Advice would be amazing!

[NathanHuff]

Grettings everyone... sadly I have no knowledge on photography other then I love to just take pictures and then use Fireworks MX on them to try to clean them up.

However, I friends that own a business and I took some pictures of it for my own Facebook and well, now its turned into my own personal nightmare. They asked me to do a photoshoot this coming Sunday, and I honestly have no clue what to do. I know that harsh light can be bad and too much soft light can be just as bad. The beast of the matter is they want an outdoor shoot! I GOT NO CLUE WHAT TO DO!

I use a Nikon D40 DSLR with just the standard lense.

Can some of you please give me some ideas for time of day (Joshua Tree, CA, so Desert) and if I should grab any tools to assist in this? I know they are not expecting a professional but I dont want to dissappoint them as well. I think my only saving grace is that they want all Black/White photos.

Here is the photo I took in their salon that got me in this bind.

Thank everyone in advance for your help in this matter, and I look forward to actually learning anything I can!!!!

Nate

 

[TaraW]

Just a question...why didnt you just tell them that you aren't comfortable doing it? If its a "nightmare" then it doesnt sound like something that you should be doing...

 

[TaraW]

I really like that picture though!

 

[NathanHuff]

Just a question...why didnt you just tell them that you aren't comfortable doing it? If its a "nightmare" then it doesnt sound like something that you should be doing...

It's not so much of a nightmare to acutally do the task, its more of a nightmare to fail. I really want to bring something to the table for them ya know?

I just dont know enough about photography to ensure I cover the basics. I usually just point and click and keep maybe 1% of all the photos. I would be editing and looking through photos for a year with shooting 20 people.

So If I could at least step in the right direction I know I got a shot. I will have huge reflectors and defusers to help with light.. but other than that.. Im out of my league. So if I can pull a poker hand and win on the river Im all in! :mrgreen:

 

[TaraW]

Its just kind of hard to give advice. Outside or inside shoot, what are you shooting etc? Take lots of pictures. Sometimes you take 100 pictures and only keep 25 of them or so. When I was really starting out, I took a ton of pictures at different settings to teach myself what worked best etc. Id be out practicing every day if I were you, honestly. Hell, I go out and practice at least once a day on random things if I have a chance.

 

[SrBiscuit]

shoot for sunrise or sunset. the hour around those events is known as golden hour. check your sun schedule for your area.

also, there are free programs that might suit you better than fireworks. if im not mistaken, that program is really for making web friendly graphics...which is great...for the web. i have no experience in fireworks, but i would imagine you would find picasa or gimp rather useful.

reflectors are a good idea. will yoou have any additional lighting available?

 

[NathanHuff]

TaraW,

Thank you for taking time to post something first of all.

To answer your question the Salon I will be shooting love Vintage themes, so from what I was informed we will be doing something along the line of the 60's film, "Kill Kill Pusscat Kill" or something like that. I watched some clips of it and laughed hysterically! Regardless, it will be late 50's looks with desert and rocks being the back drops. I have amazing settings to work with and what not.. just not sure on how to approach the lighting and what not.

I told them we should start the shoot around 6:30pm when the sun is at an angle... then we could progress into the shoot later with the sun setting and the light becoming softer for some more candid type shots rather than posing.

But as mentioned in the original posting, Im attempting this with the Nikon D40 and stock lense. It's funny cause I dont have a clue about what f/ is or apurature (sp?) and all that.. I just point and click.

So any ideas.. just spill them :hug::

 

[Mustlovedragons]

I would think that if you know so little and have such trepidation, you should maybe take a pass until you are more comfortable in your own camera bag, as it were. Practice, practice, practice.

However, if you are going to proceed, I'll pass on the best advice that I ever got. Treat each shot as if it's the only one you can take. That will get you to really look at and think about what you are doing, the composition, lighting, etc. Don't approach it with a "well, if I just take 300 shots then at least some will turn out" and also dont approach it with the mentality "well, I can always just fix it in Photoshop later". Pay attention to what you are doing before you take the shot and you will have less work (and regret) later.

Next, take a day or even two and go to the site and scout it out, first. Take some practice shots. Take notes of ideas that strike you as you are standing there with less pressure than when you will have your camera to get to work.

 

[NathanHuff]

shoot for sunrise or sunset. the hour around those events is known as golden hour. check your sun schedule for your area.

also, there are free programs that might suit you better than fireworks. if im not mistaken, that program is really for making web friendly graphics...which is great...for the web. i have no experience in fireworks, but i would imagine you would find picasa or gimp rather useful.

reflectors are a good idea. will yoou have any additional lighting available?

I have Photoshop CS as well for editing.. but just use MX for the simplicity of it. As far as other lighting, no.. just the reflecters/dampiners and the good ole sun.

I did plan to shoot during the "golden hours" as you mentioned.. about the only thing I knew might be crucial.

I will look into Picasa though! Thanks!

 

[AdrianC]

Lol, its aperture.

If you don't know the basic technical side of photography, it may be difficult for you to get the right picture. Shooting in auto mode doesn't always give the best results.

 

[NathanHuff]

I would think that if you know so little and have such trepidation, you should maybe take a pass until you are more comfortable in your own camera bag, as it were. Practice, practice, practice.

However, if you are going to proceed, I'll pass on the best advice that I ever got. Treat each shot as if it's the only one you can take. That will get you to really look at and think about what you are doing, the composition, lighting, etc. Don't approach it with a "well, if I just take 300 shots then at least some will turn out" and also dont approach it with the mentality "well, I can always just fix it in Photoshop later". Pay attention to what you are doing before you take the shot and you will have less work (and regret) later.

Next, take a day or even two and go to the site and scout it out, first. Take some practice shots. Take notes of ideas that strike you as you are standing there with less pressure than when you will have your camera to get to work.

Yea, they don't expect too much from me ( I think ) however, I wanna FLOOR THEM!

Your advice is amazing! I never though about scouting out the areas and taking some shots to get an idea of lighting and different poses to use.

Brilliant, much noted and appreciated! I also love the "pass on" advice. I will take it to heart!

 

[NathanHuff]

Lol, its aperture.

If you don't know the basic technical side of photography, it may be difficult for you to get the right picture. Shooting in auto mode doesn't always give the best results.

I have learned this the hard way with only being able to keep some 1% of the photos out of hundreds in the past lol. Alas, Youtube seems to be winning me over with the instructional videos on digital photography!

 

[TaraW]

ABSOLUTELY go check the area at the time that you are going to be shooting. It sounds like a pretty big shoot for someone that has no experience. If they are ok with it, then thats cool. But I dont even think I would attempt it and I have been doing shoots for a while now. Keep in mind that they are probably going to ask you poses and composition ideas as well.

 

[kundalini]

Jump in with both feet, but ask for a little more time to research..... as you're doing now.

Perhaps rent some more / better equipment if they'll pay for it. This is gratis, yes?

I don't know why you think that B&W is your saving grace.

It's all about light and controlling it.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90mlK8ktV68[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7qEgl2uQHg&NR=1[/ame]




Oh yeah..... do yourself a favor and bring at least one other person to assist you.

 

[NathanHuff]

ABSOLUTELY go check the area at the time that you are going to be shooting. It sounds like a pretty big shoot for someone that has no experience. If they are ok with it, then thats cool. But I dont even think I would attempt it and I have been doing shoots for a while now. Keep in mind that they are probably going to ask you poses and composition ideas as well.

Gotcha.. yea. It is kinda overwhelming acutally. They are my dear friends, but they are rather known. They have 2 major salons; one in Boston called Liquid and one in Palm Desert, CA called Peroxide. I don't wanna scare myself out of the shoot, but I think they might of asked me to do it for the purpose of getting those not so perfect picture looks and maybe to help me with my photography. I got no idea. Im flattered either way.

I'll post some of the pictures when I finish them all up.

Thank you very much again for your time as well as everyone else.