Outdoor Group/Portraits: Advice Please...

Mr Jones

Mr Jones

Mr Jones

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I've been invited to shoot a few family outdoor group and portrait shots on Sunday in Scarborough. Depending on weather, we'll be doing out door shots by the beach and surroundings. (Forecast to be cloudy with 20% chance of rain)

Anyway, the group consist of 3 different families. About 8 to 10 in total. I've been asked to do individuals (there's kids and tots) and family shots.

I have enough kit for a shoot like this, apart from say an outdoor lighting like umbrella and limited to only 1 flash gun, remote or onboard. (See sig)

The shoot will try and in-corp the seaside, family, fun, kids, maybe some autumn feel if the venue is suitable. Will start shooting after 2pm (if the time of day is of any importance).

I'm looking for the experienced photogs to impart me some basic dos and don'ts for a shoot of such nature. Maybe even some examples and I'll try and pick up the trick or idea from there.

Much appreciated.
 
I don't have any examples of my own, but I suppose i could google some examples.

My chosen pieces of advice, would be these.

1. Go on stock websites, for poses, and setup ideas. Its been done before so save yourself the headache of trying to think up compositions like some genius and just get a basis for a better picture. here

2. Learn how to use fill in flash effectively with a home made reflector/umbrella or on low power (so you dont bleach out). This is a very important thing to master as outside is going to give you very contrasty shadows around the eyes and nose. this

3. Shoot away from the sun (with it to your back, if its out) and use a fairly low depth of field, backgrounds are boring, and low depth of field makes everything look interesting. (obviously better on headshots and single people that groups, vary up and down the more or less difficult the scene is)

If i were doing it, those would be the things i would do first.
 
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Thanks Chronic, I'll keep them in mind. Will look for some poses - have been for a couple of hours now :)

I don't have an umbrella that's white, but I have a reflector, tripod and flash stand, so might try and make it ghetto, would it be good to fill flash / reflect directing into the subject from the side or from the front? (or would it be dependent on the light available?)
 
Mr Jones said:
Thanks Chronic, I'll keep them in mind. Will look for some poses - have been for a couple of hours now :)

I don't have an umbrella that's white, but I have a reflector, tripod and flash stand, so might try and make it ghetto, would it be good to fill flash / reflect directing into the subject from the side or from the front? (or would it be dependent on the light available?)
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yeah depends if you have the sun above to the right or left, just try filling in the gaps to stop shadows. Thats why i said try shooting with the sun to your back if possible, but if that not, cause the background would be pap, then just fill in from the opposite side.

The main problem I would foresee is going to be the cloudy part. This is going to mean that your going to get bright flashed people and dull darker backgrounds.
I can only suggest that you exposure for, or even over expose the background. You would be able to work this out nicely if you had a light meter. (alternatively manually take photos of the background until it looks nice then use those setting) Then assuming the people will be darker than the sky (they will be unless there are lights on them!) use the correct amount of fill light to bring the person to the correct exposure. Your flash on ettl should be able to do this, or just do some fiddling with the flashes/reflectors position and distance.

I often think if you want to see quick results on a large screen so you can accurately adjust then, shooting with a long tether to a laptop, if your camera can do it, is a good idea.
 
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ChroniC said:
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I often think if you want to see quick results on a large screen so you can accurately adjust then, shooting with a long tether to a laptop, if your camera can do it, is a good idea.
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I will be outdoor and carrying a laptop (one man show) will be very tricky, so I'll rely on the screen, histogram and light/shadow preview on the camera. I understand about exposing the background before using the flash to ETTL, fill flash my subjects. Tried that before with sunsets :)

syke said:
www.adamfrater.com/uploads/PhotoPoses.pdf has a few ideas for poses :)
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OMG! That is Brilliant! I love you syke! I mean it.

Phate said:
I know this may sound stupid but make sure the sun/light source is behind you and the subjects are facing it. It's an easy mistake to make :)
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I've got that chiselled in my eyes now :)
I will however try some shadow shots with the lights behind, just for some fun...
 
Thanks dude, it went really well, I hope the pictures come out OK.

Luckily I knew the girls, although I haven't seen them for years. I am quite good at stepping up the confidence when under pressure, so this helped. But best advice I can give you is try and keep talking, keep interacting with them as much as possible.

I found that joking with them, making them laugh, and keeping them directed helped a lot. Luckily they were all very good at keeping the chat going between them as well, it just sometimes took me to say "Hello? the camera is here!!" to get them back on track again, but it was really nice and light hearted fun. Try to avoid silence as it's awkward. If it does go silent, make a joke about it and that should get things going again.

Not sure if this helps, but just some of my thoughts from today.

Good luck dude!
 
Thanks SS, I'll keep the chatter going - especially when it comes to shooting for complete strangers, I'll have the keep it going otherwise awkward silence will reflect badly on the pictures...
 
Just a couple of quick edits before I head back to doing my uni presentation work due for tomorrow!
PB081036.jpg


PB081145.jpg

I know the last shots is abit more saturated that needed but for some reason I love the colours.

By the way, working with both Kids and Dog ARE HARD!
 
Looks like you dealt with the conditions really well. One thing I found out from shooting 5 people this weekend is, take as many photos as you can, as it seems rare that all of them are smiling and with eyes open at the same time. A couple of the shots you posted have people with eyes closed or looking in the wrong direction. I think you did a fantastic job seeing as you were dealing with some many people, and a damn dog!!

Good work dude.
 
ScarySquirrel said:
Looks like you dealt with the conditions really well. One thing I found out from shooting 5 people this weekend is, take as many photos as you can, as it seems rare that all of them are smiling and with eyes open at the same time. A couple of the shots you posted have people with eyes closed or looking in the wrong direction. I think you did a fantastic job seeing as you were dealing with some many people, and a damn dog!!

Good work dude.
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Thanks SS, I'm still learning and yesterday's session really gave me a lot of experience to shooting outdoors, big groups e.t.c. I had to check by zooming in every pictures I take to see if all eyes are open. Thus the need to shoot multiple times - see dog moving.

Here's another few more edits: C&C please as I need to learn more post shoot and improve on it next time around.

PB081089.jpg


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PB081161.jpg
 
I have found myself on portrait shoots only checking every 8-10 photos to make sure light is right. Otherwise I am just snapping away. I'd rather have 10-15 shots of the same thing just in case. It's actually quite cool, as you can flick through a series of shots taken in the space of about 1-2 seconds, and pick your favourite.

For example, my shoot with Helen recently, I have LOADS of her laughing, so I scroll through (it's almost like a stop animation movie) and just pick the most appropriate :)

It's also the best way (in my experience) of making sure you get a shot with all eyes open :)
 
I'll try and machine gun abit more next time :)

Also, can anyone help me check if my images are exposured correctly? It seems alright (well, within reasons) back at home on my laptop but in my university monitors, the colours look way too saturated and underexposed. Any input?
 
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