First photoshoot

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Danny1988

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Daniel
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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? Camera settings? Best equipment?

Any advice would be appreciated
 
Did you not consider those things before you booked the gig?

Gear? - whatever you have that you're comfortable using. Nothing will spoil the shoot like you not knowing your gear.

Poses? my advice would be let her play naturally

Settings? The right ones for the shot, whatever you'd normally do.
 
It's my very first shoot as I say. I have the location in mind. An yeah hoping to just let her play naturally. But would like some shots of father and daughter. Settings. First time so no settings I'm used to
 
No one can tell you what settings to use, I may as well ask you how I should cook my dinner without telling you the recipe, sure you could tell me not burn it or undercook it but ultimately that isn't much help. The settings will be dictated by the scene and the light at the time.
 
Danny1988 said:
It's my very first shoot as I say. I have the location in mind. An yeah hoping to just let her play naturally. But would like some shots of father and daughter. Settings. First time so no settings I'm used to
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I don't want to sound negative, mostly because photography isn't that difficult to learn.

But the usual pattern is, learn photography, then offer your services.

You can't seriously expect to offer your services and hope that someone else will be able to give you the recipe for success.

The one serious factual answer I have about 'settings'?

Photography is never about settings. Not rarely, not sometimes, but never.

The 2 important decisions you make are 'where to point your camera' and 'when to press the shutter'.
 
Danny1988 said:
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?
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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.


Danny1988 said:
Camera settings?
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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.



Danny1988 said:
Best equipment?
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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?


Danny1988 said:
Any advice would be appreciated
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You're welcome, although you're probably not best pleased with the replies you're getting.
 
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Danny1988 said:
An yeah hoping to just let her play naturally.
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You'll do much better if you have some strategies up your sleeve for encouraging and managing her play. Even if it's only have a teddy / ball / kite / bucket & spade. Perhaps stage some races against her father. Maybe a splashing or wave jumping contest? Stone skimming? Sand angels? You get the idea. Go and have a think, and then start to visualise how you might compose each of your ideas into a photo. Don't get stuck on your plans though; you'll still need to be flexible.
 
Are you being paid? Or has your friend agreed to be practiced on

Camera settings depends on the conditions and what artistically you are going for. However, if the child is running around you'll want a quick shutter speed to avoid any blur 1/250 or higher maybe
 
To be honest if you don't understand your camera and you are doing this shoot for someone else your best bet re settings is to put it in full auto *(green box) - while its not perfect the engineers at canon/nikon /wherever will probably be better at picking the right exposure, dof, and w/b than you will be with no real knowledge

*that said, before i'm burnt at the stake for heresy, if you want to learn to use your camera you need to take it out of full auto and engage with learning how the PASM modes work and how their settings influence exposure, dof, subjet movement etc... but the time to be learning this is not while doing a photoshoot from which someone else expects results
 
Simon (Juggler) is right - get something up your sleeve, as otherwise you'll all be dithering and wondering what to do...

And take a tripod, remote release, and a reflector! (or if you are comfy with OCF, that and a big soft box/umbrella..... and something to weigh it all down with! ;)

Good luck, don't be frightened to make them move (and this means giving them really clear instructions, or putting your hands on them and positioning them - keep looking at what you've got in the back of the camera, and LAUGH!!! It's all about enjoying the moment and capturing the joy and love between father and daughter.

Really looking forward to seeing what you get, and don't forget - you will be your own worst critic - what you think is rubbish might be the most cherished photo by your clients :)
 
BBR said:
Really? OP may disagree when he gets back and his pics are completely under or overexposed;)
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Missed the point somewhat.

Phil V said:
Settings? The right ones for the shot, whatever you'd normally do.
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We both know, the right 'settings' aren't something that can be decided days away over the Internet. ;)
 
BBR said:
Really? OP may disagree when he gets back and his pics are completely under or overexposed;)
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Let's be honest though, learning to take a correctly exposed photo isn't rocket science, and is rarely what makes a great photo anyway. Also, pointing out that a photo is underexposed, or over exposed is not going to stop that person getting their exposure wrong unless we know WHY they got it wrong in the first place. Plus, you rarely see the correct response to that in here, which incidentally is trying to get beginners to stop processing their images until they've mastered exposure, as only the experienced among us can see past it to the underlying problem. I've lost count of the times I've seen threads in here where people are praising work that is a result of processing past poor camera work, and hiding it in a 1000 pixel JPEG on here.

Learning "settings" is useless.

HopefulM said:
Simon (Juggler) is right - get something up your sleeve, as otherwise you'll all be dithering and wondering what to do...

And take a tripod, remote release, and a reflector! (or if you are comfy with OCF, that and a big soft box/umbrella..... and something to weigh it all down with! ;)
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We don't know what level the OOP is at. If he is a beginner (which if he's asking what settings to use he may be), then don't you think that may just confuse him? Also if you are dealing with a beginner (find out first)... stop using silly three letter acronyms until you are sure the person probably understands them or not.


HopefulM said:
putting your hands on them and positioning them
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Caution here for several reasons. First of all, if you're not dealing with models (and often even if you are) that will NOT inspire confidence in the sitter at all, as they will just become a scared, nervous wooden mannequin with no personality - they'll end up waiting for you to pose them all the time like a stop-animation puppet, and when you have posed them,, they'll freeze, scared of moving in case they "ruin" your careful posturing. Secondly, it's not a good habit to get into if working with children as some parents don't take kindly to having their kids manhandled into a variety of poses. A good portrait photographer doesn't need to manhandle their sitters into poses. A good portrait photographer knows how to get the best from people without resorting to that, and sees their personality and acts upon it, encouraging the best features and behavior from their sitters. That requires good social skills, and a great personality. You can't teach those things, they come naturally with experience... and ultimately have nothing to do with photography. As a beginner, being told to physically pose your models will be the kiss of death to any Photoshoot. Can you imagine going to a photoshoot as a customer, and meeting this nervous, un-confident person who proceeds to grab my arms and hands, and head, and starts forcing me into poses I wouldn't ordinarily do, or I am not comfortable being in? Sorry... I'd walk out, or away very quickly.
 
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Well I guess the problem is no one here knows how much you really know about your camera and photography. If I was you I'd probably learn to use p mode and exposure compensation as a start...
 
Danny1988 said:
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? Camera settings? Best equipment?

Any advice would be appreciated
Click to expand...


Let's reset this thread, as it's starting to pretty much ignore the OP and is probably not teaching him much.

@Danny1988

Go along. Have fun. Don't worry about settings - if you're not confident with settings, then just use auto for now.. practice this stuff at your leisure when you're not under pressure. Let them be themselves... watch them for a while. Is she naturally cheeky, outward, confident, or quiet, shy and thoughtful... when you come to pose shots, bear this in mind and don't get her to do things she wouldn't ordinarily do. If Dad asks you to, then shoot it if you want, but it will not be among the finals I reckon. Parents are not photographers, and rarely understand what makes a good photo that they will treasure in 20 years time. As an example: You may have taken a great shot of a shy child, looking a little.. well.. shy, and the parents don't like it because she doesn't look "happy". One of the skills you'll need is how to convince the parents that in 10 years time they'll want to remember their child as she actually was, not as some construct they make up at the time to try and fix their child's perceived personality flaws. There's a lot of psychology in portrait photography.

Just have fun... post up the images when done, and let's talk about them.
 
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J Veitch said:
Well I guess the problem is no one here knows how much you really know about your camera and photography. If I was you I'd probably learn to use p mode and exposure compensation as a start...
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Having work available will give you an indication though. I'm not interested in how much someone knows about their camera... that will teach me nothing.

I agree though.... in this instance, he should forget settings.... let the camera take care of it. He can learn manual exposure control when he's under less pressure, and more relaxed and able to learn by his results.
 
Danny1988 said:
I am a new member. Phil! Everyone who's tried to be supportive. Thanks.

Those who just think they're smart an trying to insult [emoji867]
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Phil is one of the most surpotive members here

and you've been a member since february 2nd 2014

In August '15 you were saying you wanted to shoot wildlife and landscape and get paid for it ... the overwhelming advice was to learn to use your camera properly before you statrted thinking about getting paid , and here you are again a year later still wanting to earn money when you havent got a clue how to use your camera

you can see why we get frustrated
 
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Danny1988 said:
I am a new member. Phil! Everyone who's tried to be supportive. Thanks.

Those who just think they're smart an trying to insult [emoji867]
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Anything in particular you felt wasn't supportive?
I thought I'd given some sound advice based on many years of actually doing this.
However I'm happy to accept feedback if you feel I didn't help. Every day is an opportunity to learn for all of us.
 
Ok. so now we're back on topic...
Beach location, but what time of day? I'd reckon late afternoon will give you the best light, ie after 4pm and even later if you want golden hour.

As for gear your profile says you have a Nikon D3100, do you have just a kit lens or any other lenses?
If you only have a kit lens, then I would suggest (if you are willing to spend a little cash) getting a 50mm f1.8 lens or perhaps the 35mm f1.8 as these will allow you to keep a shallow depth of field and separate the subject from the background.

As for settings, what has been said above is true, there's no "standard" settings for x scenario. And particularly when shooting outside, the light can change rapidly so you have to adjust constantly (or let the camera adjust for you).
Have you tried P/A/S/M modes yet? If not, might I suggest you try A mode (aperture priority). Set your ISO either to auto or to ISO 100/200 depending on how sunny it is. Then go into A mode and if using the kit lens, set the aperture as low as you can (ie f3.5), or if using a 50mm f1.8 lens set it to f2.8 (not too low that you struggle to keep people in focus). This will allow you to get a nice blurred background and the camera will pick the right shutter speed for a "correct" exposure.
If the shutter speed goes below 1/160 or you're getting motion blur, then put the ISO up to 400 or more to allow the camera to get a faster shutter speed.
Kids move pretty quickly, so a fast shutter speed is very useful.

I would personally ignore the idea of a tripod, remote shutter release and reflector because you're going to be following a child and parent around a tripod is pointless, a remote shutter release is only useful if doing long exposures (which you're not going to do with a kid). A reflector might be handy if you are used to using one, but on a beach with the wind is not the best place to use one without an assistant to hold it for you.

The biggest thing in outdoor photography is knowing where the light is. If you're not using flash or a reflector (to fill in shadows), avoid shooting into the sun, the background will end up too bright with the subjects looking dark. If you shoot with the sun behind you (the photographer) you're more likely to get a decent exposure.

Here's a few useful tips: http://www.lightstalking.com/how-to-shoot-a-picture-perfect-beach-portrait/
 
As above, there's no way I'd be carting a tripod to any location shoot, let alone chasing a kid on the beach.

But I probably know nowt.
 
Pookeyhead said:
We don't know what level the OOP is at. If he is a beginner (which if he's asking what settings to use he may be), then don't you think that may just confuse him? Also if you are dealing with a beginner (find out first)... stop using silly three letter acronyms until you are sure the person probably understands them or not.




Caution here for several reasons. First of all, if you're not dealing with models (and often even if you are) that will NOT inspire confidence in the sitter at all, as they will just become a scared, nervous wooden mannequin with no personality - they'll end up waiting for you to pose them all the time like a stop-animation puppet, and when you have posed them,, they'll freeze, scared of moving in case they "ruin" your careful posturing. Secondly, it's not a good habit to get into if working with children as some parents don't take kindly to having their kids manhandled into a variety of poses. A good portrait photographer doesn't need to manhandle their sitters into poses. A good portrait photographer knows how to get the best from people without resorting to that, and sees their personality and acts upon it, encouraging the best features and behavior from their sitters. That requires good social skills, and a great personality. You can't teach those things, they come naturally with experience... and ultimately have nothing to do with photography. As a beginner, being told to physically pose your models will be the kiss of death to any Photoshoot. Can you imagine going to a photoshoot as a customer, and meeting this nervous, un-confident person who proceeds to grab my arms and hands, and head, and starts forcing me into poses I wouldn't ordinarily do, or I am not comfortable being in? Sorry... I'd walk out, or away very quickly.
Click to expand...


I'm not one for having a moan on forums, and I wholeheartedly agree about not manhandling models - but OP mentioned it was a friend which suggests a degree of familiarity and trust (otherwise friend might not have asked for photos), and sometimes people just don't 'get' how you want them to sit/stand/arrange their hands (even if you stand right next to them and show them LOL!) and if appropriate, moving someone just a little yourself can make a difference - perhaps being a female photographer makes things a bit less awkward ;)
I'm sure there are many of us that have repositioned a brides dress, hair, flowers, and hands to get an image that is both beautiful and tells a story, and 'moving' someone does not mean twisting them into all kinds of shapes and odd positions at all -

And yes, you're right - I didn't think he might not understand what OCF meant, but I didn't expect to be told off about it LOL!

We all have different experience levels, styles, ways of handling situations, and what may work for one person might not work for another - and I'm pleased you took the time to comment on the points you disagreed with, but it would be nice to have a thumbs up where I suggested enjoying the moment, laughing and capturing the joy? ;)
 
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