How to shoot 40 employee portraits in a row?

Manfr3d · August 4, 2009

Hi everyone,

I have a shoot comming up at the end of the week where I will be
photographing 30 to 40 employees in their offices. The photos will
be used for the companys online staff/contact list where they will
replace some snapshot quality photos. The offices are not very large
and there are windows behind each desk.

I would like to get some ideas on how to best shoot such a job.

Because there are so many people to photograph my plan was to
go around with a portable kit that allows me to use ambient light
while putting some fill on the person. (5D II w/Grip, 70-200mm f4 lens,
Flash with LightDome, and Monopod to allow slow shutter speeds).

Any suggestions?

divamum · August 4, 2009

Do they absolutely want them in situ in each individual office, or can you set up a "station" somewhere, and have them come to you? That would be a lot easier, I suspect, and give you more control over lighting, background etc etc etc. It will probably be a lot faster that way, too.....

Manfr3d · August 4, 2009

I agree, unfortunately that is not possible. They want a more casual
look in their images showing every employee in his/her own office.

Sam · August 4, 2009

OK, I have a question.......................is this a paid shoot or a volunteer shoot?

If it's a paid shoot it's hard for me to think the cost difference between a single setup where the employees travel to you versus you going to each office wasn't discussed.

With a single set up, (photo station) you will be able to set up strobes and control the background, producing a much better result.

If however it's a volonteer situation then it makes more sense. Because there is no cost to them they will not worry about you spending 30 or 40 times the effort.

Sam

Manfr3d · August 4, 2009

It is paid and the terms were discussed beforehand. They specificaly asked
for portraits showing the employees at their desk in order to give the images
a more personal touch. White this means more work for me, on the plus side
I get to bring less equipment and backup but also make more money.

Mitchell · August 4, 2009

This seems like a mistake. Many of these photos may wind up with the "snapshot quality" you are trying to replace.

Your choice of lens also seems to be a bit long for what you describe as small offices. You won't get much of the office in the photos even at 70mm in a small space. Watch for the reflection of your flash in the window behind the people you have described. This would certainly ruin the shots.

Do yourself a favor and rethink this plan. You may likely waste your time and produce inconsistent photos. Diva and Sam have better suggestions. A central station lit with strobes will produce a consistent, quality photo suitable for a corporate web site. Have them all come to you at assigned times.

divamum · August 4, 2009

Mitchell wrote:

This seems like a mistake. Many of these photos may wind up with the "snapshot quality" you are trying to replace.

Your choice of lens also seems to be a bit long for what you describe as small offices. You won't get much of the office in the photos even at 70mm in a small space. Watch for the reflection of your flash in the window behind the people you have described. This would certainly ruin the shots.

Do yourself a favor and rethink this plan. You may likely waste your time and produce inconsistent photos. Diva and Sam have better suggestions. A central station lit with strobes will produce a consistent, quality photo suitable for a corporate web site. Have them all come to you at assigned times.

Mitchell raises a good point. Do you have a shorter, wide-aperture lens that you could use or rent (eg 85 1.8, or even a 50 1.4)? That would give you greater light in what will likely be poor-light situations and will also enable you to blur out any seriously unattractive backgrounds you may encounter (while still providing the context of the employee in their surroundings).

Since it appears you do have to go office to office, I'd have thought the most important thing you'll need is a white card/grey card to ensure a decent white balance in what will likely be mixed lighting!

Jane B. · August 4, 2009

I'm NO PRO but thought of something that I think may help. Are there ANY kind of blinds on those windows that can be closed to cut down on reflections?

Jane B.

bakerphotography · August 4, 2009

What color are the ceiling and walls? Consider flash bounce, however take into account the ambient light. If the ambient is significant and modified by window tinting etc...you might get a less than desirable effect with 2 light sources at different K.

Llywellyn · August 4, 2009

Could you do something like this? Use one conference room with a one light set-up, and stage the table to look like a desk. Ask each employee to bring a couple of their personal desk items (e.g., family photos) for their session. Might be a decent compromise for consistent photos and lighting for you and personalized feel for your client.

If that's truly out of the question, here's a great Strobist behind-the-scenes that seems very applicable to your situation.

Zerodog · August 4, 2009

bakerphotography wrote:

What color are the ceiling and walls? Consider flash bounce, however take into account the ambient light. If the ambient is significant and modified by window tinting etc...you might get a less than desirable effect with 2 light sources at different K.

If you have a white ceiling and walls a flash bounce will really help out. Possibly even turn off the lights in the office to avoid and control bad lighting.
I wouldn't want to try to use a 70-200 in an office. You should try to borrow a much wider zoom so you can see their office. That was the intention of the gig right? If it is just zoomed in on only their head why shoot in their office at all.

Andy · August 4, 2009

My advice, don't put them in a row. Anything but a row.

kdgrapes · August 4, 2009

Andy wrote:

My advice, don't put them in a row. Anything but a row.

That's the kind of thinking that makes people a COO...

Manfr3d · August 4, 2009

The windows have blinds and there are some trees outside providing some
shadow and possibly nice background highlights. The walls are all white so
no problem bouncing. I'll be shooting desk to head portraits horizontal and
vertical. Since I shoot fullframe there is no problem getting full torso shots
at 70mm at a distance of 2-3 meters. Their offices are alot larger than that.

But of course I will pack some shorter and faster lenses (50, 85) just in case. I've seen the lighting videos from David. They are great but I won't have the time to setup an entire lighting scenario like this in each office.

Andy wrote:

My advice, don't put them in a row. Anything but a row.

Hi Andy, good to see you're having fun too.

sweet caroline · August 5, 2009

But is there a spare office room or conference room that could be set up as an office? One set up that everyone comes to, but use different props (like their personal items from their own desks), and angles to make it appear to be different offices.

Ambient office light is yucky, you are better off being able to set up your own lighting.

Caroline

Nikolai · August 5, 2009

I did that before. Offices are usually great in terms of bouncing the light. Just point the flash up or up-and-to-the-(window)-site and you should be ok.
The obstacles are:
1) hard to kill reflections from the whiteboards and windows
2) mixing flash light with ambient can be tricky.
3) setting this on the run is extremely difficult. Be prepared that you'll end up with the glorified snapshots taken with a very expensive camera.

PS
As many said, forget about 70-200/4. It's to long and too slow.
17-55/2.8 (or 24-70/2.8, or 50/18 or better, something like that) shall be your weapon.

Scott_Quier · August 6, 2009

Since the shoot in specified to be in situ, it would probably be safe to assume the client would like to see some of idividuals' office in each shot. I fear the 70-200 will be a bit long, even on a FF camera to do an adequate job. I would seriously consider the 50mm as a better alternative. And, the 50 will give you an opportunity for a narrower DOF, should the be desired.

Technique wise, if the office window is to be a part of the shot and if the scene outside the window is decent and contributes to the image, I'm thinking this should be a two or three shot effort for each portrait to dial in the exposure/flash settings. Shooting manual, dial in settings to get the scene outside the window 1 stop under-exposed (that's the first shot). If you miss it on the first shot, the second will allow you to fine tune. Now, set your flash to properly expose your subject - I would bounce it off the wall behind me to soften it a bit and that's the second/third shot. Now you can concentrate on the posing. Two or three different poses (and/or camera perspectives) and you're onto the next subject.

You may have trouble balancing the various ambient light sources ... depending on the amount of light coming in through the window and also depending on what other light sources you have in the office (note: I think I would kill the overhead flourescents).

If the view out the window is not attractive or is a distraction, you have just two options (1) don't include the window in the image or (2), close the blinds as others have already suggested.

Any way you cut it, I don't see this as being a big deal and I think the differences in setup from one office to the next should not be huge. Done right, this could be a huge success.

Mitchell · August 6, 2009

Scott_Quier wrote:

Since the shoot in specified to be in situ, it would probably be safe to assume the client would like to see some of idividuals' office in each shot. I fear the 70-200 will be a bit long, even on a FF camera to do an adequate job. I would seriously consider the 50mm as a better alternative. And, the 50 will give you an opportunity for a narrower DOF, should the be desired.

Technique wise, if the office window is to be a part of the shot and if the scene outside the window is decent and contributes to the image, I'm thinking this should be a two or three shot effort for each portrait to dial in the exposure/flash settings. Shooting manual, dial in settings to get the scene outside the window 1 stop under-exposed (that's the first shot). If you miss it on the first shot, the second will allow you to fine tune. Now, set your flash to properly expose your subject - I would bounce it off the wall behind me to soften it a bit and that's the second/third shot. Now you can concentrate on the posing. Two or three different poses (and/or camera perspectives) and you're onto the next subject.

You may have trouble balancing the various ambient light sources ... depending on the amount of light coming in through the window and also depending on what other light sources you have in the office (note: I think I would kill the overhead flourescents).

If the view out the window is not attractive or is a distraction, you have just two options (1) don't include the window in the image or (2), close the blinds as others have already suggested.

Any way you cut it, I don't see this as being a big deal and I think the differences in setup from one office to the next should not be huge. Done right, this could be a huge success.

You would have to pay me a lot of money to do that for 40 people!

torags · August 6, 2009

Mitchell wrote:

You would have to pay me a lot of money to do that for 40 people!

Maybe the client just wants embellished snapshots of the local wildlife in their natural habitat.

Rags

Scott_Quier · August 6, 2009

Mitchell wrote:

You would have to pay me a lot of money to do that for 40 people!

Yep, I forgot to include the word "financial" in my last sentence. This is probably a good 2 days worth of work.

Manfr3d · August 6, 2009

Guys relax they will be happy with simple portraits of their employees.
They are not booking Micheal Grecco and they know that. The images
will be 180x120 pixels on their website hidden in the online staff list.

I can understand that many start to frown when a newbie asks for advice
for a job he doesn't seem to know anything about. But its all much
simplier than you think. Especially Scott made some very sound avice
regarding the shoot and It will be just as simple as that. I don't need to
show their office with a wide angle lens. I just need to take their photo
at their desk. If I manage to take photos without dropshadow and flash
being the main light they will be happy. Not very demanding, yea and I
understand that many of you would turn down such a low tech assignment.

But please dont make fun of me or how the client asked me to do it - the
client gets what the client wants and I made sure we both knew what
we were talking about.

It's only a small shoot, repetetive technique, very simple, many people,
lots of walking around, being friendly and making ppl look comfortable
and naturaly lit in those pictures .. is what it's all about.

Art Scott · August 6, 2009

Jane B. wrote:

I'm NO PRO but thought of something that I think may help. Are there ANY kind of blinds on those windows that can be closed to cut down on reflections?

Jane B.

This was my line of thought.....close blinds......

Do you have a camera / flash bracket.....if so...mount flash and cam and use a tripod to keep steady.....use small aperture to darken the background and flash for fill on subject.......use some thing for diffusion (yur lite dome).....using your aperture to create drama is a must........or else just hop in and pop the pop up flash and then hit the next office........and so on........and that is not an option........................

This is a situation where a handheld meter would be very useful............................

sweet caroline · August 6, 2009

Wait, did anyone make fun of you or the clients? I must have missed that. I just saw a lot of helpful advice and well meaning concern. Much of my concern was about how much work it will be for you to go from office to office.

If I were going to do this, walking around to each office, armed with my camera and a flash, I'd probably set my D300 to commander mode and hand hold the flash off camera with a diffuser dome on it. Possibly, I'd put the flash on a monopod or tripod so I could set it down and keep the light source up high even if I got down to a lower angle.

What ever you decide to do, please post your results!

Mitchell · August 6, 2009

Manfr3d wrote:

But please dont make fun of me or how the client asked me to do it - the
client gets what the client wants and I made sure we both knew what
we were talking about.

Who made fun of you (other than Andy)? You need to get thicker skin if you're going to post an open question like this on an internet forum. I think most here gave you thoughtful suggestions to your problem.

I still don't see how you are going to get a decent photo of people and their office surroundings with a 70-200mm zoom and an on camera flash. You asked the question, people gave you their thoughts and suggestions, and you are chosing to ignore them and just shoot the way you originally planned.

Andy makes a lot more fun of me, and I don't gripe about it.:D

Manfr3d · August 6, 2009

Mitchell wrote:

Who made fun of you (other than Andy)? You need to get thicker skin if you're going to post an open question like this on an internet forum. I think most here gave you thoughtful suggestions to your problem.

I still don't see how you are going to get a decent photo of people and their office surroundings with a 70-200mm zoom and an on camera flash. You asked the question, people gave you their thoughts and suggestions, and you are chosing to ignore them and just shoot the way you originally planned.

Andy makes a lot more fun of me, and I don't gripe about it.:D

There seems to be a misunderstanding Mitchell. Make fun was probably
the wrong word for me to use. I wasn't clear enough about what
photos the client wants in the first place. This naturaly resulted in
comments to rethink my approach and investigating the possibility I
hadn't talked to and educated the client clear enough. All of this is not
the case. I am only seeking advice on how you would carry out a shoot
under these conditions and not what would you have done in the first
plac. And I am grateful for the numerous advices I got for the former.

Just to be clear:

I dont needt to photograph their surroundings. Just them at their desk,
not the entire desk just a part of it. So that the photos don't look all the
same. I am going to carry a 50mm and a 85mm as well as a 70-200 to
be able to shoot relatively tight and crop out the bunnies, chips bags and
stacks of files towering here and there.

pathfinder · August 6, 2009

I might consider carrying a 42 Lastolite reflector with white scrim in it - have a VAL ( voice activated light stand holder ) hold it up above your subjects head to diffuse the room light, or off to the side to bounce your flash off of or through as needed. Lots of nice things you can do with a white scrim and a VAL.

Angelo · August 6, 2009

good Lord....

if anyone wants to make fun of anyone make it ME!

Like a complete fool, I actually went googling for a VAL (I hate you Jim)

huh

rolleyes

Nikolai · August 6, 2009

Angelo wrote:

good Lord....

if anyone wants to make fun of anyone make it ME!

Like a complete fool, I actually went googling for a VAL (I hate you Jim)

huh

rolleyes

in fact I think it was called HAL (Human voice-Activated Lightstand/holder) originally

Scott_Quier · August 6, 2009

Nikolai wrote:

in fact I think it was called HAL (Human voice-Activated Lightstand/holder) originally

Nope, it's a SPVACBLS ... self-propelled, voice-activated, carbon-based lightstand. At least, that's what I called it the first time I posted something like that (but .... not saying I started it - not at all) and there were more than just a few people who actually started looking for that product on-line and then came back saying they couldn't find it and where did I get mine.

pathfinder · August 6, 2009

Angelo wrote:

good Lord....

if anyone wants to make fun of anyone make it ME!

Like a complete fool, I actually went googling for a VAL (I hate you Jim)

huh

rolleyes

I put it in bold italic print in my post now so that it stands out more, Angelo

Sam · August 7, 2009

Manfr3d,

I think part of the disconnect here is you weren't (we didn't read) that you wanted 1" X 2" image for web use.

Most of us here strive for the highest quality possible, and our answers reflect that.

Had I known that I could have given you two different thoughts. One: take point and shoot run in office yell surprise and shoot. At 1" X 2" you would be hard pressed to see the difference between this and a great properly lit posed large format portrait.

Second: Depending on many factors of course, would this be a good opportunity to take really good high quality portrait shots that show your photography skill and make these available to each individual, or the company for other, (annual report, wall size portraits, print advertising)? At additional cost of course. If you get no takers on the high quality images you can always just complete the assignment and deliver the small images.

I shudder at delivering less than a high quality image. I have had several requests to print on site, and I have turned these down because printing on site requires too much of a quality hit for me.

Sam

How to shoot 40 employee portraits in a row?

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