Amatuer needs advice on outdoor portraits

[dixielandcandles]

Hello. I need some input on equipment needed for outdoor portraits. I have a 10D, Tamron 28-75XRDI 2.8, Canon 50mm 1.8 II, remote shutter switch and Metz 44EF flash. Do I need reflectors? Stands? Etc? While shooting in portrait composition (long ways up-down), should I aim my Metz flash straight ahead toward the subject (can't bounce flash when holding camera in portrait stance). Do you suggest I zoom out to about 65mm to get a good blur in the background (using also F5.6-F/8 )? Backgrounds used outdoors will be wooded areas, lakes, white fences near horse pastures, large white columns at a church. Ideas are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Danny

[DaveG]

Hello. I need some input on equipment needed for outdoor portraits. I have a 10D, Tamron 28-75XRDI 2.8, Canon 50mm 1.8 II, remote shutter switch and Metz 44EF flash. Do I need reflectors? Stands? Etc? While shooting in portrait composition (long ways up-down), should I aim my Metz flash straight ahead toward the subject (can't bounce flash when holding camera in portrait stance). Do you suggest I zoom out to about 65mm to get a good blur in the background (using also F5.6-F/8 )? Backgrounds used outdoors will be wooded areas, lakes, white fences near horse pastures, large white columns at a church. Ideas are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Danny

I would (and do) take my outdoor portrait subjects into shadow. That starts the process since any direct sunlight on the subject is going to be almost impossible to remove or control.

I make sure that they are facing away from the sun since even indirect sunlight will make them squint. If you have an assistant - paid or otherwise - you can have them hold a reflector. This will help create some modeling on the face, and pump some light into their eyes. If you don't use a reflector you'll have to use some fill flash and while I use it all the time for groups and such, it's not the nicest choice for portraits. Using a reflector will let you see the light and you have access to all shutterspeeds since you won't have to worry about flash synch speeds

A stand for a reflector is not likely to work well since I've found that the slightest breeze will blow it over. For el-cheapo prices you can get great results if you use white foamcore as a reflector. It will be much more rigid than white cardboad (Bristol Board?) and not a lot more expensive.

If you want to spend some money then the 4 in 1 reflector (sold by everyone I should think, but I got mine at B&H) will be very good. The reflector twists up into a circle and its base is a translucent material which might be useful for semi shading the subject if no shade is to be found.

To use this as a reflector you put the zip-on cover over the frame. The cover has white, black, silver and gold sides - you obviously reverse it - so you can pick your poison. The black is a good emergency background and can be used to absorb light - kind of a negative reflector if you will. The white should be good, but isn't, as it reflects VERY little light at all. The gold works well as a reflector and in theory warms up the reflection, but I've found that it's just kind of yellow. But luckily the silver side works great. Lots of reflecting goes on and it's a nice neutral light as well.

I'd use the 50 a lot for doing H&S portraits, especially if I was doing a bunch of people at the same time. While the zoom would be fine you would run into perspective changes that would vary from subject to subject, along with depth of field changes as well.

For 2/3 or full body portraits I'd go with the zoom and I'd try it at the longer focal lengths. At 75mm you'll effectively be at 120mm so it's not bad. I used to use a 180 Nikkor for this kind of stuff. It was fast (f2.8 ) and that helped blow out any distracting background problems. If you end up doing a lot of this stuff then a longer lens (say a 100mm macro) would be helpful.

Although you don't mention it, I think that you need to use a tripod. It will allow you to leave the camera, walk up to the subject to make adjustments, and then not have to figure out where you were. This also helps with perspective and background consistency. And of course your shots are technically better.

Even outside, if I am shooting portraits, I bring a stool for the subjects. I use a regular wooden stool but with one main change. I've shortened the legs so that the stool is no higher than the seat of a kitchen chair. I'm only 5'8" so that lets me set up the camera on a tripod so I'm higher than the subjects. YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SHOOTING THEM FROM BELOW!!!!!

[KennyG]

I have only one bit of advice - early morning or late evening to get away from any harsh sunlight. The best portaits I have done have all been in the late afternoon when the light is soft and warm.

[Adam Hicks]

What about spot metering on the faces and maybe using an 18% card & shooting raw if exposures are tough or either one is in white / black?

What about not messing with portrait shots, but simply cropping standard flash mount landscape shots? Plenty of resolution there and it'll give you the flexibility of either leaving the shot landscape or quickly cropping it down to portrait on the shots you like.

Just my $.02!

Adam

BTW, here's a possibly tough shot I had to take at a recent motorsport event. They wanted him in the garage in front of the open doors (only source of natural light) had I not metered up close on his face, the background would have properly exposed and his face would have been completely shadowed out and unrecognizable. I just took a meter reading up close and set the camera to manual, and shot from there. Nothing has been done to the picture other than a quick resize. Adam

Nothing too exciting, but an example of why spot metering can save you sometimes!
http://www.golilm.com/DSLR/FormulaMazdaresized.jpg

[Olegis]

Hi Danny,
I want to add some tips to the wonderful ones already provided in above posts :
1. Position your subject in front of GREEN background (grass, tree), green works very nice with faces. Make sure that the distance between the subject and the background is 6-7 meters at least - the will give you nice blurred effect in conjunction with longer lens (75mm on the Tamron will work just fine, if you can get one of the longer lenses - do it. I get nice results with 70-200 at 200mm).

http://www.pbase.com/image/28383185.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/32017325.jpg

2. Make sure to capture the catch-lights in the eyes. The eyes without catch-lights look uninteresting, almost dead.

3. Experiment. Bring your old sunglasses, a hat, a piece of cloth - a stuff like that, and have your subject try them on.

4. Be fun and fluid with your subject. A conversation, a smile, a joke and such stuff create a chemistry between the photographer and the subject. Such fun sessions make the subject feel very comfortable and almost forget that he/she is actually in front of the camera.

5. Prepare. Go to photography sites like Photosig, enter the portraits section and surf through the pictures. Some you will like and some you won't, but all of them will open your mind to new ideas.

Good luck !