STICKY: How to photograph a high school Senior

Sharing some more of Savanna's session...

LisaJH wrote in post #14179527
Sharing some more of Savanna's session...

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Love these two Lisa, Especially the first (Second in your post). The lines and DOF are awesome.

Bluebonnets are out in Texas

cbknight wrote in post #14180135
Bluebonnets are out in Texas

Love the blue bonnets! I wish the background was a little brighter. Her skin looks little orange in the first one (fake tan?).

USER876 wrote in post #14180199
Love the blue bonnets! I wish the background was a little brighter. Her skin looks little orange in the first one (fake tan?).

Your right....too warm. Cooled it down then warmed hands/arms to match face tones.

New To Senior Portrait Guy
seeks advice from
Excellent and Kind Photographers In This Thread

I've been 'hired' to do senior pics for my identical twin nieces and the daughter-of-a-friend-of-my-wife. I've poked around this thread a bit (as well as other places) and would like your input on a few items:

How many 'looks' do you typically shoot (different outfits/locations etc)?
Do you try for a certian mix of portaits: i.e. full length, seated, waist up, head & shoulders?
I am aiming for 25-40 usable pics. Is this reasonable or too much?

Thank you for your consideration,
Gordon

JFusion wrote in post #14177694
I must be reading that wrong. You're not going to get f2 DoF on a f2.8 lens with an ND. It doesn't work that way.

Yeah, i think you are. Not saying you can get F/2.0 with a F/2.8. Its the creamy blur look from a F/2.0 i was talking about. But i will tell you that you can put an ND on an F/2.8 lens and get it to underexpose. slow the shutter and raise the iso and get awesome results. I do it all the time when im in lower light with a 70-200.....straight off the camera lighting and Blur

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Monkey Mash Button wrote in post #14180518
New To Senior Portrait Guy
seeks advice from
Excellent and Kind Photographers In This Thread

I've been 'hired' to do senior pics for my identical twin nieces and the daughter-of-a-friend-of-my-wife. I've poked around this thread a bit (as well as other places) and would like your input on a few items:

How many 'looks' do you typically shoot (different outfits/locations etc)?
Do you try for a certian mix of portaits: i.e. full length, seated, waist up, head & shoulders?
I am aiming for 25-40 usable pics. Is this reasonable or too much?

Thank you for your consideration,
Gordon

Since they are identical twins just shoot one of them, duplicate and then flip the image in post Cut your workload in half.

Since you put hired in quotes I'm guessing this is less a professional endeavor and more of a project so I would say don't worry about how many looks and sets the pro's use. Pay more attention to the time you feel like you can budget for the project and work backwards. Shoot as much as you have time for, but establish an expectation when you talk to your clients that they will see only the shots you deem worthy. This will allow you to shoot away, but still let them preview only a reasonable number of proofs.

Do the typical person in an empty frame image but use the twin and make it look like a mirror.

LOL!

gonzogolf wrote in post #14180813
Since they are identical twins just shoot one of them, duplicate and then flip the image in post Cut your workload in half.

Since you put hired in quotes I'm guessing this is less a professional endeavor and more of a project so I would say don't worry about how many looks and sets the pro's use. Pay more attention to the time you feel like you can budget for the project and work backwards. Shoot as much as you have time for, but establish an expectation when you talk to your clients that they will see only the shots you deem worthy. This will allow you to shoot away, but still let them preview only a reasonable number of proofs.

Flipping in post was lol funny! I had thought to do an overlay piece and put three or four of each twin populating an outdoor cafe.

I'm not so worried as how many looks and sets the pros use per se. It's just that I don't want the clients to regret their decision to choose me; I don't want them to feel skimped even though it's pro bono work. Oh, and I definitely will only show them the worthies.

Thank you for your thoughts!

Monkey Mash Button wrote in post #14181091
I'm not so worried as how many looks and sets the pros use per se. It's just that I don't want the clients to regret their decision to choose me; I don't want them to feel skimped even though it's pro bono work. Oh, and I definitely will only show them the worthies.

Thank you for your thoughts!

Shoot until you or they get tired then. Make it an adventure for them to whatever degree you can. Make it all about them, and they will be pleased with the choice.

umphotography wrote in post #14180761
Yeah, i think you are. Not saying you can get F/2.0 with a F/2.8. Its the creamy blur look from a F/2.0 i was talking about. But i will tell you that you can put an ND on an F/2.8 lens and get it to underexpose. slow the shutter and raise the iso and get awesome results. I do it all the time when im in lower light with a 70-200.....straight off the camera lighting and Blur

Nice shot. Cool, you can definitely lower your exposure (2.8 to 2.0 ) throwing an ND on there, but you're not going to widen your aperture creating additional blur/bokeh.

Monkey Mash Button wrote in post #14180518
How many 'looks' do you typically shoot (different outfits/locations etc)?
Do you try for a certian mix of portaits: i.e. full length, seated, waist up, head & shoulders?
I am aiming for 25-40 usable pics. Is this reasonable or too much?

Thank you for your consideration,
Gordon

I took me a while to come up with an explanation with which I was happy and that clients would understand. I tell them it's like going fishing - it's not every trip out that you're going to walk away with a dozen trophy catches. And just like in fishing, I have "size" limits...if we get something too small, we're going to throw it back. I'm not going to hand over a few mediocre shots just to meet some arbitrary quota. That helps no one.

That said, I have always managed to walk away with at least one "trophy" shot from every session. Anything else is gravy, and I make sure my clients know that this is my mindset.