Help! Shooting for a friend.

[woody12]

Hi, my car broke down the other week and my friend repaired my car free of charge on the condition I take some nice photos of him and his little girl, aged five for his family. He is from abroad and living here but does work as a mechanic! I was wondering if anybody has tips, videos I could watch. I have good understanding of the exposure triangle and composition but it's lighting and focus I'm not up to speed with. I have 35mm 1.8 lens which I hear is good for portraits. I don't expect he will want out of this world shots but would like to do the best I can because he saved me a packet by repairing my car! I know you have to focus on the eyes, but what happens when their are two people in the shot? Portraits as you gather is not my thing.

 

[Alastair]

Don't worry about it, unless you've bigged yourself up as the David Bailey of the new millenium you'll be fine..

Focus - know you're depth of field when you've got portraits of groups, that will keep everyone's eyes in focus
Light - big, soft light is flattering. That means open shade, overcast or large reflective/diffusive surfaces. No squinting into the sun.

The tough bit is directing and posing - avoiding awkward-looking poses and telegraph poles/lamp shades sprouting from heads. Look at a lot of portrait photos, look to see what works and what doesn't. Then don't rush on the day, pay attention to backgrounds.

 

[woody12]

Thanks Alastair, that's very helpful. He's seen some of my work, not amazing but I'm no David Bailey and he knows it. Anything I do in his words will be better, as his are blurred, heads cut off and no focus but hey I can't change the spark plugs on my car so each to their own. This is how it should work; you help me in return I do something for you, the result everyone's happy and no awkward conversations about money and vat.

 

[Alastair]

Putting father and daughter portraits into Google should give you a few ideas, there are several relevant Pinterest boards - the majority of which are best summarised as cliched, saccharine or creepy. But there are a few good ones.

Have a look at Clickin' Moms, it has some of the best child and family photography I've seen in one place - http://www.clickinmoms.com/blog/

This pin and this pin on Pinterest are interesting, and suggest that a) father and daughter doing something together, and b) doing something that puts their heads at or about the same level makes for interesting photos. It depends what you've got locally, but going out for a milkshake or ice cream, or a short train journey are a couple of scenarios where you're likely to get a relaxed/distracted dad and daughter and something interesting to capture. Much easier than trying to make something out of a stilted pose in the park.