elf

Aloha guys, we have some more folks coming to our church now and I will photograph them for the directory. I have a large window (main light) and my Sunpack 622 (30 years old) to shoot through an 30 in. umbrella. We will buy a 10X12 backdrop with stand. If the church has more money, we will buy 2 cfl softboxes and 1 hair light.

The more I do this the more I find how little I know. I have a Canon T5 with a 50mm normal lens. Do you folks think that I should meter and shoot on manual or set the camera to portrait mode and go with that. Is there something about portrait mode that will be different than me setting f stop and shutter speed?
I think the normal lens will make a better pix than an EF 28-80. Don't you?
TKS Ed

luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC

PERSONAL OPINION: I think you would be better off using the 80mm end of your zoom. You would have to be much closer with the 50mm and having you "right in the subjects face" may make them uncomfortable.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Portrait mode uses less sharpening and works to render the skin tones more pleasing for the resulting JPEGs. Assuming your processing the results, even in JPEG, continue to use the standard mode. Your 50 will be sharper, higher quality images 1 to 1 vs the 28-80 assuming the zoom is the plastic kit lens from back in EOS film days.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Experiment ahead of time. Unless the equipment you have is turning out junk, there's no need to spend more money. Manual mode shouldn't be necessary. There are 11,600,000 articles online about shooting portraits.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=shooting%20portraits

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

He better get started reading!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I figure five a day.

daplight Loc: Kansas

That is a lot of equipment for your church to buy for such limited use. I think you could get by on less, but you should plan and practice ahead. I've shot directory pics for my volunteer organization of about 250 individuals. I found a isolated part of a room with a plain white wall, using radio control transmitter/recvr (cheaper Cactus brand), a key/fill/back light. Howerver, I do pp in Photoshop, and that is another story but I don't know how involved you want or need to get into all this.

You can use cheaper strobe lights-but important to use remote control as even voltage in non-OEM battery powered strobes can damage dlsrs. There are a lot of older Vivitar 283's (classic workhorse) out there that could be used cheaply. IMHO I just don't think your church has to spend hundreds of dollars for a bunch of equipment for such a limited use.

jaimeblackwell Loc: Lewiston, Maine

Hi, Ed. I have been shooting for my church here in south Florida for nearly four years. I have found that it's not that critical for what you're doing. whether it is a computer based or printed directory, the picture quality will not be so critical or noticed. Believe me, it's easy to get caught up in trying to do what's best yet there's no need to spend a lot of money to do this type of work. A good pool player can still clear the table with a warped cue stick. Same with a good photographer and a camera. My church is the 8th largest in the country and although we shoot with good gear for our documented events, We also shoot with normal kit quality cameras and lenses for many occasions. Like I said Don't over think it. what you doing is Gods work, He won't fault you for it! Here are a few examples they work great for our database and also our social media coverage. Which is quite extensive.

These shots were taken with a Nikon 5200 using a 24-70 kit lens.

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I shoot these with the built in flash. Good enough for our computer based directories and printed handouts. People don't pay that close attention.

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