Sony Lounge Thread MKIII (All Sony cameras welcome)

I was asked by a coworker to do some engagement photos and she's self conscious about her weight. Any suggestions for angles etc. ?

KayakPhotos wrote in post #18423208
I was asked by a coworker to do some engagement photos and she's self conscious about her weight. Any suggestions for angles etc. ?

that one is a challenge for sure, I had the same challenge last year...it depends on where they carry weight...not better way to put it. Different approaches for different body types.

KayakPhotos wrote in post #18423208
I was asked by a coworker to do some engagement photos and she's self conscious about her weight. Any suggestions for angles etc. ?

I think the concept is kind of the same with all models, relaxed shoulders, arm separation from body, creating V shape when applicable. Easiest way I try to remember about posing is that it's a flowing dance move. Limbs loose and they flow and captured in posed motion.

Nobody wants an unflattering look. If you're not accustomed to posing, download a posing guide to your phone or something, and review it from time to time. It does make a difference. The guide can get you the basic look and look for the finer details when posing, such as angles.

KayakPhotos wrote in post #18423208
I was asked by a coworker to do some engagement photos and she's self conscious about her weight. Any suggestions for angles etc. ?

Use long lenses, higher angles (frame at eye level or higher), and having her lean into the camera (point front shoulder towards the frame) helps you use some distortion to your advantage. But yeah like Travis said make sure you don't photograph the parts where the carry the weight.... i.e. if she carries a lot on her arms, don't photograph from angles that show the width of the arm....also make sure she doesn't press her arm against her body.

Watch out for things like double chins, protruding bellies, big arms, etc and change up the posing to correct them. A lot of it is simply having an eye for what women find unflattering....which is hard because us men don't find a lot of that stuff unflattering at all, but take that extra second to really critique the pose before you take the shot.

Google some poses and pull them up on your photo. No shame in doing that IMO.

Today is a yipee! day: the Loxia 21mm is here and so is the Ruggard dry cabinet. Heading out for some Loxia fun...hope the popup storms don't ruin my fun.

Another one from my home town. I went to this school before migrating to the USA. Good times

Sony α7R II / ILCE-7RM2 • Sony FE 28mm F2 @28mm • 5s. • f/5 • ISO 64

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Wk5S​vi
Colegio Belen by rramirez2008, on Flickr

David Arbogast wrote in post #18423309
Today is a yipee! day: the Loxia 21mm is here and so is the Ruggard dry cabinet. Heading out for some Loxia fun...hope the popup storms don't ruin my fun.

Woohoo! Hope you get a sharp copy David. On my lens, infinity is right between the infinity Mark.

I get my FLM tripod gear tomorrow. Excited.

Nice one David! On my copy I turn the focus until it hits the hard stop then dial it back a smidge (like less then 1mm). I find that gives best results and also aligns the infinity sign in the middle. However a lot of the time I just set it to f/5.6 and on the hard stop and it's golden

Another question related to portraits.

If I'm shooting a couple and want to get both sets of eyes in focus, what depth of field should I shoot for? I'll be using the FE 85 and FE 55 mostly. Probably a mix of full body, closeups, torso shots and a few environmental portraits.

stopping down the aperture will make the DOF wider. for full body with an 85, F2.8 should be enough. as you get closer, the DOF will become narrower so stop down more. for a 3/4 shot, maybe an F5.6 to be sure.

And try to make a pose that puts them in the same focal plane. if you do that, you can open a bit like F2.8

you can do it.

for environmental portraits that means you will step back to get more background in the context. when you step back, the DOF becomes wider so no problem with going wide but for environmental portrait, you don't wanna really blur out the background especially if the background is gorgeous. so you can start with F2.8 with that.

KayakPhotos wrote in post #18423404
Another question related to portraits.

If I'm shooting a couple and want to get both sets of eyes in focus, what depth of field should I shoot for? I'll be using the FE 85 and FE 55 mostly. Probably a mix of full body, closeups, torso shots and a few environmental portraits.

It largely depends on how tightly framed the shot is with a given lens and how far off axis their faces are from one another. Full body you can probably pull off wide open most of the time. Half body shots probably stop down 1-2 stops if more than one person. Close-ups 2-3 stops.

If you're unsure, take multiple shots at different apertures to play it safe. You can also quickly toggle MF, which will bring up focus peaking. From there you can see how much DOF you have to work with and adjust your aperture accordingly.....if you see the twinkle in your subjects' eyes, you're good. I wish there was a way to get the focus peaking overlay when using AF.

Edit DMF will give you focus peaking with AF. No AF-C though.

Thanks for the advice everyone.