Outdoor family shoot...

[petedam]

Hi everyone,

I've been asked by a friend to shoot their family portrait. I've never done it before. Can anyone make any suggestion as to what I need to do to prepare? As well what lens I should use. My favorite that I have is 70-200mm f2.8 and 50mm 1.4 both are canon. Those are the two I was thinking of using

thanks in advance!

[timbop]

A couple of tips that will help:
1. shoot later in the day or in a shady spot with WB set to cloudy - I prefer later in the day and indirect if possible
2. for the full family, the 50 is probably the best bet
3. pay attention to your backgrounds
4. when posing them, don't have their shoulders square to the camera, but do try to have them bend a little at the joints if possible
5. use as wide an aperture as possible, but use a DOF calculator to make sure everyone is in focus
6. if you are going to do individuals or mom&dad, go with the 70-200 in portrait orientation - both full body and waist up would be nice
7. keep the background at least as far from them as they are from you

[petedam]

A couple of tips that will help:
1. shoot later in the day or in a shady spot with WB set to cloudy - I prefer later in the day and indirect if possible
2. for the full family, the 50 is probably the best bet
3. pay attention to your backgrounds
4. when posing them, don't have their shoulders square to the camera, but do try to have them bend a little at the joints if possible
5. use as wide an aperture as possible, but use a DOF calculator to make sure everyone is in focus
6. if you are going to do individuals or mom&dad, go with the 70-200 in portrait orientation - both full body and waist up would be nice
7. keep the background at least as far from them as they are from you

Thanks for the tips. Tips #5...having my 50mm set all the way to 1.4, how do I calculate the DOF without having a calculator?

Thanks again!

[timbop]

ok, sorry. Using this calculator: http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/calc.htm

I calculated that if you shoot from 25 feet away with your 50 in landscape, your framing will be about 11 feet wide and 7 feet tall - wide enough to get full body portraits of the group. Then plugging in a distance of 25 ft, f/1.4 will give a DOF of 4 feet. That's probably good enough to keep everyone in focus, but to be sure I'd also take some at f/2 (DOF ~ 5.5 ft) and f/2.8 (dof ~ 8ft)

[petedam]

ok, sorry. Using this calculator: http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/calc.htm

I calculated that if you shoot from 25 feet away with your 50 in landscape, your framing will be about 11 feet wide and 7 feet tall - wide enough to get full body portraits of the group. Then plugging in a distance of 25 ft, f/1.4 will give a DOF of 4 feet. That's probably good enough to keep everyone in focus, but to be sure I'd also take some at f/2 (DOF ~ 5.5 ft) and f/2.8 (dof ~ 8ft)

ok is there a trick to do this when you're out in the park shooting when you dont have access to this calculator? :D

[timbop]

Yes, frame the shot so that there is about 7 feet of height in the frame (about a foot more than the people) - that lets you know you are around 25 feet away. When you line them up, decide who you're going to focus on - I recommend their chest to ensure that the AF doesn't lock onto the background. As long as no one is more than 2 feet in front or behind of that person, then everyone should be inside of the DOF for f/1.4. If you stop down to f/2.8, then you have 4 feet of wiggle room. It shouldn't be too hard to remember, or just write it down on a piece of paper or index card and refer to it while you are shooting. Take some shots at 1.4 and some more at 2.8 without them or you moving. Viola!

Finally, when you line them up, make sure that they are at least 25 feet from the background if you can - that can be estimated and is just my own personal rule of thumb.

[petedam]

Thank you so much! Does this "formula" holds true for other lenses with the obvious different #?

[timbop]

Thank you so much! Does this "formula" holds true for other lenses with the obvious different #?

Same concept, but obviously with a different focal length the distances change. Use the calculator to determine the distance first, and then plug the distance into the DOF calculator to decide the aperture

[petedam]

Same concept, but obviously with a different focal length the distances change. Use the calculator to determine the distance first, and then plug the distance into the DOF calculator to decide the aperture

Thank you!