stupid question of the night.

[bribrius]

if you are suppose to take portraits with the camera positioned slightly above eye level. And the person is over six feet tall. How am i supposed to get my camera that high since the tripod doesn't go that tall? And i was wondering how i am supposed to focus and see the live view if i do.

 

[KmH]

I usually wanted my camera slightly below the subjects eye level.
Stand on a small stack of apple boxes.
I used a Foba camera stand.

 

[pixmedic]

bigger tripod.
stepstool.

 

[Light Guru]

Have them sit down?

There is NO rule that says you always have to be positioned above the persons eye level.

 

[bribrius]

I usually wanted my camera slightly below the subjects eye level.
Stand on a small stack of apple boxes.
I used a Foba camera stand.

dude. i am from maine. You really think i am going to spend 40 bucks on a wooden box and four grand for something to put a camera on?

that was informative though. I didn't know such things existed...

 

[bribrius]

bigger tripod.
stepstool.

yeah the tripod i have is just under five feet tall extended (i think). For some reason i thought i was supposed to be eye level or above a little though.

 

[Dave442]

Now when my wife and I had our wedding photograph the photographer had the camera above or around my eye level, she used a small step-stool while focusing. I think that this worked well with the large format camera and the tilt that was applied gave a nice pass from our heads and upper bodies from being in focus to the out of focus lower portion of the photo.
With 35mm I have gone the opposite direction sometimes and lay on the ground and shoot up. When I do shoot from eye level I pull out the old Bogen and usually an old hard case to stand on.

 

[bribrius]

Now when my wife and I had our wedding photograph the photographer had the camera above or around my eye level, she used a small step-stool while focusing. I think that this worked well with the large format camera and the tilt that was applied gave a nice pass from our heads and upper bodies from being in focus to the out of focus lower portion of the photo.
With 35mm I have gone the opposite direction sometimes and lay on the ground and shoot up. When I do shoot from eye level I pull out the old Bogen and usually an old hard case to stand on.

so basically i need to get the camera higher than five feet........ sorry for my ignorance. But what is different about 35 mm that you are laying on the ground and shooting up?

 

[480sparky]

Build an anti-gravity machine to place below your camera.

 

[Dave442]

The advantage of shooting 35mm over any larger formats is the ability to shoot from many different positions in a relatively short time.

 

[dennybeall]

The 35mm reference brings back old memories for some of us. When we had the speed graphic 4X5's it was all you could do to raise that sucker up in the air or down low but the 35mm (Nikon F in my case) was like a feather. Hold it way over your head - hit the trigger and thumb the film advance. Bam, Bam, Bam - go through a 36 exposure roll in a minute.
The subject determines the angle in my book. How does the subject look best. It could be high, level or low - the RULE IS - How does the subject look best. If a "One Trick Pony" tells you to ALWAYS do something a certain way - be suspicious - be very suspicious.....

 

[deeky]

I ran into this this week with a headshot. I'm 6'7" and not only was the photographer too short, but I was taller than the background that was on a tripod.

My advice for people too short is generally to grow up and then handhold.

 

[Ysarex]

Drone.

Joe

 

[TCampbell]

People tend to presume the height of their own eyes when they look at a photo.

If it looks like the camera had to "look upward" to see the subject, then that subject is "tall". If the camera got to "look downward" then that subject is perceived as "short."

So... you can make people look taller by lowering the camera just slightly below eye level. You can make them look shorter by raising the camera a little above eye-level.

I'm 6'4". If I don't deliberately lower my camera a tiny bit, everyone looks "short" in it.

 

[bribrius]

thanks guys. For the record i am 6'1". not real tall, not real short. Mostly i was wondering about camera positioning at eye level or a little above as i read somewhere that is generally where you want to be on a portrait shot. Appreciate the feed back.