Photos in the park in Autumn ?? Help.

[smurf4t]

Hi all

Apologies if this is the wrong place for my thread.

I'm planing on doing some shots in our local park which has loads of beautiful trees and lovely autumn setting. I'm planing on shooting kids, a few lively running around shots and a few portrait type shots. I have a canon 60d , canon 70-200 l lens , a canon 24 -100mm f/4 l lens. I'm leaning towards my 70-200 to use for this shoot? But I'm not convinced yet ? Any suggestions on camera settings and which lens would be best ? Taking into consideration that kids move fast ... Also any other suggestions ? Like shooting under trees ( well on the edge to maximise light but minimise glare ? Thank you.

 

[Netskimmer]

Why not take both? Start with the 70-200 and if that isn't getting the job done, swap'em out. I don't know much about Canon lenses but assuming the 70-200 is a 2.8 you'll probably want to stop it down a bit or your DoF could be to narrow for fast moving kids. (If your AF grabs the kids nose, you don't want their eyes to be soft) You should probably take a flash if you have one. The flash could be used as a fill. (trees could mean dappled light) and could help you to freeze the action.

 

[smurf4t]

Why not take both? Start with the 70-200 and if that isn't getting the job done, swap'em out. I don't know much about Canon lenses but assuming the 70-200 is a 2.8 you'll probably want to stop it down a bit or your DoF could be to narrow for fast moving kids. (If your AF grabs the kids nose, you don't want their eyes to be soft) You should probably take a flash if you have one. The flash could be used as a fill. (trees could mean dappled light) and could help you to freeze the action.

Would you use a diffuser / soft box on the flash and point flash straight at them ?

 

[Netskimmer]

I would probably shoot it straight at them since you'll (presumably) be in a large, open area which would make bouncing the flash ineffective. Since you will more than likely be pointing the flash directly at them a soft box would really help soften the light. Portraits aren't usually my thing so you may want to get the opinions of some folks here that are more experienced with them.

 

[Big Mike]

If you can find some areas of open shade (not in the sun, but open to the sky), then you likely won't need to worry about flash.

The trouble with using flash outdoors during the day, is that you usually have to keep the shutter speed under the maximum sync speed (1/250 on your camera, I think). If it's a nice bright day, that will likely mean you need small apertures (maybe F8 etc.) That, in turn, means that your flash will have a limited range and your DOF may be deeper than you'd want for portraits.

If you don't use flash, you can use a wide aperture and any shutter speed you can get away with. Usually a much more simple operation.

 

[Derrel]

Shoot in an area of a large expanse of open shade, with the sun BEHIND your subjects, acting as a rim light. Set up the flash and expose around f/7.1 or so at 1/200 to 125 at a lowish ISO, from 100 to 125 to 160, depending on how bright it is, and then use a 40-43 inch umbrella aimed at "the shooting area", from 15 feet away...this gives you EVEN LIGHT...that's why the light is so far back!!! Moving the umbrella light "back" gives the kids, or the teenager, some area where they can walk around and "move" in, and eliminates the need for super-precise main light placement and or super-precise exposure calculations, since the degree of light fall-off at 15 feet is pretty minimal. It's a quick and easy way to shoot on the run outdoors. It's good when you want a large area just kinda lighted up, so you can shoot and not have to fret too much about a kid moving too close or too far, or wandering out of the shooting area. Here are a couple of down-rezzed proofs, shot using this method in open shade, with one umbrella as the Main light, then using backlighted landscape as the background. Shot using a 70-200 at I believe f/7.1, ISO 160. Not my best work, but it's what I have that was actually shot IN A PARK,and not a very pretty park either, on this drive right now today.

 

[smurf4t]

Shoot in an area of a large expanse of open shade, with the sun BEHIND your subjects, acting as a rim light. Set up the flash and expose around f/7.1 or so at 1/200 to 125 at a lowish ISO, from 100 to 125 to 160, depending on how bright it is, and then use a 40-43 inch umbrella aimed at "the shooting area", from 15 feet away...this gives you EVEN LIGHT...that's why the light is so far back!!! Moving the umbrella light "back" gives the kids, or the teenager, some area where they can walk around and "move" in, and eliminates the need for super-precise main light placement and or super-precise exposure calculations, since the degree of light fall-off at 15 feet is pretty minimal. It's a quick and easy way to shoot on the run outdoors. It's good when you want a large area just kinda lighted up, so you can shoot and not have to fret too much about a kid moving too close or too far, or wandering out of the shooting area.<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=22887"/><img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=22888"/> Here are a couple of down-rezzed proofs, shot using this method in open shade, with one umbrella as the Main light, then using backlighted landscape as the background. Shot using a 70-200 at I believe f/7.1, ISO 160. Not my best work, but it's what I have that was actually shot IN A PARK,and not a very pretty park either, on this drive right now today.

Thank you for the great advice. I'll go and practice this weekend.