Outdoors Portrait Help....Please

[Fleetwood271]

I've been asked to do some portraits for a co-worker and his girlfriend this Sat. Since I've had my DSLR, I've focused mainly on still life, flowers, nature, and other areas common to us beginners. I have very little experience with portraits.

Can anyone give me some tips that will help me capture the best images I can for this couple? Posing tips possibly?
Or if you can suggest a website, or give me a link, that would be helpful.
I can order a book and have it shipped overnight, if there is a book that you would suggest.

My camera is a D90. I have a few lens (which you can see in my signature), but for portraits, I will probably use the 50mm 1.8, or the 24-75mm 2.8.

Even though this is outdoors, the location they have chosen is a waterfall, which is almost entirely shaded. I only have one shoe flash to use, but I do have radio triggers, so I can move it off camera. I have stands and umbrellas also.
Any lighting tips would be helpful.

I guess I am just nervous that I will be responsible for these pictures. I am confident in my abilites, and have no problem when I am taking pictures for myself, whether it be of my family or still life shots for contests, etc.

I just want this to turn out right for them.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

 

[Derrel]

The biggest issue in open shade is two-fold. First is the excessively blue, cold look that can occur, or the equally ugly excessively GREEN light you're likely to encounter in Tennessee during the springtime in the woods. Overhead trees often bring a sickly green cast to the light, and shade, combined with overhead trees, can lead to some pretty weird, ugly flesh tones. So, it is critical to shoot in RAW mode, so that the color balance and white balance can be shifted in post processing, to get a nice "look". The second issue one runs into in working in open shade is slowish exposures, due to the (relatively) low light levels. This low light makes it important to watch the shutter speeds; it's possible to allow the shutter speeds to drop so low as to cause subject motion blur, or camera shake, or a little bit of both. You want to avoid that, by keeping the aperture at a reasonably large size, so the shutter speed is fast enough to stop subject motion,and prevent camera shake. Take a Custom White Balance off of a white towel or a gray towel, or set the WB to SHADE, or set the Degrees Kelvin to probably 6500 or so. In Photoshop, sometimes a Photo FIlter, 85 Series Orange, can be applied to cut that excessive green that the woods so often causes.

MY basic suggestion is to use the D90 at ISO 250,320,or 400, and to use the Vivitar 285HV right on the hotshoe of the camera, as an on-axis fill/eye-sparkle provider, and to shoot the flash at around 1/4 to 1/8 power or so from 10-15-20 feet away, using a VR-enabled lens,or a tripod to keep the camera steady, using wider lens apertures like f/4.5, and shutter speeds of around 1/180, 1/200, 1/250 second. The ISO used is critical here, and I am giving you the range I think will most likely be needed. The ISO is your "background exposure" control, and that is why I am suggesting ISO's above the 200 baseline, and more toward 320 or 400. The range of shutter speeds that is safe to use with longer lenses (remember 10-15-20 foot shooting distances) and which are suitable for daytime fill-flash is rather narrow, so you NEED to keep the ISO settings "up" a bit.

Never let the lure of baseline ISO (like 100 or 200) get in the way of making good pictures. Feel free to shoot at 400,or 500, or even ISO 640 with a D90 if you need to.

 

[Fleetwood271]

Derrel,

Wow! Thank you very much for all the info! I really appreciate it. I haven't had much of a chance to get back to the forum since I posted the question, and when I get back, I see you answered pretty much all my questions.

I will be shooting in Raw (and JPEG basic).

You're comments on ISO are very helpful.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge Derrel.