Beginner In Need Of Lighting Help ASAP!!!

[Chriss]

Humour? This has nothing to do with humour. You think your post was funny?

 

[KmH]

...... My technical photographic knowledge is painfully limited as a result of inept public highschool staff,...

A teacher can only be as good as the student is.

You won't learn enough in a couple of days. Not being familiar with the tools you will be using is another insurmountable, in the time frame, issue.

Don't put the camera in B&W mode. Make color images and convert to B&W post process.

Direct sunlight at mid-day in the summer is the worst outdoor light possible. Put her in open shade. Open shade, not dappled sunlight.

Put the camera in P mode, and set your expectations accordingly.

Good luck.

 

[KmH]

however you deal with profanity.

They use an automatic filter that changes the cuss words to *****, even though context leaves little doubt what the word is. :er:

 

[Chriss]

Ah, so your ignore list is how you deal with problems... Anyway, sorry guys, the people on this forum have just been pissing me off recently. I'll leave now.

Erin, good luck on the shoot, I hope all goes well. Take the advice the others have given you and use it. Good luck!

 

[ErinElizabeth]

thank you Chriss i wholeheartedly agree.. I've seen threads on here where people are being told to give up on photography altogether.. it's pathetic! But I think the shoot will be okay.. I got lots of advice from different sources yesterday and spent alot of time reading and when I did some test shots they turned out well

 

[ErinElizabeth]

KmH, I disagree with your statement about students and teachers. I would normally agree, however when a student is willing and wanting to learn and a teacher won't teach there is not too much you can do but try to teach it to yourself.. which often limits how well you understand the material. I do, however, agree about not using b$w mode.. I already hate using b&w mode.. I prefer to adjust images on the computer

 

[kric2schaam626]

ghacha, your helpfulness knows no bounds.... -.- please keep only to useful comments on this thread or don't comment at all.. I am looking for legitimate advice, not asinine comments.

You will get those around here. They feed off replies like this so watch out! You might be the sweetest little bell sitting behind your computer asking a legit question but some of these "junkies" have heads too big to go anywhere other than their computer - and this website!

 

[e.rose]

@ some of the back and forth on this thread. ::shakes head::

My technical photographic knowledge is painfully limited as a result of inept public highschool staff, therefore I need any advice I can get about shutter speed, aperture, sensitivity, how to properly use f-stops and ISO settings, and whichever other topics relate to my needs.

Don't blame your teachers. A high school course, no matter where you go, isn't going to teach you *EVERYTHING* about photography. You're blaming people for failing to spoon-feed you information. There are photographers here, including myself, who have *NEVER* had a course in photography... we're completely self-learning.

With that said, if you're school library is limited... go to a local public one. If THEY are limited, then go to a bigger city one. If you live too far from a bigger city, then use the local library's interlibrary loan system, assuming Canada does that, to *get* books from the bigger city library.

I know you've come here for *extra* advice... that's totally fine... you'll find *really* great advice here and I think some of the advice you've been given is the best they can do with the time frame that you have. Don't rely on here *only* though. Google is your friend. :sillysmi: And that's not to say that you *haven't* Googled... but there is a plethora of info on the net from which to learn from.

Basically what I'm saying is don't blame others for your shortcomings. You have to take initiative.

Anyway... follow the advice in this thread, and good luck on your shoot! :sillysmi:

 

[newatdslr]

nobody's mentioned it , And i am not sure if it will help in your situation , But i would say try and use a tripod as much as you can to assist in getting focus nice and sharp , The reason i say this is I am also a Noob , But everything i Have read on the internet say's use a tripod whenever possible , Good luck , Post pics . OH yea look up maternity shoots on google that will help you get an idea of what positions to place your subject

 

[Village Idiot]

I really gotta say I'm getting pissed off at people like you, ghache. This gig may bomb completely due to the lack of photographic knowledge of the OP, but you have two options when it comes to that:

A) Ignore the thread, and don't post your useless bull****.
B) Tell the person that the shoot will most likely not go well because of that same lack of knowledge, and the person should therefore either make a decision to pass on the gig, or to stay up all night trying to read up on photography and its fundamentals.

This photo forum has turned into a bunch of useless, judgmental **** filled with drama. And a good amount of you posters are so ****ing self-absorbed that you can't even own up to the fact that you are being complete assholes. And I can already see replies to this post: "Your the one being the asshole, blah blah blah." I don't give a damn. I was going to leave this forum anyway. There are quite a few people on here who are helpful, smart, and are willing to share their knowledge by all means. Look at the difference between your post and Derrel's post, ghache. Really?

Thanks for lettin me rant. You can ban me now, or however you deal with profanity.

haha!! you dont have much sence of humour dont you? have a good day sir.

If you don't like his lack of humor, you should go to a forum for comedians!!!!!!!!111!!oneone!!!one!!!111

 

[AgentDrex]

Tripods may make for sharper photos, but they are at a completely boring level. Sometime you could try for a nice maternity silhouette shot. Open shade and a reflector will be just fine. Compositional ideas: Stand on something so you are higher than the subject...get really close...back far away...lay on your belly and shoot upwards...make it a game of tantric photography...try all positions at least once and see which one feels better...

I'm sure you'll do or did just fine. Let us know how it goes/went.

 

[gsgary]

ghacha, your helpfulness knows no bounds.... -.- please keep only to useful comments on this thread or don't comment at all.. I am looking for legitimate advice, not asinine comments.

He gave you good advice because this is going to end up like a train crash

I really couldn't care less what you think.. I'm only looking for advice, the people turning this thread into a train wreck are the posters like yourself who feel the need to be infuriatingly useless, so kindly refrain from posting at all unless you intend to make yourself useful.

I could tell you exactly how to light it and set your camera but with your experience you would not be able to put it into practise, you say you are using a camera that you are not familiar with and your technical photographic knowledge is painfully limited

 

[AgentDrex]

Yes, and this is a good thing. I'd rather teach someone who had no computer skills than teach someone who has bad habits. My advice was fair. She'll have to figure out the lighting and how to use a camera. Anyone over the age of reason (three) can figure out how to hold a camera...move it up...down...closer...farther...tilt...pan...zoom...dolly...etc....

I'm not sure if we even know her camera. So I don't know how we could tell her exactly how to light it. We don't know the weather conditions in her area, the skin tone of her friend, the position of the sun during her photoshoot, the amount of shade in the shoot location, her focal length, her aperture settings, the size of the reflector, the term of pregnancy, etc. and so on and so forth and what-not. Without all of that information, how can anyone be qualified to tell her exactly what to do?

 

[MWC2]

OP - Chilliwack's public library is a pretty nicely stocked library in the Fraser Valley, plus what ever books it is lacking they will be more than happy to borrow from other library's in their network (I believe it's most of the libraries in the Fraser Valley belong to the same network). Chilliwack High School was a pretty good high school when I was of that age, not sure what it is like now, but it was a pretty high ranging school back in the day. I knew plenty of people that went to school there and didn't have any issues besides the normal "it was High School" ones.

I can't help you with settings, etc because I don't know what the conditions will be like when you are out shooting. I do hope the weather holds up for you and you are able to get a couple of good shots of your wife, if not, I'll be happy to point you in the direction of a great photographer in your area. (ohh what I would give for beautiful BC weather right now).

 

[Derrel]

...... My technical photographic knowledge is painfully limited as a result of inept public highschool staff,...

A teacher can only be as good as the student is.

You won't learn enough in a couple of days. Not being familiar with the tools you will be using is another insurmountable, in the time frame, issue.

Don't put the camera in B&W mode. Make color images and convert to B&W post process.

Direct sunlight at mid-day in the summer is the worst outdoor light possible. Put her in open shade. Open shade, not dappled sunlight.

Put the camera in P mode, and set your expectations accordingly.

Good luck.

See, Keith's advice is basically the SAME as mine...OPEN SHADE is easy to work with...a large, open, shaded area, like in a park has plenty of room, and usually will have a 100% foliage/tree background, which is not distracting, and is easy to work with. One person asked why I suggested setting the ISO to 400. ANother person made his typical useless remark, blindly suggesting not following my advice of using ISO 400. The reason for ISO 400??? Well, it stems from 38 years' worth of photography experience I have, going back to the days of ISO 100 color print film, and ISO 64 slide film, and ISO 125 Plus-X B&W film for almost a decade of personal photography: ISO 100, and even ISO 200, is to LOW FOR SAFETY when a newbie is at the controls and shooting hand-held in open shade. I can attest to that al;so from having worked for a couple of years at a photo store where I saw the photofinishing of hundreds and hundreds of amateur snappers: 400 ASA film yields BETTER results with a beginner than any other film. Period.

Second, when shooting in Program mode, which both me, and Keith suggest, using the lower ISO settings like 100 to 200 or even 250, the camera will quite often sense that FLASH ought to be used. One wants to avoid using a pop-up flash unless one really knows what one is doing--hence the suggestion to keep the ISO at 400. Third: ISO 400 provides an almost ideal mixture of shutter speed value and aperture value when working in Open Shade lighting. It is better, far,far,far,far better to have a slight bit of digital noise, and a SHARP image, one made with an adequately fast shutter speed, rather than a low-noise, well-exposed blurry smear made at Base ISO. This is why ASA/ISO 400 is so good!!!

The OP came on, mentioning nervousness, and lack of knowledge and experience. It's just like a game when the starting quarterback goes down, and then the backup gets hurt, and then you have to put in the least-experienced QB--you need to "simplify the playbook". That means first off, elevating the ISO to 400, and shooting with Programmed auto, in a simple park-like situation, in Open Shade lighting (not dappled sun light, but a BIG, OPEN, SHADED field!!!), and having the camera set to ENSURE adequate shutter speed, no pop-up flash, and adequate DOF to compensate for any missed focus errors on the part of the operator.

My advice is **exactly** what I would do if say, I broke my eyeglasses and had to shoot this session myself on 10 minutes notice...