shooting group photos
I am shooting a group photo ranging from 3 to 5 people. I am a beginner and learning how to use the modes and focal points. Please tell me what mode is best and how to set my focal points....I have a Canon 1Ds Mark II.
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Okay just curious here, you're a beginner photographer and you have an $8000 camera? Have you been into photography a long time, and you just made the switch from film to digital?
Tell us more about yourself, what you know, and don't know, and we can best help, okay?
Specifically, where will these 3-5 people be? In your studio under lights? Outdoors at daytime? In situ at the workplace?
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You so totally have the wrong camera. Tell you what. Send it to me, and I'll send you the totally right camera for you. You don't want that big old thing. My uncle is a HIGH OFFICIAL in the Nigerian Embassy in Paris of France and will vouch for my totally trueness. I want you to have right camera. I dont even ask you to send me check for $14000 USD. See . . . total above the board.
Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.
Welcome to dgrin SL!
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
What cameras are you familiar with?
What lens(es) will you be using?
What is the lighting situation?
What is the intended delivered size?
How are you planning to arrange the individuals?
As a starting point, you won't need the "Servo" mode, single-shot is preferable. I would use the center point only for focus (or another single focus point, depending on where you need central focus), and then adjust the lens aperture depending upon the focal length and the DOF required to cover the subjects.
Additional settings depend on how you answer the above questions.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Thank you for your comment...I have the camera because my aunt passed away and left it to me. Photography is something we enjoyed together and something I will pursue. After the rude comment I recieved I will not return to digitalgrin and I am sorry I joined smugmug..perhaps Miller's IS a better choice!
I am totally disgusted with the rude comments I recieved from this forum...it is no one's business why I have the camera I have. I will not return to digitalgrin and I am sorry I joined smugmug!
However, ziggy53 has given a good start to the advice. Please reconsider coming back and answer those questions so the community can help.
www.casongarner.com
5D MkII | 30D | 50mm f1.8 II | 85mm f1.8 | 24-70mm f2.8L | 70-200mm f2.8L IS II | Manfrotto 3021BPRO with 322RC2
Several of these comments were meant in jest, and have obviously struck you in a sensitive spot, which is perfectly understandable given what we NOW know. It is one of the challenges with online forums that humor often does not come across well, and for some reason it seems to have been happening a lot of late (or I'm just noticing it more) and causing a lot of hurt feelings
I think with his comment Andy was trying to figure out what your background is, since in all honesty a 1Ds is a pretty unusual camera for a beginner to have. Were you someone who was used to shooting 1 series film cameras and just made the jump to digital so you just need help with the transition to new hardware? Are you someone with money to burn who just decided to go out and get the most expensive camera and has no clue how to use it? All of this plays a part in how to best answer your question.
Pathfinder was responding to Icebear's joking attempt at a the classic Nigerian 419 scam, I highly doubt he was laughing at YOU.
I also hope you reconsider you decision to give up on dgrin based on this one misunderstanding. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here that want to help and know what they are doing. We have members that have been written about in New York Times articles and members whose photographs are in calendars you can buy at major bookstores like Borders. We also have members who are just get started, and everyone in between. In other words I think you'll fit right in if you're willing to put this misunderstanding behind you and get to know the community.
I am sorry that slphoto choose to take offense. It was certainly not my intent to offend. That being said, DGrin is without question the most polite, affirming, courteous forum, list serv, or discussion group I've ever had the pleasure (or otherwise) of participating in. For example, in another forum associated with Smugmug, Adventure Rider, you'd better have your asbestos skin on before you dip your toes into the pond. Before you flame me, Grammar Cops, I know that was a mixed metaphor.
I do not presume to offer advice to a person I don't know, and who didn't ask for it, so I'll just say here that if a person is so quick to take offense, maybe cyberspace ain't the place to interact. Not tryin' to be mean. Just sayin' . . .
AND . . . I'm not convinced someone wasn't pulling our collective leg.
Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.
If you want help, this is the place to be. We'd love to help you.
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D/grin would have to be without doubt the mildest, most friendly photographic community on the net.
Good luck.
Group photos:
Easy, simple. almost foolproof way to start. . .
- Get a good Canon flash (maybe you already have one)
- add one of these (or similar): http://store.garyfonginc.com/licl.html
- Set the ISO on the camera to 400 (or maybe a little higher). This will let you pick up the natural, ambient light and make your shots less "flashed".
- Tweak in photoshop or a other photo editing program.
- Smile, and share your shots on Smugmug!
Your shots will looking something like these (not the best, but pretty ok for me):I knew, of course, that trees and plants had roots, stems, bark, branches and foliage that reached up toward the light. But I was coming to realize that the real magician was light itself.
Edward Steichen
Congratulations on having such a wonderful camera!
I am sorry you took offense to the comments but having some experience with the Forums, I can tell you NO ONE would intentionally make an offensive remark. In fact, I followed this thread and noticed that everyone who made comments did in fact, return to the thread to apologize to you.
This shows the character and integrity of these characters!
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[/FONT][FONT="]Please stick around and give Dgrin/SmugMug another try. I know you will be pleasantly surprised how folks will bend over backwards to help out.
Good luck with the photo shoot.....we all would love to see the results.
Maureen
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But I think you should stay because here it is nice and friendly.
Sometimes, we - myself included with my lame character and clumsy English - play with each other and make fun.
As you can see I am Portuguese. We all have the same - almost - cultural identity. Stay man. Re-consider.
Well, at least stay for a while and see what and how things happen.
Promise ?
Where are your pictures, by the way ?
Get a ST-E2 and a flash. And the camera too
You can take the 530 or 5# ? I don't know the exact number, and shoot the way I do.
Just look to my these two pictures and show us yours, will you ?
Come on, smile.
As has been pointed out before the main reason for the joking around was the major contrast in your statement. Beginner and 1Ds Mark II. It is kinda like having a Lamborgini for drivers ed class.
But really Andy's question and others questions about your photography experience and camera knowledge is an attempt to assess your knowledge so they can best get a feel for where to start in answering your question (ie Do you know and understand what depth of field, flash sync speed, etc are, how familiar are you with the operation of the camera you have, are you a total novice to photography or just digital, are you just a beginner on that camera, etc)
Once you have spent more time on this message board and read through various post I think you will have a better idea who many of these regular posters are. I have never met any of them, but feel as if I know many of them from the pictures, advice, discussion, jokes, etc. We actually lost a valued member of the dgrin family, Ginger Jones, not long ago. After looking at this thread http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=60680 I think you will truely see what type of forum and online community you have really joined. I know of no other online place that even comes close to dgrin, and not just for the photography, but for the sense of community.
He will never know what he is losing, beeing with we all ...
Wow, very interesting indeed. As mentioned earlier this is a forum to help people and you don't have to take everything personally. There are some good to excellent advices up here, but if you don't like them ask yourself the following "what are they trying to say?" and this answer is this is a forum to help people. honestly not everybody communicate the way you do so reconsider smugmug again. we are not begging you but helping you
Bounty
Having said that. I have a Canon 30D with a 24-70 F2.8L and a 70-200 F2.8L. I have a tripod, some portable studio lights that can be used with AC/DC power. the lights are said to go 300 watt sec at full power a peice. I have 2 of them. I have a 430 EX flash and a camera bracket. A backdrop stand with one backdrop. that you can see on my pictures petrovphotography.smugmug.com
I am new to the whole digital SLR group. I have been taking pictures for 10 years but just reacently started a business in photography.
I am planing on shooting family pictures. some outside in the back yard others inside like by a fire place. or a christmas tree. something like that, I have never done this before so my creative juices aren't flowing. so here comes the questions.
If I am shooting a family husband, wife, and 2 kids. how to you position them?
when shooting indoors do I go with the flash on the camera (430 ex) or roll in the lights on the stands? (I don't have a studio so all my shots are at the peoples houses)
What is the trick to using a defuser? (I have a cheap rectangle looking one, that I never use because the pictures don't seem any better)
Thanks for any help you can offer to me.
www.petrovphotography.com
http://petrovphotography.smugmug.com
Canon 30D
Canon 24-70mm F2.8L
Canon 70-200mm F2.8L
Canon 430EX Flash
What I can say is that having looked into this site more in the past few days (I should have done this much sooner), it is on the whole far more polite and perhaps what is even more important, more knowledgeable than the others I have referred to.
I will also suggest that the technical level on this forum appears to surpass that of the other two (with the possible exception of one particular individual on dpreview that astounds me with his knowledge of sensors).
I was frankly getting tired of members answering questions with no knowledge whatsoever (and getting it completely wrong) on whatever topic arose; such does not seem to be the case here. This speaks well for dgrin.
So to slphoto, I strongly urge you to reconsider your decision; I understand where you are coming from and empathize with you, but having spent a bit of time here, I am sure that they bore no malice or prejudice against you.
Let's start with posing. I still struggle with this myself, so take what I say as somewhat opinionated without vast experience.
In posing groups I have not found a single "formula" or method to use consistently. Each group is unique, as is each setting. Photographing in a house is particularly problematic because you may have to deal with:
Low ceilings.
Colored ceilings and/or walls.
Room clutter.
Small rooms.
etc.
Posing a family in a house, it's often to your advantage to place the adults seated. This can mean bringing your own posing stools or benches. (In order to position the lights properly you need some height above the subjects that an 8 foot ceiling may not provide. Seating the subjects can solve this problem.)
The children can be positioned by taking into account their size. If they are young, standing by the parents can work. If they're older/taller, they may need to kneel or sit on the floor or a very short stool.
Keep in mind that lights throw shadows, so you need to layer the subjects so that the shadows of the foreground individuals don't strike the background individuals in an unflattering or problematic way.
Umbrellas are often the best portable light modifier, and convertible umbrellas give the greatest versatility. You have to keep in mind about light spill and the room reflections, so additional light control measures like flags and reflectors might need to be incorporated.
Off camera light is usually best for the dominant light (key light). Fill can come from above the camera or a bit more on the side opposite the key light. Background light may be required, depending on the effect, and a hair or rim light might also be indicated.
Check out the following for lighting suggestions:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=52290
http://www.geocities.com/glowluzid/portrait/portrait.html
If you are talking about a "StoFen" type flash diffusor, I'm not a big fan. I find that product produces minimal advantage at normal working distances.
A better product is the simple bounce card, if you can use ceiling bounce, or a "scoop" if you cannot use ceiling bounce.
A couple of links:
http://abetterbouncecard.com/
http://www.fototime.com/inv/908195739C4C0D3
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Don't have such thin skin. this is a legitimate question. I believe Andy wants to know if you are A) unfamiliar with SLR's or perhaps
Thanks for the advice.
www.petrovphotography.com
http://petrovphotography.smugmug.com
Canon 30D
Canon 24-70mm F2.8L
Canon 70-200mm F2.8L
Canon 430EX Flash
I deeply resemble that remark. HELP! Ziggy, they're pickin' on me!:cry
Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.
Seriously, I need some help. I am a new photographer. I just got a D40 for my birthday last December. I have a 18-55, and 55-200 lens and a SB600 flash.
I am new, but in love and determined to be a professional photographer and, in fact, will shortly begin to work for a wedding photography studio (I know, I need new equipment). I start mid Sept. Cool, no?
Okay, this SUNDAY i am shooting my friends daughter's Bat Mitzvah. This is my first event, and I have ZERO idea how to take the big family group shots. Good news is that the event will be at 10 AM so I'm hopng to take it outdoors.
My skin is thick, so you all can get as snarky as you like. But PLEASE also be helpful???