Portraiture? please please please help.

ccpickre

Soooo...

I was invited to do a one on one private photography session with the Dalai Lama this Saturday. And it's a big deal. I was personally invited by the media director of the local Tibetan Mongolian Cultural Center because she is a fan of my work. Only one photographer was invited.

But I'm not familiar with portraiture. And so far I have no info about what conditions I will be in. I'm assuming snice I will be photographing the Lama while he's praying and meditating, that flash is a no go. Movement will probably be limited, as will noise.

So I'm wondering if anyone can give me some ideas and or suggestions.

dangin

you have been bestowed a great honor. i'd recommend you bring:

1 lightstand
1 strobe (on camera flash, triggered remotely or by wire)
1 tripod
1 fast lens

if you've got some time, do some searching on monte zucker's portraiture. that may help you with some ideas. please post your work afterwards for us to see!

Icebear

Local Photo store
will probably have some good books on posing portraits. Your model in this case is a pro at having his photo taken, so you can probably not worry too much. I'd let him lead. You ain't Annie Liebowitz, Dude. I'd probably freeze up and have an anxiety attack!

ccpickre

Icebear wrote:

will probably have some good books on posing portraits. Your model in this case is a pro at having his photo taken, so you can probably not worry too much. I'd let him lead. You ain't Annie Liebowitz, Dude. I'd probably freeze up and have an anxiety attack!

Well that's the thing. This isn't a private portrait shoot. I get to photograph him while he's praying and meditating. So flash is probably 99% not allowed. Not to mention I won't be asking him to pose at all, he'll be in the middle of meditation

schmoo

WOW!

This isn't very helpful advice or anything, but....

WOW!

I don't blame you for being nervous, but having seen the work you've done in fast-paced, crowded situations I think you will be just fine. It's just one man, and he won't be moving around a lot. Right now I think cramming your head full of new equipment or knowledge might harm more than help you. You know your stuff, just get out there and let it flow.

Shelleyk

Wow! What an honor!

You can probably get some spectacular shots of him praying from behind or even off to the side a bit.

Definately use the fastest lens you got, you might not even need a flash depending on the lighting. If you cant use the flash (bring it anyway) then make use of the shadows around him....bump up the contrast in your camera as well as sharpness for some dramatic effect. Definitely shoot in RAW for this! Gauge his moves...he will be ver fluid in his movements, get him turning around, bending over, , ask before hand what your limitations are as far as moving around and flash. You might be allowed to position yourself BEFORE he starts to pray so try to get the best possible spot for good angles...maybe even scout it out before he enters? You might even ask if he is able to take 2-3 minutes after prayer to pose for you.
Good luck!

Shane422

Wow, he seems to like coming to IU. My brother used to work at the Union Hotel and the Dalai Lama came on a visit back around '97. There is usually quite an entourage with him. On that trip it included a very overweight Steven Segal. Apparently he had stopped making action movies and swallowed a tractor tire.

Way cool assignment. Good luck.

nikos

ccpickre wrote:

I'm assuming snice I will be photographing the Lama while he's praying and meditating, that flash is a no go.

You should at least bring your equipment with you in the event the Lama does want to be enlightened.

BTW -- what a great opportunity you have. Don't forget to try & get him to sign a model release :D

SloYerRoll

Very cool!
Congrats on the gig!

My piece of advise. Go shoot as many portraits as you can. Even if it's of stuffed animals! Nothing like going into a situation and saying, "huh, that SHOULD have worked".

Good luck!

-Jon

ccpickre

SloYerRoll wrote:

Very cool!
Congrats on the gig!

My piece of advise. Go shoot as many portraits as you can. Even if it's of stuffed animals! Nothing like going into a situation and saying, "huh, that SHOULD have worked".

Good luck!

-Jon

That's my plan for the next few days. Thanks though.

Yeah, this is just stressing me out now, cause everyone at the paper is getting frazzled cause of the way the center is treating us and then there's the state departments behavior, and then everyone wants my photos to be amazing because these will be AP grade "hopefully" photos and they want my A+ game and I'm still honing my A game.

pathfinder

RAW + jpgs in B&W perhaps?

Note the B&W image above in this thread with strong side lighting - either window light on one side, or..... an off camera flash from one side without a reflector on the opposite side.

The nice soft light from the gentle rain the other day created great lighting with soft, saturated colors too.

Go with what moves you as you shoot also - you have a good eye!

ccpickre

pathfinder wrote:

RAW + jpgs in B&W perhaps?

Note the B&W image above in this thread with strong side lighting - either window light on one side, or..... an off camera flash from one side without a reflector on the opposite side.

The nice soft light from the gentle rain the other day created great lighting with soft, saturated colors too.

Go with what moves you as you shoot also - you have a good eye!

Well yeah, but those are formal portraits. This is just a press opportunity, not a portraite shoot, I'm just treating it like a portrait shoot cause it's the closest thing. I probably won't get to use the flash at all. I don't even know how close I will be able to get.

pathfinder

Rembrandt used window light, long before electronic flashes were discovered by the solid state wizards.........

ccpickre

pathfinder wrote:

Rembrandt used window light, long before electronic flashes were discovered by the solid state wizards.........

Rembrandt could also paint over a mistake

pathfinder

Icebear

ccpickre wrote:

Rembrandt could also paint over a mistake

So Rembrandt wudda sed "Hell, I don't need to sweat the exposure, I can fix it in Photoshop!?!?"

Icebear

Icebear wrote:

So Rembrandt wudda sed "Hell, I don't need to sweat the exposure, I can fix it in Photoshop!?!?"

Oh, right . . . he used Paintshop Pro.

ccpickre

Icebear wrote:

Oh, right . . . he used Paintshop Pro.

I remember that program You couldn't do anything with it