 Donna Dunbar |
Group Photo's I hope someone will help with this I recently did some photo's in my little and I stress very little studio of a group all members of the group were in focus except the one in the forground. I have had fantastic luck doing single portraits but for some reason I seem to be having problems with groups. How can I get a whole group in with a small space. Also I have been using a shutter speed of 100 and I was wondering if I use a higher shutter speed would that improve my image quality?
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John C. Schwentner |
Hi , dont know what equipment you are using, but photography basics are the same for all.. Yes a faster shutter will help you in the realm of stopping inadvertent momvment and blurring,, but you need to focus on the foremost person, with a small as possible aperture to achieve greater depth of field. You will notice you will need more light with a faster shutter and a smaller aperture. The 100 shutter should be fine though, but stop down the aperture
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Debby A. Tabb |
I took this at iso 200 200/f22 and f/16 we had 4 lights on this group and using a canon 20D lens 17-85 on a tripod.and focal point in the middle onf the group. posing will always help you in these situations-you want your group to be as close as posible-like they Lllooove each other. I do hope this helps
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Debby A. Tabb |
I took this at iso 200 200/f22 and f/16 we had 4 lights on this group and using a canon 20D lens 17-85 on a tripod.and focal point in the middle onf the group. posing will always help you in these situations-you want your group to be as close as posible-like they Lllooove each other. I do hope this helps
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Debby A. Tabb |
I took this at iso 200 200/f22 and f/16 we had 4 lights on this group and using a canon 20D lens 17-85 on a tripod.and focal point in the middle onf the group. posing will always help you in these situations-you want your group to be as close as posible-like they Lllooove each other.and take a good 6-10 shots depending on subjects(kids won't sit for that) I do hope this helps
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John C. Schwentner |
Donna you will notice although Debby didnt specifically say, her apertures were 16 and 22 which are approaching the smallest. And the closer the group is to the camera, the more critical the aperture will be.
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Donna Dunbar |
Thank You John and Debbie for your comments they really helped.I am about to do a retake of the portraits I just did which to me is quite embarrassing, although I did get some really great ones the ones of the whole family just weren't 100% clear and since they need this shot for a 16x20 shot I am going to take them again. Your info will really help but I will try some test shots before I do. Thanks again so much for your input.
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Debby A. Tabb |
Donna, don't ever be embarrassed about a re-take, I commend you for doing it so willingly and resurching to make it all better. Good for you! and best of luck in the shoot
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Donna Dunbar |
Hi Debby, Can I ask what lens you use? I have recently been using a 70-300 zoom, I have had some really nice, crisp images from it but also had some that weren't as sharp even with a tripod.I was thinking if I use a faster shutter speed things should improve.
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Debby A. Tabb |
well for that shot it was the canon 20D with the 17-85 lens.(shot for Ruben's company-that's a man I work for as a consultant) for my Portrait work I like to use my nikon D70 with a 25-100mm lens. I read a artical that explained why the 100mm lens was a prefered Portrait lens-I HAVE TO FIND THAT ARTICAL!! i do forget to put things on my favores. sorry to be so short-but CSI is coming on. see ya. have a great night.
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John C. Schwentner |
Hi again. An 85 to 105mm lens is usually preferred for close potraiture because in that range the facial features are at their most proportionate balance. In other words, the most natural appearance
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Debbie Del Tejo |
YOU ARE DOING A RETAKE OF THE GROUP PHOTO??????CAN'T YOU FIX IT WITH PS??????
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Donna Dunbar |
I wish I could but one of the subjects was way out of focus,and I am afraid even PS won't help this. It might work if they didn't want such a large image because the photo looks great about a 5x7 size but they want a 16x20 and that large it really shows. Thanks eveyone for your comments. :-)
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Debby A. Tabb |
jOHN, dO YOU REMEMBER ANY OF THE PUBLISHED PLACES YOU SAW OR GOT THAT INFO? I COULD SURE USE IT AS PART OF MY REFERANCE MATERIALS. I WAS TAUGHT EVERY THING I KNOW FROM SOME VERY WONDERFUL, KIND AND GENEROUS COMPANY PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHERS- AND WHEN SOMEONE IS TEACHING YOU ALL THEY KNOW OF 50 YEARS OF SUCCESS-YOU DON'T ASK WHY ?OR HOW DO YOU KNOW? YOU JUST KNOW THEY KNOW. BUT NOW AS I TEACH OTHERS-I LIKE BEING ABLE TO GIVE REFERANCE SITES AND MATERIALS AND FIND IT SO FURSTRATING WHEN I CAN NOT FIND WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR . THANKS FOR ANY OF YOUR HELP, DEBBY
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Debbie Del Tejo |
YIKES........SORRY ABOUT THAT......but it will most definatly not ever happen to you again........lesson learned.
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Donna Dunbar |
Yes Debbie, Lesson most deffinately learned. Fortunately the clients are great people and I have done some work for them before that they absolutely loved in fact this is their third visit to me, I am a film based photographer and when I got those back from the lab I was horrified.But as you say it's the learning process and my client's will get a few free images from me which I am sure they won't mind. :-)
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Debbie Del Tejo |
Oh Yes.....shower them with free prints and they will FORGIVE! LOL
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John C. Schwentner |
Debby, believe it or not, that 85mm portrait mode is more or less a given. I remember seeing it quite a few times in photography magazines, and also with the information on buying lenses. Its something that is pretty hard to distinguish actually, but I do notice 85 is a beter setting than say, 150 because I can see the face tend to flatten in with the background. You would really just about have to compare two photos together to notice, but it is a kind of law of physics. Most pros will say that a prime, fast 85mm lens is one of their choices for portrait work. Fast for faded background, and 85 for proportionate features. The one glamour photography book I had that explains it better than I has been lent out, and I cant remember the name offhand, but I guarantee you it can be found in many others. If you just teach it, you wont be wrong.
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Debby A. Tabb |
Good Morning John, Thank you so much for responding. Yes, I realize that and you and I who belive in our resurch and may not mess to much with what works- know that this is a working fact! but what I run into these days-is you teach one thing and what you get back is well-i heard this on this forum -or I heard this from hear- when I was blessed enough to have Professionals in thier feild for so many years , teach me and share with me. I just didn't ask questions like why but more as ok how, and followed their lead and when everything worked just as they said-I continued on the path they sent me on. Today I find people can't stick to what is working for them-or even try it with out why??? they rather have many different ideas and try many different things instead of just what works. so I try to have sites and info. where they can feel like they have researched it for them selves. sometimes-it does come down to -just trust me. this will work.UGGGHH Thanks again John-always a pleasure
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John C. Schwentner |
That is right, you have to research your information for back up in print sometimes. Just for fun awhile ago I surfed the web on the portrait lens subject. If you want something to put in stone, go to one of the sites, just type in "Best portrait lens". You will see a lot of opinions, but the pros on there are saying the same thing, 85 to about 135 for the best proportion. Im like you in that I been doing this for over 30 years and know its true, but proving it to an inquiring mind is tougher, they gotta have the bible
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