Portraits - a bit of help please.

magpieant

magpieant

Suspended / Banned
Messages
2,043
Edit My Images
No
Hi there.

A mate has asked me to do a portrait shot of his family for the in laws xmas pressie. Nothing major - just a nice family shot in the front room. No cash involved - payment via a few beers, and if it goes wrong, no hassle. That sort of a deal.

Anyway, his family consists of him, wife, 11yr old daughter, 2 yr old daughter and a 1yr old son.

The shot is going to be indoors, in the dining room - probably on cushions / sofa against a white background.

Can anyone give any advice about formation of people and avoiding any shadows from the flash (if used - there's a few nice big windows).

Thanks in advance.

Anth.
 
Hi

I ahve been asked to do a picture of a mother and daugther for xmas pressies (must be that time of year) and had no idea of poses so I cheated a little and googled "portrait photographers" and looked at peoples galleries. There are loads of pro's out there with galleries for their potential customers to view.

Probably not as much help as you wanted but just an idea.

Rob
 
While not a comprehensive list, here are a few ideas for you to mull over.

1. As there are a few windows, use the light from them, a 'bright' but evenly clouded sky will give good light, and minimise shadows.

2. Keep your subjects as far from the wall as possible, this will minimise shadows behind them.

3. Try some flash, bounce it off the celing, again this reduces shadows.

4. Take an 'individual' shot of each person, against a white background, if all else fails you can create a 'composite' group shot from all your single images (always a life saver that one)

5. As there are two very young kids, mum and dad will be holding one each, that just leaves the placement of the 11yr old. I would sit the two adults and youngsters with the kids on laps, and maybe sit the 11yr old front and centre. Also, dont think about getting them 'all in' a head and shoulders shot with them all in might work.

6. If your stuck for space, open one of the windows and stand outside and shoot in, have no idea what it'll look like, but hey.

7. Think about the height, don't stand bolt upright and take the shot, try some different heights (try standing on a chair) or maybe shoot from down low.

8. Colours, ask them not to wear whites or blacks, makes your exposure much easier and you wont have to worry so much about burnt out areas or black areas.

9. If the couch is multicolured or patterened maybe throw a bedspread over it, don't let it be distracting in the picture.

10. Look for objects on behind the sofa, its easy to shoot a load of images, go home and realise dad has a cactus growing out his head and mum is wearing a collection of remote controls.

Thats it for now, should get u thinking.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top