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Portrait Questions/Help

geoles2geoles2 Registered Users Posts: 27 Big grins
edited May 11, 2011 in Technique
I am new to portrait photography and had a question about a family shoot I have coming up. Not for pay, just as practice, they are friends. I am not ready to start charging yet :wink. It is three different groups plus all them together and kids etc. I am looking for any advice and tips, what lens should I use etc. I know I need more equipment, but that will come in time.

The lenses I have are a 50mm 1.7 manual - 18-55 kit lens - 70 300 sigma lens.

I am thinking I should just use the kit lens? Also doing so do you get as close to the group as you can? Or do you stand back a ways?

I took some last weekend of another family, and they likd them but I dont think I got close enough? I will post some later in the other section.

Thanks very much for any help/tips!!

George

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    geoles2geoles2 Registered Users Posts: 27 Big grins
    edited May 10, 2011
    No tips at all? cmon guys and gals don't keep all the secrets to yourself.
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    SvennieSvennie Registered Users Posts: 181 Major grins
    edited May 10, 2011
    Well, is it outside or inside? How much light is there (or do you need flashes)?

    Be careful with 18mm from close by: it will distort people. A manual focus might be too slow with kids around. With groups, don't set aperture wide open: not everybody will in focus then.
    www.warris.nl
    www.warris.nl/blog
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    PupatorPupator Registered Users Posts: 2,322 Major grins
    edited May 11, 2011
    Go read some books on posing - you need them to stand in a way that isn't weird and that can be tricky with groups of people. I'm going to guess that you don't have a good flash, so try to do the pictures in an evenly lit area watching out for shadows or odd color casts. Shoot in RAW with a grey card (white and black would be good too) so you can set the white balance (as well as black and white points).

    If you can get far enough away to use the 70-300, I'd do that with the lens in the 70mm position. If you use the kit lens, don't go below 40mm. "Close enough" should be accomplished by zoom not by you standing right next to them.

    Shoot in 'A' mode with the aperture at f/8 or f/11. Check your shutter speed and don't let it drop below ~1/100. I don't know what camera you have, but it's unlikely you'll want your ISO to go above 800, perhaps even 400. It's important that you don't under-expose the image, so keep an eye on your metering and histogram.
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