Bad Portrait Session

brian_f2.8 · Dec 6, 2012

yes, honestly with kids too hard to get that many to pose correctly. for instance, i had 3 or 4 girls in the room at a time. i would tell the first girl to make sure her hair is back and to tuck in this annoying tag that kept popping out from their gloves. i had to repeat my self each time. these kids do not have the best attention span so yes keep it simple. i really wanted to play around with the lighting more and do something dramatic with just one light super fast shutter speed, low iso and f14 n beyond to illuminate just a side of the face or get really creative with just poses.

i have learned the difference between shooting one person opposed to shooting a team. also a model who knows how to pose n smile. kids giggle n smile too much. i dont min but im trying to get somewhere and there are plenty of distractions.

yes Derrell, i normally have a plan when i shoot. i have shot in the locker room before(head shots in 2010) i was just so pissed that the other locker room was that dark and it was my only option. i had 40 min to set up and shoot 30 girls before their practice. i thought i could balance things out in aperture/ps but NOPE!

keith foster · Dec 21, 2012

Hey Brian.
I shoot a lot of team and individual photos, probably 40 teams a year. I ALWAYS shoot RAW. In fact I have gotten so used to shooting RAW that I rarely shoot jpgs at all anymore.
Use LightRoom and it makes handling the files a breeze. Keeps them organized and you can export them in darn near any format you want.
My suggestion is to use 2 lights for these kind of shots. One to camera left and one to camera right about 5-10 feet from you. Raise them up so they are just above your head.
I aim the light on the left at the last person on my right and reverse it for the light on the right. I also recommend trying to shoot at f8 or more so get the depth of field you need for groups to get everyone in focus.
I think you are doing the right thing to reshoot them. It save you a bunch of time.
As for posing, you are going to need to take control of the kids and tell them what you want. If you get any flack just ask them to do it your way and then you will let them do whatever they want for a shot after you get what you need. It almost always works.

Good luck with the retakes and hope it all works out for you.

tevo · Dec 27, 2012

I'm not sure why you wouldn't shoot RAW... speed is not a concern in this scenario and lighting is... with RAW you can adjust +2- stops exposure and not lose detail. Why would you not give yourself this option? You can process RAW onboard your D7000 as well.