Hi all. I've asked a friend if he would like a photoshoot with his daughter. My very first shoot. Looking at a beach location.
Can anybody give any advice with poses?
Have you asked them what they'd like? Formal poses? Informal? Candid? Show them some images and see which they seem to prefer. You've got to reflect who they are though. No point formally posing people who are naturally playful etc. You know the people, so you're in a better position to answer this than any of us.
Ok.. first tell us exactly how far away they'll be.. exactly how bright it will be.. exactly how you want the photo to look..
Seriously... if you need to ask "What settings" then you're not really ready to be taking photos for anyone, even if they're not paying. Did you explain that you're learning and not to expect much to the person(s) involved? If you did... just experiment and have fun. However, settings will change from day to day... hour to hour, and sometimes minute to minute. If you don't understand this, then you've still got a great deal of learning to do.
Photography is about subject.. nothing else. You won't ever get a great photo by learning "settings". Settings are just however you set up the camera for any particular shot, and as this changes from shot to shot, hour to hour, and minute to minute - there's little point asking. I often laugh when the first thing people ask when seeing a great photo is "What settings did you use?" - you'd think with all the available wisdom, tutorials and advice freely available online this question would have died by now. Even if they went to the exact same spot, with exactly the same equipment, they'd not be able to use the same settings I did
You work out settings
at the time, depending on what settings you need and this is dictated by what results you want visually, and what the conditions are like at the time. Even if I tell you I used f2.8... f2.8 on my medium format camera will look nothing like f2.8 on your crop sensor DSLR... and it also depends on lens focal length, and again, a standard lens for my medium format camera is 110mm, and yours will probably be 35mm. There's no easy way around this except learning. If you don't understand this, then just leave the camera on auto. Which is actually the only piece of advice I can confidently give you - If you needed to ask what settings to use, then just leave the camera on P (Program), or use the little pictograms if it has them.. you know... Picture of lady with a hat for portrait... picture of man running for action etc. I'm serious here.... if you need to ask what settings, those modes are for you.
If that insults you, I'm sorry but it's true. You need to learn how to use your equipment, then decide yourself what settings you need based on what you want to achieve and the prevailing conditions at the time.
The best equipment is what you have, obviously, unless you plan on buying stuff for this shoot. Again, we can't possibly answer you. What did you want to achieve? A long shot from a distance with an out of focus background, or a close up shot with everything sharp? Bright sunny day, or in very low light? Flash? Available light? Again... without knowing what you wanted to achieve this is a completely useless question that is impossible to answer, and even if we did, it's still difficult. We also don't know what equipment you have, so how can we recommend what to take. There's no point me recommending a 600mm f4 lens if you don't have one, is there?
Any advice would be appreciated
You're welcome, although you're probably not best pleased with the replies you're getting.