Doing quick shoots for church directory... Questions?

jonh68

My church is doing a pictoral directory and it is being done inhouse. Memebers are asked to submit shots and I am taking shots before and after church for those that don't have digital or just want an up to date shot. I don't have much time for these and I am just using an off white wall as background. They understand it's not studio quality, but since my name is being associated, I want these to be a few steps above snapshot. Here's some samples from Sunday and I am going to have one more Sunday for pics. For the seasoned ladies, I did a quick layering with gausian blur and erasing, but since the pic is going to be smaller than here, I didn't spend much time.

I used my 18-200 with bounce lighting.

Any suggestions would be great on improving these. At first, I didn't like the background, but I think it isolates the subjects well. I don't have much time, usually under a minute, to really spend on the pic, so any suggestions would need to take that into account. Thanks!

I didn't touch her up though. I thought she has such a sweet face as is.









The man in the picture below is going through cancer treatments right now.





The white balance changes from pic to pic, but sometimes I didn't adjust and sometimes I did depending on how they looked. The adjustments didn't flatter as much.

PineapplePhoto

Get a custom white balance (card, coffee filter, expodisc) and set it. You do not want the background/tone of the picture to change. Aside from that, you may want to pose them a little bit.

Jeff_Milo

I would pose them a bit. Square on head shots are not the most flattering position. just a little bit of angle can create a much more flattering pose

DJT

In a few years, I believe I'll be doing the same thing.

I know where I can get a portable backdrop to use and will setup the tripod. If you are going to do this over a couple of Sundays, so that you can stand in the same spot each time, mark it with a X with some tape.

This last directory we did a year ago, I had to take all the committee pictures and staff pictures. The committee members will tell you that they would rather take the shots on different days, since they belong to multiple committees and don't want to be seen in the same clothes. Ignore them and do it all on ONE DAY. Or you'll be trying to get their pictures done for a year. If not all members are there, don't worry about it. Take the shot. If the next Sunday, more or all seem to be there, retake. But don't wait, the deadline will come and you still will be waiting.

The last time we had a company come in and take the photos, half the members were complaining that they didn't do a good job or they were TOO EXPENSIVE. So, it was my idea that I'll take the pictures. Throw them on a CD or load them into smuggy, and they can order what they want. And if they don't want any, they don't have to order any. And we can do it before or after Church, so they don't have to kill a Friday evening or a Saturday to come in and get the pictures done. Haven't figured out what I would set the cost of the photos yet. All I know is that I payed over $350.00 for an 8x10 and 2 5x7's of the wife and I on a canvas material with decent frames. I'm thinking I paid waaaaaaaaaaaay to much. And the photoshopping wasn't that great of fixing flying hair. Our Rep had left the company then we got another Rep that was new to the business and knew nothing.....

Get someone to dbl check your work, spellings of names or the correct name with the correct picture. Don't want 80year old Mrs. Wiley to be named 22 year old Fred Baker.

DavidTO

I like them. Natural, real.

I would just set a black point and white point for each one, and I think you're done.

Tutorial here.

jonh68

Wow, that is much better. Will have to practice those white/black tips. My photoshop skills are lacking.

Thanks for the other tips. I will work on the posses too, but don't know how much time i will have. My time is between services and Sunday School. It's pretty much wham bamm!

We were also dissatisfied with the work done on our last directory too. That's why we are going more casual and snapshot, it's just I want my shots to be more than just a snapshot.

DavidTO

Yeah, the wall behind is a giant gray card. No need to obsess on white balance, since you can just set white on the wall.

jonh68

I think I like the wall background even more. Went through the pics and did the adjustment with the wall. They are not near as good as setting the black/white, but being this is volunteer work, not too bad. This is going to be a learning excercise for me anyway. I was setting WB using the white trim, or white on clothing, but just using the wall works even better.

PineapplePhoto

Looking good!

I like that much better... I just got my ExpoDisc check this: http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=74457

jonh68

I need one of those. I haven't played around with using cards or an expo disk. Next thing to do.