Family portrait: please advise!
NO, IT'S NOT PRICING QUESTION!! 
:
I recently got an offer for making a formal family portrait (or several, once we're at it:-):clap
Family of three: husband and wife in their late 30s - early 40s, and their 3 year old son. They are talking about one BIG (20x30 or 30x40) piece they would like put on top of the mantelpiece, and possibly few of a lesser size (hubby+wifey, wifey+son, son alone, wifey alone, etc.)
I read some classic materials about the subject, but I hope you guys would find some time and chime in with your expertise.
My biggest question is how to arrange all three of them (sitting/posture-wise)?
Son is too big to be on mother's or father's lap, however it is fairly possible. I also have 3 ft tall stuffed gorilla toy on which he'd prolly sit comfortably. Still the total arrangement is a bit vague for me...:dunno
Shooting will prolly happen at my place. I have a big room with "vaulted" (or "cathedral") ceiling. I also have: light stand, big brollybox, Sunpack 555Auto with pocketwizards. I'm gonna use ceiling as a big reflector for my 2x500W home depot lights, as shown on the following sketch (sorry, I'm awful with freehand drawing):
By the time the whole gig happens, I should be a proud owner of the following gear which I think can be used for this kinda job:
Canon 20D
EF 17-85 3.5-5.6 IS USM
EF 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS USM
EF 50 f/1.8
So, my other question is: which lens would be most advantageous for such an environment?
Again, since it's my first formal family portrait session, any advice will be welcome and appreciated!:thumb
TIA!
:I recently got an offer for making a formal family portrait (or several, once we're at it:-):clap
Family of three: husband and wife in their late 30s - early 40s, and their 3 year old son. They are talking about one BIG (20x30 or 30x40) piece they would like put on top of the mantelpiece, and possibly few of a lesser size (hubby+wifey, wifey+son, son alone, wifey alone, etc.)
I read some classic materials about the subject, but I hope you guys would find some time and chime in with your expertise.
My biggest question is how to arrange all three of them (sitting/posture-wise)?
Son is too big to be on mother's or father's lap, however it is fairly possible. I also have 3 ft tall stuffed gorilla toy on which he'd prolly sit comfortably. Still the total arrangement is a bit vague for me...:dunno
Shooting will prolly happen at my place. I have a big room with "vaulted" (or "cathedral") ceiling. I also have: light stand, big brollybox, Sunpack 555Auto with pocketwizards. I'm gonna use ceiling as a big reflector for my 2x500W home depot lights, as shown on the following sketch (sorry, I'm awful with freehand drawing):
By the time the whole gig happens, I should be a proud owner of the following gear which I think can be used for this kinda job:
Canon 20D
EF 17-85 3.5-5.6 IS USM
EF 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS USM
EF 50 f/1.8
So, my other question is: which lens would be most advantageous for such an environment?
Again, since it's my first formal family portrait session, any advice will be welcome and appreciated!:thumb
TIA!
"May the f/stop be with you!"
0
Comments
I'll soon be the proud owner of similar equipment and have 'played' with some of the situations/equipment described here. One quest I have is, what is the distance from your chair to your camera locations? That definately will affect the lens that you will want to use. (If your room is 100 feet wide... vs 12 feet wide)
I would venture a guess that your 20D would probably work for getting a close picture in the first location and an overall shot from the further location by using the 50mm lens. I favor it's aperature setting. but it does depend on the distance (as it is a fixed lens), and you'll probably want to test the setup before using it for professional services.
Hers: Sony SR10, (Soon Canon 5D MKII), 85 f1.8, 28-135 USM, Stroboframe, Manfrotto NeoTec
Ours: Pair of 580 EX, Lensbaby, Studio Alien Bees, Son & TWO Daughters
Thank you for your feedback!
I have actualy just tried it and think I made a fool of myself here. Room is not big enough, so with 50mm (even though I'd love to use it since it's a) prime b) f/1.8, the fastest one I have) I'd be only getting "chest+head". I guess I'll be using 17-85.
And of course I'll test it before I invite them over:-)
Still my original question remains: how to sit them all?
Cheers!
depends. There are tons of variations. Whats there personality, what will they like, what do they invision the portrait looking like in their heads?
All three could be standing, all three could be sitting, dad could be standing, mom sitting and sun kneeling or standing......... Mom could even be sitting with son drapped over her knees and dad standing pulling his belt off. There is no right or wrong pose. Without knowing the people it's hard to get a really good idea of how to pose them. You could do a sears portrait cookie cutter job and do a simple, Mom sitting with dad standing behind her off to one side and sun standing in front of dad next to mom, then position hands and limbs as you see fit. But the best way would be to create a pose that fits them, and there personalities. And best way to do that is talk to them and see what they are like and want. Then use your own judgement and get creative. You are great at this stuff. Just practice with the lighting and then do a couple poses that will fit them. You also have to take into consideration dissabilities, size, etc etc etc...
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I guess I'll play by ear. The good thing is that I know both mom and dad, and my Helen babysit the youngster for them, so I hope they all will be comfortable. My Helen will be my *paid* assistant, since she'll be taking care of the 3 yo when required and taking care of makeup if needed, cause she already has some experience with that, too:-)
And for me - all I have to do is to setup lights, press the shutter and take the money...
We'll see! I'm definitely looking forward to this experience:-)
i think you'll need a larger space, personally. two reasons: subject-to-background distance (you want this as max as possible, typically) and camera to subject distance needs to be fairly far, as you're seeing, with 20d and 50mm. finally - i would not recommend anything wider than 50mm, it becomes less flattering on the subjects the wider you go...
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Thank you for the advice...I really appreciate it!
The only problem is where to get all this space?
I guess I have some homework to do:-)
H: But it also clearly illustrates one other difficulty you'll be having: Color.
J: The Halogen lights will be an entirely different color than the Flash. You'll have blue and yellow light intermixing all over the place.
H: Indeed, there'll be "Volcanoes, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!"
J: They'll fight to no end!
H: The pain.
J&H
Thanks, J&H,
I'll definitely play with this setup before using it on humans:-)
Cheers!