scsdesphotography Loc: Southeastern Michigan

I went back over Gene51 posts and my responses. We don't disagree on the compression effect. We don't disagree as to the cause of the compression factor. We do agree that it should be called subject-distance compression, rather than "lens compression." And I think we can agree that because a longer lens forces you to put a fair amount of distance between you and the subject, the compression effect becomes an important feature of the image. As for the rest, it's okay, friends don't have to agree on everything.

dickwilber Loc: Indiana (currently)

You can never go wrong following the advice of Gene51. Like Gene, most of us here learned our craft using flash, but with modern digital cameras, household lighting will work just fine. Just control your lighting and correct for color.

Controlling your light may mean eliminating normal room lights, blocking window lighting, etc. Depending on how sophisticated you want to go — I guess not very - you probably want a broad, softer, light source, difficult to achieve with typical home lighting. That is why we use umbrellas or aim a flash unit at the ceiling above the subject or behind the camera, but this is more difficult with non-directional room lights. The light source should be behind, and a little above the camera, up to forty-five degrees off the axis of the camera-subject. Achieving a soft lighting effect with multiple lights without distracting shadows will not be easy. EXPERIMENT! (You may want to play with lighting arrays with a stand-in to avoid subject fatigue.) In some cases, just indirect window lighting works better! (Mixing window and room lighting can create really difficult color problems.) Fill light might be wanted, especially if your Texan grandson wants to wear his Stetson — have some one hold a reflector (if available) down low to reflect up onto his face, or just put a big white sheet on the floor under and in front of him You are just looking for light quality and direction. Boost your sensitivity (ASA rating) if more light is needed! You can put it on auto.

Color correction may consist of just setting your WB to auto –- but test it. Or fix it in post (having made sure to avoid mixed light types).

Lens selection, to provide a natural looking portrait at a comfortable working distance, with your APS-C sized sensor, should be in the 50 – 90 mm range for head and shoulders shots; 30 – 50 mm for full length shots. For most portraits, an aperture of f/5.6 is almost always great, and unless you are particularly shaky a shutter speed of 1/60 will work.

Posing your subject can be challenging. Relaxed is good — give the boy a beer (him not you, and just one). Make sure there is adequate room behind him, good separation between him and the background. If it doesn’t show (easy with head and shoulders shots) a light on the floor directly behind him illuminating the background (not too bright, balanced with the subject lighting) is helpful. I liked that you are thinking of sitting him; try some turning him around on a kitchen chair with his arms resting on the back of the chair, it’s a good look for a guy. You will not want him square to the camera, standing or sitting; he should be facing a little to the side, try some up to 45 degrees off axis. Have him cock his head a little. Is he comfortable, RELAXED! Good, now you can have a beer too.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

Thank you so much for this bit of information. We're doing this very informally, so keeping it as simple as possible, working with what is available is the goal, as is getting a nice, relaxed pose. I don't have a bunch of equipment, so I have to keep it simple. By the way, his mom, our daughter, wants it in black & white. This should be interesting and fun to do.

And I have appreciated all the good information and tips given here. Gene51, thanks loads. It's gotten a bit technical at times, but I can wade through that and digest it, and store it for future use. Oh, and yes, I foresee an external flash unit in my future. I've not done flash photography so far, as most of what I do is outdoors in good light, so this will be a new adventure, for sure.

dickwilber Loc: Indiana (currently)

Oops. My age is showing. ISO setting, not ASA.

Ignore B & W versus color during shoot. Deal with it in post-processing when you're not so harried.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

The accumulation of information is wonderful. One thing to modify though if you really want to.

As mentioned, 'Have him cock his head a little." This is done sometimes. Generally if the head is cocked the shoulders are level and that is often considered a feminine pose.

Most posed portraits are with a straight or nearly vertical head and angled shoulders which gives a manly appearance.

This is, of course, up to the photographer and client.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

Thank you for that tip. It's one I'd probably not thought of. I'll remember that one.

Bipod

Kodak's Professional Portrait Techniques (Kodak Publication O-4, c. 1987, ISBN-10 0-87985-247-X) is classic.

Bipod

Your gear will work just fine for portraits, provided you have good light and use the
correct focal length for the subject size. You can use either camera, except if you want
to take a head and shoulders shot, for which you;ll need the 210 mm focal length.

The advice for your situation is not the same as the advice for a professional studio.

Light choices, best to wrost:
1. Outside: thin overcast.
2. Outside: in bright shade
3. Inside: large north-facing window
4. Inside: any large window
5. Inside: many bright room lights with shades.
6. Bounced flash
7. Off-camera flash
8. On-camera flash

Avoid harsh, glaring light. Soft and bright is what you want.
On a dim, stormy day, you will need to drag a few extra floor lamps
or table lamps into the living room, and put them together near
one wall.

Position your subject with the light coming over your shoulder
and falling on the sitter's face..

Look over your sitter, and ask him to remove any hat or anything
unsightly (e.g, sticking out of a pocket).

The darker the shadows (more contrast) the more "dramatic"
the portrait. If the shadows are too dark, use a reflector -- anything
large and white--to fill them in.

Set your camera to Aperture Priority mode, and select the largest aperture.

If you own a monopod, now is the time to use it. If not, hold the camera
as steady as you can (especially for any long focal length shots).

Stand 15 feet away from your subject (important!).
Zoom to however much of the subject you want: full standing figure
50-70 mm), full sitting figure (70-105 mm) or head and shoulders (210 mm).
Change lenses if you need to, but do not move closer to the subject.

Shoot many diffrent poses and angles. Try different backgrounds
and different lighting. Try to make it fun and interesting for the sitter.

Then carefully review your photos in the camera, and decide if they
are what you wanted. Magnify a part of the image that has detail
to make sure that it's in focus. If you are happy with an image, that's
all that matters.

There are other good ways to take portraits, but all involve more
equipment and/or carry more risk of failure.

If you used room lights indoors, the color will be too reddish, but
you can fix that easily with processing software. Avoid excessive
processsing.

It's a good idea to practice ahead of time on convenient family members--
as photographers have always done.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

Thank you. Great suggestions.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Look into "body language" and that might give you a couple ideas. If not that, look at a few mens or sports magazines. (Please note that alot of sport women do similar as men when posing. It really depends on the sport she is doing.)

As I mentioned about men with angled shoulders, for an example see some of the men sitting with one arm on his thigh. That falls into a manly pose. (Few women would pose with their legs split apart that much.) That pose also naturally tilts the shoulders and would look sort-of funny if the head was angled also.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

Thanks for the tip. I'm getting a lot of good info.

CO

Legendary photographer, Annie Leibovitz, now has a master class online. She was the first women to be named chief photographer at Rolling Stone. It's $90 for a single class and $180 for unlimited access. I haven't taken it yet but I will before I do the next studio shoot.

Bipod

I like her work a lot. But does she really have much to teach---beyond what
she tells everybody for free--and what cannot be taught?

Step 1. Mount a 35 mm prime lens.
Step 2. Make friends with Keith Richards.

The truth is, by all accounts, she's a joy to work with. Can that be taught?

And are you really willing to leave your zoom lens at home?

CO

Wow. You took the course already. I didn't know those two steps are all she teaches.

Bipod

The question was: are you willing to give up your zoom lens?
And are you willing to put up with celebrity sitters the way she does?

Everything comes at a price--and not just a workshop fee.
She paid her dues....man, did she pay her dues...

For starters, she attended the San Francisco Art Institute. The she lived
on a Kibbutz in Israel. Then she worked her way up at Rolling Stone.
Then she somehow moved to Vanity Fair.

So far as I know, she never took a workshop. Just sayin'.