Advice please

ShoeQueen

ShoeQueen

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Lynn
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A friend has asked me to take profile shots for a website for a new business.

I'll just have a D90 with kit lens and a 50 mm 1.4, and I'll probably borrow a flash but I want to do as good a job as I can. Any suggestions on poses, location etc? Or any examples anywhere I could look at to get ideas?
 
It looks good to place people in their environment, so maybe you could have them standing by the lugnut press in the lobster shed , or maybe camping it up in the back of the hearse?

.. but, seriously.. without an indication what your friends business does this is all just hot air..
 
Alastair said:
.. but, seriously.. without an indication what your friends business does this is all just hot air..
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Doh...! Just shows how much I have to learn. Its for a mentoring type consultancy - basically I think they just want some up to date profile shots, fairly simple I guess. I'll talk to them again and see what they want, just thought it might be good if I could think about it in between. I want to do the best I can as it will be a learning experience for me, as well as hopefully getting good shots of them that they like.
 
The key word is mentoring.. so friendly, approachable and knowledgeable.. are they shirt and tie type people or open collar type people?

Do they want to include clients (or someone pretending to be a client) in the shot to illustrate the relationship? (consultancy is more about relationships than anything else).

Who are their clients? (the wants the want as well as the ones they have)..

Oh.. and check *exactly* what format they want them in. I started to replace the profile pics on our website (to replace some really bad, impersonal professional shots - but directed by a merketing type - that made us look like The Mob) and only afterwards was I told that they all had to be in portrait orientation with a non-standard (but very specific) aspect ratio. Try and get the pixel dimensions of the final image and their orientation.
 
Alastair said:
The key word is mentoring.. so friendly, approachable and knowledgeable.. are they shirt and tie type people or open collar type people?

Do they want to include clients (or someone pretending to be a client) in the shot to illustrate the relationship? (consultancy is more about relationships than anything else).

Who are their clients? (the wants the want as well as the ones they have)..

Oh.. and check *exactly* what format they want them in. I started to replace the profile pics on our website (to replace some really bad, impersonal professional shots - but directed by a merketing type - that made us look like The Mob) and only afterwards was I told that they all had to be in portrait orientation with a non-standard (but very specific) aspect ratio. Try and get the pixel dimensions of the final image and their orientation.
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Thanks! Really helpful. Defintely an open collar type person, motivational and good at building relationships. I like the idea of shots with a 'client' - an 'over a coffee chat' shot - will see what they think about that.

I do need to check format - the website is still being set up, and how many they want.

Thanks, I've a bit more to think about now. :D
 
I now have my own camera, a 50mm 1.8 and a flash. Meeting next week to try some shots - not sure if should bring my friend to my house or go to his, or try somewhere else? I'd love a 'coffee shop' type look as I think he'll be doing some of his work in that sort of informal setting. Probably not going to work too well for outdoor shots given the current weather.

Any hints or tips appreciated.
 
ShoeQueen said:
I'd love a 'coffee shop' type look as I think he'll be doing some of his work in that sort of informal setting.
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Talk to your friend. I'm a business consultant (although more technical adviser than mentor) with colleagues that are business mentors. Coffee shop is definitely not the professional image they would want to present.

It's probably impossible to show mentoring with just one person. A second person will be required, either an actual client or someone playing the role of a client. A generic office can be used, but it risks looking like a stock shot. Talk to your friend, see what ideas he has, see what look he wants.

I was supposed to be shooting something similar with a colleague this morning, but I'm laid up with man-flu. The plan was to use a client that my colleague has had a recent success with. The shot will include my colleague, the client and the product. It will be used alongside a "war story" describing the project and its successes.
 
Try bouncing the flash off the celing or a wall, it'll give softer lighting.
 
Alastair said:
Talk to your friend. I'm a business consultant (although more technical adviser than mentor) with colleagues that are business mentors. Coffee shop is definitely not the professional image they would want to present.

It's probably impossible to show mentoring with just one person. A second person will be required, either an actual client or someone playing the role of a client. A generic office can be used, but it risks looking like a stock shot. Talk to your friend, see what ideas he has, see what look he wants.
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I've already bounced the coffee shop idea and he liked it. But it was just an idea and I'm happy to change it.

I agree will need to get a second person involved. But I think we can do this over more than one meeting, so I'll just see how Tues goes.

swanseamale47 said:
Try bouncing the flash off the celing or a wall, it'll give softer lighting.
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That definitely helps and is one of the reasons I got a flash. I hate the flat washed out look of on camera flash. Got some nice quick portraits of friends at a social event on Sat night by bouncing off ceiling. I've tried shots at home with it bounced off ceiling, behind me, to left and to right, and found which works best. Also think I can use it off camera?
 
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A decent 5 in 1 reflector disk and someone to hold it would help as well. You can pick them up for about £40 (the spare body may be a bit extra though!).
 
Hi, I'm not a professional photographer looking for business, so please don't take this the wrong way, but perhaps your friend should hire a pro to take pictures for his new site. If he really wants it to look good he needs someone who knows what they're doing.
 
:agree:
No suprise there! Astounds me that people who are a 'complete beginner' think they can take this on!
 
gabe said:
Hi, I'm not a professional photographer looking for business, so please don't take this the wrong way, but perhaps your friend should hire a pro to take pictures for his new site. If he really wants it to look good he needs someone who knows what they're doing.
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awp said:
:agree:
No suprise there! Astounds me that people who are a 'complete beginner' think they can take this on!
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Despite my comments, I'd encourage the OP to try this. Making absoultely sure the friend has realistic expectations. After all, the friend can try a pro afterwards.

I've had two experiences with professional photographers for business portraits and neither were positive experiences.

The first - I needed a basic head and shoulders portrait. The first half-dozen or so photographers in the phone book didn't answer the phone. The one that did was dis-interested and produced a mediocre end result, but I was in a pinch and short for time. He was more interested in persuading me to take a financial risk on fronting an exhibition of his Afcrican wildlife shots. He spent the viewing session complaining why he was having difficulty colour matching his prints since switching to digital.

The second - a professional photographer that dazzled a business into following his artistic vision of what the photographs would be. And quite frankly produced some technically brilliant artistic masterpieces. Unfortunately they were cold, impersonal, bore little relevance to the business and as such were technically brilliant crap.

So Lynn, go for it. Get your friend involved in the concept, have fun with it.. and make sure your friend understands it's a learning experience for you.
 
So, all pro photographers are crap by your definition, while the only decent ones are amateurs, or beginners who've never done it before? I think there is a bit of a flaw in your logic here, perhaps you just went to the wrong people. It's a bit like someone who has been in two failed relationships with members of the opposite sex who then declares themselves gay or lesbian from now on, without ever stopping to think that they've just never met the right person.

Returning to the topic of photography, are we to take that the only way to ensure that people are good photographers is that they should never train to a high professional standard, and do it for a living?
 
ShoeQueen said:
A friend has asked me to take profile shots for a website for a new business.
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this was the opening line of this thread.

what's the point of sledging the pro vs amateur thing. i think the OP has had some useful pointers here and it sounds like her friend is willing to let her have a bash. It's not for us to decide 'who' takes the pictures..

let's just have a look at the results and we can then offer impartial and helpful crit :shrug:
 
gabe said:
So, all pro photographers are crap by your definition, while the only decent ones are amateurs, or beginners who've never done it before? I think there is a bit of a flaw in your logic here, perhaps you just went to the wrong people. It's a bit like someone who has been in two failed relationships with members of the opposite sex who then declares themselves gay or lesbian from now on, without ever stopping to think that they've just never met the right person.

Returning to the topic of photography, are we to take that the only way to ensure that people are good photographers is that they should never train to a high professional standard, and do it for a living?
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Nope. By my logic the OP has nothing to lose as long as both parties understand the situation and have appropriate levels of involvement.

Someone get out of bed the wrong side this morning? Mistake the Bisto for the Gold Blend?
:coat:
 
In my experience, when a business wants to use someone without experience it usually means that they want to do something on the cheap. It also means that the people involved in the so-called business are not very professional themselves! So, in the end nobody learns anything.
 
DemiLion said:
A decent 5 in 1 reflector disk and someone to hold it would help as well. You can pick them up for about £40 (the spare body may be a bit extra though!).
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Good point Mark, been meaning to get one of these anyway after getting to use one at a studio night at camera club, so might as well get it now.

Alastair said:
So Lynn, go for it. Get your friend involved in the concept, have fun with it.. and make sure your friend understands it's a learning experience for you.
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Thanks for the encouragement Alastair. :D My friend is fantastic at motivating people and that's what he's doing here. The 'website' thing was probably him thinking of a good reason why I could practice, its not that he's been looking for a pro and has decided to ask me cos I'm a friend and he's trying to save money.

Just because he's asked me to have a go doesn't mean I'm going to make a complete mess of it...hopefully! And how am I ever going to learn and get experience if I don't try things like this?
 
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