Graduation photo shoot

My daughter and her friends are graduating next June. They would like me to shoot them with their Grad gowns (red) this weekend. Did anyone here ever do a photo shoot of grads, I would love to have some ideas. I'm planning to take them on a walking trail with the fall leaves, lake, bridge and so on... any examples would help.

I'm not a pro and just getting back into photography, but I never liked the look of posed walking shots. How about using a zoom lens and not being super close and just let them interact with each other as they normally do. I'm sure they would appreciate the fact that you are not right on them and hearing every word they are saying and you will get a lot of great unposed pictures. You can also try searching flickr for "graduation" for some ideas. Just my .02.

By ideas, do you mean poses?

With social media and Pinterest and kids being into all of this. I would assume that they will come up with a ton of ideas. A quick Pinterest or google search will find a lot of ideas.

One idea is to have them throw leaves into the air (or people on the sides throwing some over head as well). 1/320s will give a little motion blur to the leaves.

While on the trail, have a couple kneel (or almost) down in the front with others standing behind.

For most poses, keep them close like you would a family shoot.

The cliche pose is to have everyone jump in the air, if all girls possible hand holding while jumping.

Throwing hats in the air.

Siting on boulders or stumps.

Choose your time of day, I love evening back lighting, but with a group you have to be careful of hot spots on the sides of their faces. you may want an assistant with a scrim/diffuser. I prefer OCF.

Thanks for all the ideas. I went on Pinerest and found a lot of good poses. We are going tonight at 4:30 so the sun will be setting at around 6pm so it will give me a bit of time.

Anxiously awaiting some samples from the session.

Here are a couple. As per someone's suggestion, I was wanting the 135mm look so I bought a 85mm f1.8, but I find it's isn't focusing correctly. I often get very soft images, does this happen with this lens or is it the photographer??

If you have to shoot in full sunlight, try to add some fill light either by using a reflector or off camera flash,

anitaw2 wrote in post #18492603
Here are a couple. As per someone's suggestion, I was wanting the 135mm look so I bought a 85mm f1.8, but I find it's isn't focusing correctly. I often get very soft images, does this happen with this lens or is it the photographer??

The second one seems sharp, the first a little soft.

I would look into micro focus adjustment. The lens may need to be calibrated to the camera body. If you have a local place that sells lens, they probably do this for about $25. You can do it your self, but it can take a while to learn it and be confident your first time.

One way to tell if this is an issue is when you look at a soft image, look at teh ground or wall next to the people and see if it is in focus in front of the person (front focusing) or behind the person (back focusing).

The 85/F1.8 is a great lens, but keep in mind that it is prone to producing CA (Chromatic aberration). In your first image, look at the green outline on the tree and the magenta on the railing. This is easy to fix. In Lightroom, under lens correction, tick remove CA. Sometimes you may have to use the eye dropper or adjust the amount to fine tune.

Looks like they had a great time, thanks for sharing the images!

it's funny mention the front focusing. I had just bought this lens used and was trying it out. I noticed it was front focusing and did micro adj. in-camera. I think it's a bit better now. As for CA, I have Lightroom 4, I dont' think I can fix that in this version but I could be wrong. If the 85mm a good lens. I got it because I love the look of the 135mm but with a 7D, that would be too tight.

anitaw2 wrote in post #18493373
it's funny mention the front focusing. I had just bought this lens used and was trying it out. I noticed it was front focusing and did micro adj. in-camera. I think it's a bit better now. As for CA, I have Lightroom 4, I dont' think I can fix that in this version but I could be wrong. If the 85mm a good lens. I got it because I love the look of the 135mm but with a 7D, that would be too tight.

A quick google says that LR4 has CA removal.
"Scroll down to the Lens Corrections panel, and click on "Color". Then check the "Remove Chromatic Aberration" checkbox."

Yes, 135 would be pretty tight, though i often use a 70-200 on a cropped body @ 200mm for individuals.

I like these types of look for graduation gowns. I'm not a great big fan of them having the full gown on as it really distracts from the lady themselves. For what it's worth, the blonde in the bottom photo just won a national championship with her D III college in volleyball over the weekend.

anitaw2 wrote in post #18492603
Here are a couple. As per someone's suggestion, I was wanting the 135mm look so I bought a 85mm f1.8, but I find it's isn't focusing correctly. I often get very soft images, does this happen with this lens or is it the photographer??

Hosted photo: posted by anitaw2 in
./showthread.php?p=184​92603&i=i24704147
forum: Weddings & Other Family Events

Hosted photo: posted by anitaw2 in
./showthread.php?p=184​92603&i=i192828103
forum: Weddings & Other Family Events

I like all of these photos.

About the lens question, I had that 85mm 1.8 years ago and would never consider going back to it again. It's more practical than the 135mm, but the 135mm is amazing and one of the best lenses I've ever used to nailing focus. I didn't have problems with that 85 for focusing, but didn't care for the way it rendered images compared to other lenses.

I prefer the newer Tamron 85mm too.

But if all I had was the 85mm 1.8, I'd be okay with it if that's what was available.

Some good ideas in here too

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1275976