Portrait photographers, do you.....

treeman

treeman

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when shooting portraits on location in or outdoors, do you show the client the images straight away on a laptop, as a guide to how the shots will look?

I ask because I took my first portraits (with a digital camera) at the weekend of my wife, and as soon as the first shot was done she wanted to look on the LCD to see how she looked. Which was quite helpful to both of us, but I could imagine on a client shoot it could be a bit of a pain.

What do you folks do?
 
I give my pictures away for free


oops wrong thread sorry.

Seriously, I don't do that, it's not a good reflection of reality and anyway it takes them out of the mindset I want them to be in
 
treeman said:
when shooting portraits on location in or outdoors, do you show the client the images straight away on a laptop, as a guide to how the shots will look?

I ask because I took my first portraits (with a digital camera) at the weekend of my wife, and as soon as the first shot was done she wanted to look on the LCD to see how she looked. Which was quite helpful to both of us, but I could imagine on a client shoot it could be a bit of a pain.

What do you folks do?
Click to expand...

I took a few photos of kids at a nursery shoot & let them see themselves on the screen. It made the super happy and they started to play up as a result.

Gary.
 
I find when shooting kids it's good to show them the images on the LCD, they love it!

Also let them take a photo themselves, well, press the shutter button anyway, they seem to love doing it and happy kids make for a better shoot!

Dave
 
I never show a client shots straight from the camera. Only finished work, which after all, is what they are paying for. I do let them have a go with the camera if they want to though. I delete any shots better than mine (only joking;))
 
Agreed - we didn't open-up the camera to show the client the unprocessed film in the old days - why would you show them the unprocessed digital image?
Plus it may give them an unrealistic impression of how many images they'll be recieving...

Makes me rage whenever the Bosses ask me how many images I shot on a job - just because I took 100 shots doesn't mean I'm going to give him 100 finished images - they get the images you decide to give them.
 
I do sometimes. You need to judge whether there is a benefit in doing so and each individual shoot is different because you have different people in front of you.

I did a pre wedding shoot a couple of weeks ago and the couple were quite tense to start with, I got what I knew would be a couple of crackers so I showed them on screen on the camera and they instantly relaxed and started to have fun. Their wedding day was great and they just got better and better in front of the camera.

It's not an easy one to call but I do ask myself "Is there a benefit to either myself or my subject"
 
AliB said:
I do sometimes. You need to judge whether there is a benefit in doing so and each individual shoot is different because you have different people in front of you.

I did a pre wedding shoot a couple of weeks ago and the couple were quite tense to start with, I got what I knew would be a couple of crackers so I showed them on screen on the camera and they instantly relaxed and started to have fun. Their wedding day was great and they just got better and better in front of the camera.

It's not an easy one to call but I do ask myself "Is there a benefit to either myself or my subject"
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That sums it up nicely for me too :)

Kids love it, and it can be useful to coerce them into doing something again if you didn't quite get the timing spot on

For adults, I only ever do it to help them relax and prove they 'do take a good photo' as most think that's not the case

DD
 
I think there's a difference between showing children images in the back of the camera and showing the client the images on a laptop.
If people aren't relaxed sure you'll show them a few/get kids into it. not the same as immediately showing on laptop.

L
 
:agree:

...this was the senario on my recent photo shoot ... helped one of the subject relax after seeing initial shots on the LCD but I would only show if I was happy with the shot otherwise the opposite may occure.

Paul
 
keirik said:
I give my pictures away for free


oops wrong thread sorry.
Click to expand...

this kind of comment is both unhelpful and unwanted. Its bad enough in here at the moment without people shoving coal on the fire. Please think before posting..
 
- we didn't open-up the camera to show the client the unprocessed film in the old days
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True-but in the old days, we did have a thing called a Polaroid back. I used it when the client wanted to see how the lighting looked but film was never cheap, so tried not to encourage it.

I agree though, maybe I'll just use it as a "lightener of mood" when necessary.
 
unpaid stuff but to help people chillax and get into the mood of the shoot I sometimes show any corkers on the LCD. As ali said its working out whether showing the lcd will help or hinder the progress of the shoot
 
treeman said:
True-but in the old days, we did have a thing called a Polaroid back. I used it when the client wanted to see how the lighting looked but film was never cheap, so tried not to encourage it...
Click to expand...

I used one myself, many times - in fact I think it's still in the basement with all my other Hasselblad kit...

Unless you were doing a shoot with an art director, I'd still hold off - as you say, that was more to check the lighting correct than anything else...
 
AliB said:
I do sometimes. You need to judge whether there is a benefit in doing so and each individual shoot is different because you have different people in front of you.
Click to expand...

Is precisely my train of thought too. It does totally depend on what your shooting.
Some clients can be very particular with their requirements, viewing on a shoot, whether it's from my laptop or from the camera's LCD has saved an awful lot of time.

Shoots don't always and aren't always planned to every miniscule detail (although I try my damn best), as we all know, there can be 'variables' that introduce themselves at the last minute :)

I like to have a little contingency on set/location, in case the client wants to expand or explore new ideas. It's a visual thing so let them be a part of it if it's productive and not counter productive. Editors, clients, colleagues and subjects can add to the creative process, if you think their involvement is a benefit, then show em.

Then there are instances where allowing the client to see the images on set is not necessary or benefical, so the only time they will see them is after the post.

It's all about assessment really, if your shooting a wedding ceremony and you've just shot a show stopping frame, you won't pop up on the Altar and show the B+G your LCD and say -

'This one s'nice ain it?'
 
In the studio, maybe, sometimes the odd one if/when we are swapping things around. Usually I'm just chatting, clicking away until they just aren't aware of the camera anymore.

In Sri Lanka, all the kids wanted to see their picture
 
with the digital output on the back its nice to show someone the shot
as mentioned when abroad photographing people its courtesty to show the image to them
for their approval..
if its a bar owner



...buy them a drink
a laptop isnt necessary and may not give such a well presented image as the rear screen
the one on my camera is a bit small but does the trick and i can enlarge and edit in the camera and then save...so i can do the cropping there and then and show the image in a more uncluttered way
 
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