My first "pro" gig in progress...

bazooka · Apr 13, 2011

Hey all, I work IT at a TV station but I volunteered to take new photos of the staff (about 180 people) for a new intranet site and hallway monitor project we're working on. I actually built the site myself and am now tasked with taking photos for it so it's very much my "baby".

I had in mind just setting up lights on stands in our studio and having people come and get their photo as they pleased, but the GM instead wanted people in their environment. I knew this was going to be a LOT more work and take much longer because I actually have to hunt people down. We operate 24/7 so that's difficult to do working a regular shift like I do.

So what I've been doing is I have a manual flash on my hotshoe and a manual flash in a 1x1 softbox which I have on a VAL whose name is Eric. We've been shooting for two weeks now and have take photos for about 50 people. A few are great, some were not good at all (but good enough for this purpose). Some were mediocre or 'safe'.

At some point, I'll post some of the better ones but this is an ongoing project and will take at least another month to complete as we're only shooting maybe an hour or two a day, and not every day... just when we can get time.

The point of this post is to list what I have learned from this project and hopefully other newbies can learn something.

In no particular order:

1. Flash power settings are forgiving, especially when diffused.

2. I hate indoor ambient, especially flourescent. I don't seem to have a gel that neutralizes it. Tungsten isn't as bad.

3. Using a flash and ambient as two different planes is MUCH easier than using two ambient sources and no flash. I tried this with one of my subjects and it didn't work well at all, and we even had the lights on faders.

4. Shooting at 1/10th shutter speed and a normal focal length is ok with flash as long as I keep it as still as possible.

5. It's a bad habit to chimp after every single shot, which builds a wall between me and the subject.

6. It's also a bad habit while chimping to audibly pick apart the shot which lowers the subject's confidence, even though it has nothing to do with them. I'm really working on this. When I chimp, I say something positive or nothing at all, even if it's dreadful. Even if they blink, I need to stop saying they blinked.

7. Before taking photos, find exactly what the 'client' wants/needs. It may look good to me, but it may not be useful for it's intended purpose. The opposite is also true fortunately.

8. Spare batteries.

9. VAL is better than a normal lightstand. Most of the time.

10. Splotchy sunlight on the subject is bad, bad, bad.

11. Adjacent walls opposite my key or behind me make really nice fill light when bounced off of.

12. My optical trigger flashes are GREAT!

13. Non Canon flashes will not trigger a Canon slave.

14. Some people enjoy having their photo taken and are helpful in the creative process, some people are neutral, some people fear it like a colonoscopy.

15. I hate flourescents.

16. If the hood on the Tamron 17-50 isn't screwed on all the way, I can see it at 17mm.

17. Don't forget portrait compositions!

18. NEVER EVER take just one shot, even if it looks perfect on the LCD. No excuse for this. It may be out of focus.

19. Never take just one composition. Do several so I have options.

20. Photography is sweat inducing and back breaking work.

21. I hate flourescents.

mikehaugen · Apr 13, 2011

how do you feel about florescent lights?

bazooka · Apr 13, 2011

HATRED!!!

rehab · Apr 13, 2011

positive about that?

mikehaugen · Apr 13, 2011

What did they ever do to you? Everyone likes a little green tint to their photos, just say it's an effect and took you a lot of time to perfect... call it art.

Big Mike · Apr 13, 2011

Great list. :thumbsup:

imagemaker46 · Apr 13, 2011

Like Big Mike said, it's a good list. The issue of chimping after every shot is a tough call, you're better off just shooting a couple getting a feel for the light and backgrounds and then just shoot away, a quick check if you change angles, but not deleting anything, that way you do stay connected to the person you're shooting. The ones that don't like having their photos done, may end up relaxing after a while, but it all depends on how much time you want to spend with each subject. Some I expect you'll nail right away, show them the image and if they're happy then move on to the next.

I've always found that some of my best portraits have either happened within the first 10 shots, or near the middle of a shoot, once people start to get tired at all, the images reflect that, again it's a call you'll have to make, but you should see the difference in how they start to act, that "are we done yet" look.

Stick with it, like you said it's your "baby" so the whole project will reflect on you and be appreciated by all those involved. As long as you're enjoying doing it, so will the subjects.

Robin Usagani · Apr 13, 2011

dont take it at 17mm man.. come on now. Your coworkers are going to hate you because they look 20 lbs heavier.

Hardrock · Apr 13, 2011

Good Stuff and YES florescents are horrible!

Oh and Congrats! Hopefully you are getting paid.

Robin Usagani · Apr 13, 2011

This was fluorescent from the dining room. I dont mind it as long as you dont mix it.

Derrel · Apr 13, 2011

Nice list of tips, Bazooka!!!

bazooka · Apr 15, 2011

Thanks guys, I was afraid this was post was going to drop off into the void or that noone may benefit from it. Glad you guys seem to be agreeing with my points.

Schwetty, the problem is I AM mixing the light... I have my flash and ambient. And it seems the green correction gel I have is either too green, or I'm barking up the wrong color tree. I think today I'm going to take a custom white balance of that room and try to find a gel that will match it before I do anymore shooting in there. It's just so difficult to tell because we've got standard long flourescents way up high in the ceiling bathing the whole room in light, but we also have some tungsten looking flourescents lighting up one of the walls which I'm trying to avoid shooting against. When I shoot with flash balance, the background is just so dingy and pukey colored, but I don't have a "puke" gel.

Also, I've been following matthewcoughlin's flickr and he shoots most of his shots at 17 and they look great. I'm not doing portraits at 17... just the environ's. The portraits are between 40-50 (crop sensor of course).

A few more for the list...

22. Working with someone with modeling experience is actually very helpful, as I have NO experience posing people. Not to mention she's not too bad on the eyes either.

I hope to get to work with here again. Does anyone have a book they'd recommend for posing for portraits (not really fashion-type stuff, but more formal)? Derrell, I recall you recommending a few, or maybe that was someone else.

23. About 25% of the people I've shot want a 'copy'. I don't have a problem with this as I'm getting paid by the hour and technically these are not my photos because I'm on the clock. And they are not asking me to shoot them.

24. Look around for unique objects that kind of makes a person's environment unique. I got one shot of a guy that had a sort of a glass ball held up by two lions on his desk... I had it in the foreground OOF but you could still see his upside-down reflection. Very cool.

25. Guys are much more accepting of having their photos taken than the ladies, generally. But a few guys are just as stubborn.

26. It's difficult to get enough 'flash light' onto a head-to-toe portrait with a flash in a 1x1 softbox, while still keeping the light soft. Next time I'm in that situation maybe I should just go hard light and flash the whole subject.

27. How you approach people initially can determine their response. A more professional and non-assuming approach seems to be working better than a "I'm hunting you down for the kill" approach. No crap, right? But my VAL is also doing a lot of the hunting and intial approach talk and I notice a big difference in cooperation when I'm doing it alone and when he's helping.

You know, I actually take that back. SOME people initially say no-way, but if we keep pressing them just a bit, all in a friendly way, they cave. One of my best shots was from a lady is very attractive and she's a manager, and she had that "I don't like this very much" look as she sat at her cluttered desk. It worked very well and really reflects who she is.

bazooka · Apr 15, 2011

Just found a solution for my newsroom lighting blues. Or should I say greens. I had been using what appears to be a full cut of green correction. This was too much and I could see some green on the subject with flourescent wb. I found some what appears to be 1/2 green (don't know the proper name for this color). I took a shot with flourescent WB and it knocked out the green, but everything was blue (I had ambient light knocked out.) I wasn't expecting this so I wondered if I could successfully combine gels. I added a cut of CTO and BOOM, magical white balance goodness! Now if I just had a gel color that was a mix of 1/2 green and CTO....

28. You can combine gels to knock out strange light!! (And the clouds opened, the seas parted, and the angels sang!)