Marg Loc: Canadian transplanted to NW Alabama

I have a situation of my own making that I need help with. Talking about “quarantine porch portraits” just within my own neighbourhood and have 4 families right off the bat wanting them. First has asked for tomorrow at 11:30 so I’ve not a lot of time to practice. I’m not a portrait photographer, have told them they’ll be more like snapshots but they will be making donations to Charity so I’ve got to go ahead. I have a canon t4i and a canon 80d with the following lenses: 50 1.8; 17-85 4-5.6; 10-22 3.5-4.5, 18-135 3.5-4.5; 100 L 2.8 and 100-400 L 4.5-5.6. I do shoot in manual and raw but birds and landscapes. I’m leaning towards putting the 50 on one camera and the 18-135 on the other. Any thoughts? Thanks.
PS I did reach out to three local portrait photographers to ensure I won’t be stepping on toes. They did respond with the same thought that if going to charity then no problem.
Marg

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

Put the 50 on the crop body, shoot at 1.8 to 2.8 and 1/250!shutter, focus on the eyes, use your feet to zoom/frame.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Najataagihe

The above is great advice, under normal conditions.

When you say "porch portrait", however, a whole different ball game emerges.

Usually, in these types of portraits, the individual or family is standing on or in front of the steps to the porch or posed at the front edge of the porch and you are a bit farther away than the usual fifteen feet.

Also, you will usually be shooting in daylight (in your case, high noon!) with plenty of light.

Remember that a group with more than one row needs a DEEPER depth of field.


With all this in mind, I would use the 18-135 on your crop camera at around f/8 or smaller and the most powerful flash I had for fill (those eye shadows at high noon will make them look like zombies).

Try to keep them out of the shadow of the porch unless you can zoom in past all the "bright" to keep the dynamic range under control.

If you can zoom in tight enough, under the porch is preferred, as the light is softer.

Unfortunately, this usually places you lower than the subject, looking up at them - not good.

Stand as far away as you can and still get the framing you want.


If you can't shoot under the porch, beware of "The Squints!"


Let us know how it goes.

Good luck!

dat2ra Loc: Sacramento

Good advice on the lens/camera selection, but I would close down a stop for the clearest image. I shoot mainly portraits and do this. Be sure you check your images as you go. When I am shooting several people, I say "Close your eyes on my count of one, keep them closed when I say two, then open on three." That practically eliminates the chances of someone having their eyes closed, and the brief moment of "optical stillness" seems calming. Good luck and have fun!

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Both cameras are croppers... the T4i has a decent 18MP sensor, while the 80D has a better 24MP and more advanced AF system. Both are eminently usable for portraiture and the lenses you' have chosen are good. Depending upon how large the group on the porch is, you might want to tuck the 100mm macro lens in your bag, too.

More important will be the time of day and the direction the porch faces. At 11:30 you will have heavy midday shadows. I would go for a time when the entire front of the house is in shade, if at all possible. That way peoples' faces will be "relaxed" (rather than "squinting" and wrinkling up their faces when the sun is directly on them). Strong side lighting or direct sun shining in peoples' faces would be bad. A partially sunlit porch with heavy shadows would be problematic, too.

One of the "tricks" of doing sports team shots is to position individuals or groups so the sun is behind them, then use a flash for fill. However, working from a distance for a porch shot, you'd need a pretty powerful flash and may have a lot of problems with shadows and/or reflections caused by the flash off windows, etc. Rather than complicate things... just shoot in the shade and shoot RAW so you can most easily "warm up" the image later. Shade tends to be "cool" (because the primary illumination is the blue of the sky).

Get there a little early and do some test shots to establish your best exposure, then set both cameras manually (don't forget to turn off Auto ISO, too). I would strive for a "middle aperture" like f/4 or f/5.6 and a shutter speed around 1/200 or 1/250... then whatever ISO you need to use with that. Hopefully light will be good enough you don't need too high an ISO. If it does get too high... over 800 with those cameras... I'd first use a little slower shutter speed.... then open up the shutter a little bit. If you are shooting "the shady side", I doubt you'll have any problem with "too much" light, but if you do for any reason, first use a slower ISO, then use a faster shutter speed... that should do it. But I'd try not to go smaller than f/8 aperture, due to diffraction.

Maybe you've already thought of this... but work on putting people at ease first, then arrange them. Try to relax yourself, too. Maybe look online for some posing guides... both do's and don'ts... I remember a video about posing couples on Petapixel recently that was good. Do several different poses and take lots of shots of each pose.... Maybe even set your camera to a fast frame rate and shoot short bursts. It doesn't hurt to have some close duplicates, in case someone's eyes are closed or whatever. You can always take part of one image and combine it with another.

Good luck!

P.S. I sure wouldn't have called other area photographers unless they were personal friends. You don't need their "permission" to shoot porch portraits! Even if you were doing it for profit.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Without knowing how large your porch is, I'd go with the 80D and the EF 100L 2.8. I Personally use an EF 85L 1.2 but not everyone has one of them laying around. As far as settings, couldn't tell you because I know nothing about the shoot location. I'm guessing you know how to use your camera and understand exposure!

Peterfiore Loc: Where DR goes south

Stay at a safe distance and don't forget to disinfect the porch, don't breath, wear a mask as well as your subjects so it doesn't matter if anyone smiles. There, those are the new new portrait guidelines. LOL and sadly true.

ELNikkor

18-135

crhoetzl

Put your camera on a tripod. Turn off image stabilization. Use the normal lens. Move the camera/tripod back and forth to get the family group nicely composed. Push the release.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

Are we taking solo portraits or group photos?

charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA

I would use the 80D with the 18-135. I would probably use f8 and 100 iso with appropriate shutter speed for the light. That is unless you have a good flash to use as fill.

I would also consider taking a step ladder to use if you can set it up to use safely. That way you can hopefully get to their eye level or a little higher.

Good luck and post a few of your results

Chuck

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

An old trick to soften the "harshness" of fill flash to soften strong back light'" if not using a reflector" is to place a tissue over the flash head.

bweber Loc: Newton, MA

I would use the 100 or the 50 depending on your distance from the subject and how you want to crop. The 100 would be good for head shots, the 50 for shots from the waist up. I would shoot everything with the lens wide open to blur the background. Focus on the eyes. If you are not using flash for fill, I suggest you use a reflector held on the subjects lap or close to them. This will fill the face with reflected light from the sun as the sun will be some where over head and you do not want it blasting the face. You can use any reflective material as a reflector. I have used cookie sheets or sheet pans. You can also wrap a tray with Aluminum foil. Move the reflector around and you should be able t flight the eye sockets and remove strong shadows from the faces. Good luck.

bleirer

You will want to be fairly far away for your own safety. The 100 2.8 is a great lens, as is the 100-400 especially if it is version ii. Either should be a tick better than the 18-135. That way you can stand on the tree lawn.