Portrait help and advice

Mmarques

Mmarques

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Marco
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Hi everyone,
I have done very minimum amount of portrait photography and want to improve and be more confident in doing it.
A friend of my girlfriends has seen my photography work and has asked if i could do some portrait photos of her with her husband and boys.
I have said i can give it a go but i have not done much photography in this field at all, she said for me to give it a go and if she liked any of the final images she would happily pay for them.
I have given her the option of indoor or outdoor shoot, obviously with the british weather it will most probably end up being indoors at her home, obviously indoors i dont know how spacious,cluttered etc her house is so thats scaring me a little.
Another thing that is worrying me is lighting, as said before, if its indoors and with gloomy days there wont be much lighting coming in, I havent got any lighting kit or flashguns etc, all i have is camera flash and reflectors (5in1).
Also the lenses i have are the 18-55mm kit lens and a 70-300mm lens, which one would be more apt for this shoot?
Any help would be appreciated :)
Thanks in advance,
Marco
 
With my very limited (ie take with pinch of salt) experience I would say defo get outside!!

If its cold just rug up and don't spend 6 hours in the howling wind, but so long as its not raining id say that was the safer bet.

Lens wise a longer focal length is generally more flattering, ie about 135mm and it seems to look better IMO

I would however take both as you can alway correct the distortion in post and if you end up doing some indoor group shot im sure the 18mm will come in handy :)

I would probably do a few google searches and watch some youtube tutorials like the adorama 1 on 1 series maybe some jared polin (more for how to be energetic and deal with people) but this might be of use -

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/how-to-pose-for-photos/

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/using-focal-length-to-shape-the-face/

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/portrait-photography-window-light-reflectors/

just a few i watched the other day because apparently im nocturnal and can only sleep in the 5 mins before my alarm goes off.

hope that helps and best of luck im sure you'll get some great shots :D
 
Mmarques said:
Hi everyone,
I have done very minimum amount of portrait photography and want to improve and be more confident in doing it.
A friend of my girlfriends has seen my photography work and has asked if i could do some portrait photos of her with her husband and boys.
I have said i can give it a go but i have not done much photography in this field at all, she said for me to give it a go and if she liked any of the final images she would happily pay for them.
I have given her the option of indoor or outdoor shoot, obviously with the british weather it will most probably end up being indoors at her home, obviously indoors i dont know how spacious,cluttered etc her house is so thats scaring me a little.
Another thing that is worrying me is lighting, as said before, if its indoors and with gloomy days there wont be much lighting coming in, I havent got any lighting kit or flashguns etc, all i have is camera flash and reflectors (5in1).
Also the lenses i have are the 18-55mm kit lens and a 70-300mm lens, which one would be more apt for this shoot?
Any help would be appreciated :)
Thanks in advance,
Marco
Click to expand...

Your best bet would be to position your subject next to a window and bounce some light back on to them with the reflector (probably the white or silver sides). It can create some lovely results.

Some nice tips for indoor portraits here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6pxbmqijRA

Some other portrait tips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjEjCC-6aTQ&feature=plcp
 
hey marco i've got the portrait photographers handbook 3rd ed in pdf if you'd like it?
 
aethelstan927 said:
With my very limited (ie take with pinch of salt) experience I would say defo get outside!!

If its cold just rug up and don't spend 6 hours in the howling wind, but so long as its not raining id say that was the safer bet.

Lens wise a longer focal length is generally more flattering, ie about 135mm and it seems to look better IMO

I would however take both as you can alway correct the distortion in post and if you end up doing some indoor group shot im sure the 18mm will come in handy :)

I would probably do a few google searches and watch some youtube tutorials like the adorama 1 on 1 series maybe some jared polin (more for how to be energetic and deal with people) but this might be of use -

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/how-to-pose-for-photos/

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/using-focal-length-to-shape-the-face/

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/portrait-photography-window-light-reflectors/

just a few i watched the other day because apparently im nocturnal and can only sleep in the 5 mins before my alarm goes off.

hope that helps and best of luck im sure you'll get some great shots :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comment, I shall take both lenses just to be sure, i shall have a look at those links now thanks :)

Mr. Photographer said:
Your best bet would be to position your subject next to a window and bounce some light back on to them with the reflector (probably the white or silver sides). It can create some lovely results.

Some nice tips for indoor portraits here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6pxbmqijRA

Some other portrait tips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjEjCC-6aTQ&feature=plcp
Click to expand...

I have recieved my reflectors and shall be doing some practice shots with my gf by the window and see what the results are like. i shall have a watch of those vids, thanks for your help.

dexter35yrs said:
hey marco i've got the portrait photographers handbook 3rd ed in pdf if you'd like it?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the pdf files mate, much apreciated :)
 
dexter35yrs said:
hey marco i've got the portrait photographers handbook 3rd ed in pdf if you'd like it?
Click to expand...

I don't want to sound cheeky but if this is something you can easily email out then could I ask for a copy of it please..?

No problem if you don't want to or can't, many thanks if you can and do want to !
 
Folks, can I just put in a reminder that unless these PDFs are copyright free then you are breaking forum rules not to mention infringing the author's copyright.

If they're copyright free then forget I said anyting :)
 
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