Anonymous
Lulz another shooting advice thread.

My best friend's family wants me to do some family portraits for them tomorrow. This raises two issues:

1. I've never taken photographs *for someone* like this before. Anything to be said on this point?

2. While I know my friend very well, and so obviously can and do take plenty of good, candid portraits of her, I have only met her parents twice and her sister once. Advice on how to work the subjects to get good photographs out of them, in a situation like this?
>> Anonymous
Well, you can drop your pants while photographing them. That should get them in a laughing mood.
>> Anonymous
>>54816
Anything less drastic?

Oh, and thank you for responding, even with a joke. I was worried this was going to be forever buried beneath the big debate thread.
>> Anonymous
I hate to bump a thread, but I'd really appreciate some advice.
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
1- I'm assuming you have digital, so you'll be fine & can see what each picture looks like.
2- Joke around, make them feel comfortable first.
3- meet with them ahead and time to see and find out exactly what they're looking for
4- be confident in your skills, but don't brag. That's bad.
5- Take lots of pictures
6- If you dont' feel comfortable, DON'T DO IT. If you worry about whether or not they're going to get the best bang for their buck, or if you're not sure you're really the right person to be taking the family portrait, walk away.
>> Anonymous
1. Use good even lighting (from above and behind you), diffuse it with umbrellas if you can.
2. Use tripod so you can make solid eye contact with the people while you work.
3. Don't put them too close to the background (the shadows will suck)
4. ?????
5. Profit!
>> Anonymous
Setting the camera at the level of your portrait subject's chest will make for evenly proportioned pictures.
>> Anonymous
>>55092

So will the double chins. ;)
>> Anonymous
focus on the eyes not the nose and use wide aperture
>> Anonymous
>>55105
huh?
>> Anonymous
>>55108
Focusing on the eyes will focus on most of the face and wide aperture leads to shallow depth of field, which makes everything blurry, apart from the subject's face.
>> Anonymous
>>55133
A diffusion filter would work better, if you want to hide wrinkles/skin imperfections.

You'd be able to light them easier and use a more 'normal perspective' or 'portrait' lens (instead of a super fast shorter one)
>> Anonymous
Thanks everyone who replied.

They want environmental portraits, so all the studio stuff is out. I'm actually glad about that, because posed portraits are something I haven't done much of. I do plenty of candid portraits, though: those along side street/documentary photography are the main things I do. So the main thing I'm looking for is how to get a more-candid-less-posed vibe going with people who I don't know well enough to take really intimate (in a non-physical sense, there's already a thread about that) photographs of but who aren't complete strangers.

It got called off today because of miscommunication: I have to leave town tomorrow; they thought I left town today.

>>55024
>the best bang for their buck
I don't plan to charge them. They're my best friend's family asking me to do something I enjoy doing. Money doesn't seem to fit in there.

>>55142
>A diffusion filter
The only filters I have are a set of mostly color filters picked up from a guy who used to shoot film and upgraded to a digital camera with a larger filter thread. Other than color filters, I've got a star filter, a soft focus filter, a neutral density filter, and a graduated neutral density filter.

Would the soft focus filter approximate this?
>> Anonymous
That's a good basic collection of filters.

Yes, soft focus is the one you want for portraiture, especially if you're in studio conditions.

Outdoors, you'll want a good fill flash unit
>> Anonymous
if your friend has a young sibling, I can give you this advice that I learned from the people I worked with at a sears portrait studio.


If you put a rubber duck on your head and sneeze to make it fall off, kids will find that hilarious.