Tips on Taking photos of people

[chantal7]

So this summer I'm going to be taking a lot of photos for family and friends. Graduation pictures and one wedding. Mainly because they don't want to pay for professional photos. I don't have any elaborate stuff to take photos with however. I was wondering if there were any tips / advice I could get from you guys. I'll be posting some pictures next month after the event. I just started to look around for some tips, but nothing too elaborate for someone who only has a Canon xti, a tripod and a flash.

Any tips would be great, I appreciate your time!

 

[skieur]

The eyes are most important. They should be sharp, clear, bright, the appropriate colour and free from red veins and such.

Don't cut the body at joints such as wrist, fingers, elbow, knees, etc and don't have ears or other body parts too close to the edge of the frame.

Get the skin colour correct and don't have dark hair blending into the background.

Do postprocessing to eliminate blemishes and reduce wrinkles and other skin problems.

Check out on the Internet, how to pose models for portraits. There is a technique which takes some explaining.

Use a reflector or fill flash when appropriate.

Make sure that the clothes, jewellry, etc. on the person fits the "look" and does not distract from the eyes, face, expression of the model.

Just a few basics to get you started.

skieur

 

[spiffybeth]

you should do some practice shots, first

 

[chantal7]

you should do some practice shots, first

I plan on doing that; with my brothers grad and some random ones of some of my family in the park

Thanks skieur I'll keep those in mind; I don't think they're wanting me to go as far as post processing the photos, though. I read something about fill flash which didn't make sense; but then maybe I'm making it more complicated than it really is. Not sure what you mean by reflector, though?

 

[plentygood]

Fill flash is really simple and a great tool when you start using it. Basically, it's just using your flash when there's sufficient light for the shot, but the subject or areas of the photo (particularly faces) are too dark. It "fills" the dark areas with light. It often applies when a subject is backlight (like shooting towards the sun).

Check this out:
http://www.danheller.com/tech-fillflash.html

The pictures of the guy with the hat are what first showed me what fill flash was. You'll get the hang of it after you use it a couple of times.

Reflectors:
http://www.lastolite.com/reviews/Think-Camera-Reflectors-Review.pdf

Basically what a reflector does is mirror/reflect light back onto a subject. You'd aim it like you were trying to shine a light on that area with a mirror or something shiny. It bounces light back at the subject to squeeze more out of the available light.

 

[saltface]

I usually don't take pictures of people, but I've heard that using a 100mm or so lense is optimal for portrait:
Close enough to interact but far enough away that people don't freak out about the camera in their face.

 

[chantal7]

The only equip I'm using is my flash and camera. I don't have money for these extra things, and I'd look like a fool using them cause I'm inexperienced with them. Thank you for your time and helping me out

 

[saltface]

If you're looking for cheap ideas, pick up a piece of white poster board to use as a reflector.
Or as I do in Arizona, a shade to even out shadows. I'm not worried about too little light!