to a conservatory..
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hi not sure, as ive not been there before, and i dont really want to start dragging them around to alternative locations, as to be 100 % honest i just want to get in take the shots and get home again :D

thanks for the tips, will bear them in mind

cheers

Ewan
 
Ewan Hitchcoe said:
as to be 100 % honest i just want to get in take the shots and get home again :D
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Are you insane??!!:eek:

Surely this is a great opportunity for earning excellent brownie points and make sure the potential in-laws think that you're a saint and not just an oik who's diddling their daughter.;):thumbs:
 
i did a large group with tripod

1 sec @ f4 iso 64 from aroun 10-12 metres away in a hall

i took around 10 shots and bawled at everone to bl**dy sit still

with some ps fill light adjustment in photoshop they were ok and went on their CD cover and into the local press

tripod....breathe in...hold that...count 3 2 1 with your fingers and let them see them

no timer..press the shutter...do a chimp...
try again if not ok
best to have as many as possible and rearrange some shots to lighten the tension
 
Blaze and Mrcrow
Just out of curiosity, where did the figure f/5.6 and f/4 come from? Does this allow DOF over subjects face but still blur background?
Should the minimum fstop change the closer or further away you are from the subject?

Surely this is a great opportunity for earning excellent brownie points and make sure the potential in-laws think that you're a saint and not just an oik who's diddling their daughter
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Good play, you've obviously done this (as the oik) or seen this (as a parent) before! :)
 
slimboy fat said:
Are you insane??!!:eek:

Surely this is a great opportunity for earning excellent brownie points and make sure the potential in-laws think that you're a saint and not just an oik who's diddling their daughter.;):thumbs:
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haha, fortunately ive already earned enough brownie points in this department, to get out of the oik category! :lol:
 
Digital_Clarity said:
Blaze and Mrcrow
Just out of curiosity, where did the figure f/5.6 and f/4 come from? Does this allow DOF over subjects face but still blur background?
Should the minimum fstop change the closer or further away you are from the subject?


Good play, you've obviously done this (as the oik) or seen this (as a parent) before! :)
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yeah, i would be interested also, i was thinking i would probably need around
f8, then push the iso if necassary?
 
I've found the problem with high ISO portraits is the quality drops off significantly as you get towards 800, with less and less tolerance for post processing. Not sure how well the 40D performs so you may be ok, but if there's poor light f/8 is going to be tricky.
I'm sure someone with more technical knowledge and experience can shine some light!
 
Digital_Clarity said:
I've found the problem with high ISO portraits is the quality drops off significantly as you get towards 800, with less and less tolerance for post processing. Not sure how well the 40D performs so you may be ok, but if there's poor light f/8 is going to be tricky.
I'm sure someone with more technical knowledge and experience can shine some light!
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yes your probably quite right. i try not to go past iso400 if i can.
 
Digital_Clarity said:
Blaze and Mrcrow
Just out of curiosity, where did the figure f/5.6 and f/4 come from? Does this allow DOF over subjects face but still blur background?
Should the minimum fstop change the closer or further away you are from the subject?

Good play, you've obviously done this (as the oik) or seen this (as a parent) before! :)
Click to expand...

my lens focal length was around 36mm for my shot...and f4 was the highest i could go on programme...and i didnt want to go under 1 sec..
for the 36 focal length and the subject around 12-14m away...a large group...i think the dof was pretty acceptable
i focussed on the front row spectacle wearers...some contrast there for the autofocus..not a real professional approach but the one my pos would be happy with..i think my results were lucky..i hunted for one of the originals...i see from the exif it was 1/4sec at 2.8...so i was wrong about the 1 sec
its in a church hall

Exif Sub IFD
Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 10/25 second ===> 1/2.5 second ===> 0.4 second
Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 28/10 ===> ƒ/2.8
Exposure Program = manual control (1)

 
Digital_Clarity said:
Blaze and Mrcrow
Just out of curiosity, where did the figure f/5.6 and f/4 come from? Does this allow DOF over subjects face but still blur background?
Should the minimum fstop change the closer or further away you are from the subject?


Good play, you've obviously done this (as the oik) or seen this (as a parent) before! :)
Click to expand...

I use 5.6 as my go-to aperture for most portrait work, its a good compromise of DOF and Shutter speed, and yes it does tend to blur the background, but it does depand how far away that background is and how far away the subjects are.
For example if you have subjects 10 feet away and background is another 10 feet away then at 5.6 with faces no more than 6 inches difference between them (front to back direction of course)then they will be in focus and backgraound will be out of focus enough not to be a distraction.
 
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