Outdoor Portraits

[drisley]

It turns out that the local bodybuilding federation really liked my pictures from their last show, and are going to use them for next season's promo posters.
Well, a couple of the bodybuilders are heading to a national show next week, and want me to take some pictures of them in peak condition before they leave. One of them is the president of the bb federation!
My forte has always been candid and low light work. I've never done any type of posed shots.
I know the location where we will be shooting. It is on a rooftop that has a garden, with lots of trees, and we will have 2 buildings immediately to the east and west which will provide some shade. So, I think I will be shooting south, with the sun almost overhead and slightly behind.
Anybody offer any tips? I guess I should be using my 420EX as a fill flash, perhaps set with a negative exposure compensation?
Ideally, what is the best direction to have the sun? Or is there one?

Again, any tips would be greatly appreciated. I'm off to do some "googling" in the meantime. :D

[sGu]

ever consider a relector/diffuser? then u might need someone's assistant to hold it for u to bounce the light ...

[drisley]

That might be something I will eventually look into if I do more outdoor portraits. I think that may be one of the best solutions.

[msvadi]

if the sky is clear, and you put your subjects in the shade, the sky itself works as a reflector. you'll just have to fix the blue tint it gives.

[WestFalcon]

I found out many years ago that you need fill flash in the shade. I always use my flash on weddings in the shade. I set the camera to the light level in the shade and use manual mode on 1/4, 1/2 etc till I get the correct balance of background and foreground. If you get the correct balnce the colors jump out and the background looks great. Get it set for one person and you are set unless the weather changes. You may try program too but it can be fooled in some situations. Same with manual ttl which I sometimes use and then adjust the flash +1/2, +1 etc on the 550 EX. I don't think the 420 EX has all of these features so try program but you definitely need flash.

[Brianbar]

When I take team photos outside, I always have the subject with their backs towards the sun and I use flash. That way the subject never has a problem looking towards the sun or very bright sky, and you as the photographer have no shadow worries.

Good luck
Brian

[Conk]

Good advice here. Westfalcon has the answer. Without it, you'll lose much detail.
Here is a prime example of a photo that desparately needed flash.
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y3i1x1&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1

[Mike H]

I first started in photography about 25 years ago when my brother, a young bodybuilder at the time, needed someone to periodically take photographs of him to measure his progress. I had no interest in picture taking, but someone had to get out the instamatic and push the button. I discovered that I really liked shooting pictures, and a decades-long love of photography began.

It's been a while since I did outdoor physique photography, but I can remember a few things of value to pass along.

First off, forget almost everything that you do for normal outdoor portraits: you're doing something very different here. For the usual outdoor portrait, you want soft light to flatter the subject, minimizing wrinkles and blemishes. For physique photos, you need to do almost the opposite. You need hard light, not soft, since it's the shadows that will delineate the subject's muscles. Using fill flash or reflectors to fill in the shadows will be counter-productive.

So what do you do about shadows in the eye sockets and squinty eyes? Perhaps doing nothing is best. The point here is to show texture and shape, not to get the most flattering expression.

Take a trip to the local Barnes and Noble and pick up some bodybuilding magazines. Look for books in the bodybuilding and photography sections. Books in the fine art section that feature male figure studies will give you some good ideas.

You'll have to position the subjects so that the shadows fall in a way that highlights their muscles. If this puts half of a face in deep shadow, resist the temptation to use fill flash or a reflector. Instead, turn the subject's head toward the light to get rid of that problem. You may want to do the unthinkable (for portrait shooters) and shoot your subject with the mid-day sun overhead, with light falling under the chin and all of their muscles, giving them the desired relief. By doing this, you're re-creating the light that you see used at the bodybuilding shows to highlight the muscles: it's fairly hard light, much of it directly over the subjects. You'll certainly get dark shadows in the eye sockets, but in this instance that might not be so objectionable. I shot photos this way for the 1984 IFBB World Bodybuilding Champion just after she won, and she sold the photos at her seminars. She didn't complain about the dark eye sockets because she looked very muscular in the shots, just what she wanted.

If you can't live with the dark eye sockets, a carefully positioned reflector could fill some of the shadows without hurting the rest of the shot. Get one of those white/silver reflectors, and have an assistant use the white side of the reflector to fill in the eyes. Reflecting direct sunlight with the silver side will get more light in there, but it will also blind the subject rather painfully.

As far as using fill flash, getting just the right amount (if there is such a thing) could be very tricky, especially if you are out in bright light. You would be judging it on a review screen outdoors, where the brightness of the light outside compared to the viewscreen may make it difficult.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Mike H

[rodbunn]

Put them in the shade, and use a silver reflector at an angle.
The sky will be the"fill" light and the reflector will give a harsh
"main" light. You want to show off the ripples, muscle, etc. so
a soft flash from over the lense doesn't do it.

THat's where I would start. Move the reflector to gain depth
on the body's muscles, shadows, etc.... They don't need to be
looking right into the camera for all shots either.

Good luck, Rod

[drisley]

Thanks guys.
MikeH, what you say really does make sense.
I know when I shoot at the indoor shows, I never use a flash, yet EVERY other photographer does use flash.
And the bodybuilders consistently say my pictures look much better.
I agree, the other pictures with the flash look flat and boring.

So, perhaps shooting them outdoors will be an easy transition.

Thanks people.

[MarcelMutter]

About using flash.

In the shade I turn up the flashhead upright (I got a EX550) and slide out the reflector for close-ups. Don't put it over you flashhead as you normally do and leave it upright. I could also use the omni-bounce however you will take more time to put it on and pull it of again.

You will get extra light on the subject and a little twinkle in the eyes of the person you phot0graph.

I will get soon a silver or white reflector and try that because there is no better light than natural light.

Marcel Mutter

http://www.xs4all.nl/~mmutter

Canon EOS10D
Tamron 17-35 2.8-4.0 Di
Canon 50mm 1.4 (my favourite lens)
Sigma 70-200 2.8
Canon 70-200 IS 2.8 (you won't believe your own pictures anymore..LOL)
Canon EX550 Flash
Sigma EX2.0 New - TeleConverter (fit both 70-200 lenses)

[Mike H]

In the shade I turn up the flashhead upright (I got a EX550) and slide out the reflector for close-ups. Don't put it over you flashhead as you normally do and leave it upright. I could also use the omni-bounce however you will take more time to put it on and pull it of again.


Why would you use the omni-bounce outdoors? The only use I can think of in that context would be if you have a super wide lens and the flash won't cover the entire field of view shown by the lens. But Drisley is shooting physique photos, so that wouldn't be an issue.

Mike H

[MarcelMutter]

The omnibounce does not only widens the field it also softens en reduces the strenght of the flash.

If you would like to widens the field for the wide angle you could use the disfuser, I know remember the name of the reflector I mentioned before, and push down the head completly in to the closeup position.

What I like when I take pictures in the shade is the great light however a little flash is there to give the subject the extra contrast as would a reflector do.
With a silver-reflector you also have the benefit of not having to wait till the flash recharges if you want to take a few pictures in a short time.

Marcel Mutter

[WestFalcon]

If you really want the muscles to show, get your flash off to an angle aboubt 45 degrees or more to the person. This angle will accentuate the texture of the muscles. the only thing here is that the flash may have to move off camera 7 0r 8 feet and the off camera cord doesn't go that far.

[Mike H]

The omnibounce does not only widens the field it also softens en reduces the strenght of the flash.

Marcel, I just noticed that you are new to the forum. Welcome! You'll find that it's really enjoyable to read and that the people that post here share a great enthusiasm for photography.

As far as the Omni-Bounce goes, I think if you experiment a bit that you'll find that it only softens the light from your flash indoors. The softness of a light source is dictated by the size of the source relative to the subject. That's why umbrellas and soft boxes produce soft light.

The Omni-Bounce works by spreading light much wider than the flash head alone. Hence, the walls, ceilings, and other objects in the room in effect become light sources striking your subject. Most of the effect comes from the flash bouncing off of the ceiling. That's why it works less in rooms with very high ceilings (like Cathedral interiors). For such places, the light bouncing off of the ceiling that reaches the subject has traveled far enough to be insignificant in intensity by the time it reaches the subject.

Outdoors this bounce effect won't happen; the sky is a little too far away to get a bounce effect. Since you don't gain this advantage outside, it's best to skip the Omni-Bounce, which costs you a bit of light (and makes the batteries wear down faster) without getting any softening effect. Inside the device is very nice and I always use it with interior flash.

I looked over your gallery this afternoon; your work is very nice.

Mike H

[drisley]

According to the forecasts, it is going to be cloudy on Thursday (not that they are right very often). So, I may have an ideal day for normal portrait photography, but not so ideal for showing the musculature.
This could be interesting.

[robertwgross]

If you really want the muscles to show, get your flash off to an angle aboubt 45 degrees or more to the person. This angle will accentuate the texture of the muscles. the only thing here is that the flash may have to move off camera 7 0r 8 feet and the off camera cord doesn't go that far.

That is a perfect situation for the Canon wireless flash system. One unit goes on the camera, and one unit can be way off to the right or left, up to 10 meters.

---Bob Gross---

[MarcelMutter]

I mostly photograph outside and when I am inside I don't almost never have a ceiling to bounce on.

If I don't have time to change the strength of the flash down I tilt the head to 180 degrees and us the flap as a reflector.
I am not always pleased with the disfuser in front ot the flash head and you can still get to much flash.

Thank you for your compliment for my pictures and I just like taking pictures very much and I started a little more than a year ago.
It is a great pleasure to take pictures at these festivities and to interact with the people over there.

This the period of the year to take pictures and I have not enough time to keep up with puting them on the site. So please check in again in a while at the site.

Do you have also pictures that you take on-line? I often vissit PhotoSig.com to check on work of other photographers.

Marcel Mutter

[Mike H]

Do you have also pictures that you take on-line? I often vissit PhotoSig.com to check on work of other photographers.

Marcel Mutter

Marcel, I wish that I did, but unfortunately I'm too cheap and lazy to get around to it! :D

Actually, when the glorious Tour de France is over, I'm going to turn off the TV and invest the time and money into putting some recent photos on PBase.com. The users of that site have posted favorable things about it here, and the service seems fairly inexpensive. I will post a message here when I finally get some things onto the web.

Mike H