Ok class, settle down. Gtrman is out today he has gtrman stuff to do. Don't ask. Really.

Patty G!! put that straw away!

like all subsitute teachers, I'm going to show  a film first.

Here's the link.

http://thebschoolblog.com/index.cfm?postID=39

OK... lights on! The coolest part of being a sub is watching the kids wake up and blink their eyes when the lights come back on.

The gist of the film is to find good light and choose your backgrounds. Make them as simple as possible for your headshots.

The technique is good because it makes the background a small patch of ground. It's not hard to find a clear grassy area, or clear chunk of road in most places. As photographers, we own everything in the image. It's our job to find or make the right background, not explain why we couldn't.  I've been thinking about bringing a sheet to throw on the ground and have the model sit/squat on. Now I'm controlling the background even more!

Use the widest aperature you've got (smallest F number = 1.8 on the nifty 50, 2.8 -4.0 on the rest of your lenses). Have your model squatting or sitting.

Get above them, and close. Don't shoot so the subjects shoulders are square to you. A little twist is good.  Have them lift their chin a little (very slimming!!) Make sure they don't look like a poor Marie Antoinette on the chopping block. Make sure you're not getting too much cleavage on girls. Fix your angle if you are.

Focus on their eyes, take the shot!

The wide aperature and close range makes the eyes the center of attention, and smoothes the skin away from the eyes. Both are  good things. Less PP for you!

Watch the video, take some shots and post later today!

Dave

 

 

 

 

Very interesting.

Alot of the times I find myself looking so hard for the perfect background when we do a shoot outside, and sometimes its the simplest things that make a good one. Like the concrete in the video.

Thanks for posting. I'm going to practice this.

Dave,

Thanks for subbing for us. Do you hand out candy if we're good!?

Quick question... Should we be shooting in any particular mode? Can you give us some basic guidelines? (I started to watch the video, but I'm at work and I have to keep the sound low, even during my lunch break.) I'm anxious to get started!

I'm all about making it as simple as possible on myself.  I'm a big fan of setting the aperature, Av mode in Canon talk, not sure in Nikon talk. Once the aperture is set, then I make sure the shutter speed (picked by the camera) is at least 1/focal length . I  like it to be about 1/100 or faster if possible, even for my 50 mm. If it's not showing that speed, then I'll bump the ISO. Usually you don't have to go over 400 ISO.

 So:

50-100 mm lens

Start at 200 ISO

AWB

Fstop (Aperature) Smallest possible number = smallest depth of field = nice butta backgrounds

Adjust ISO so you get camera chosen speed at least 1/100

Have subject squat low to ground or sit, have them looking to you at an angle

Focus on eyes, recompose if necessary, but make sure eyes are in focus. If eyes are not in focus on any living subject, the picture probably isn't going to work.

Shoot, Chimp, show to subject when it looks good so they don't feel so goofy for doing  it.

 

Dave

 

 

ok we won't harass the sub too bad...

You've referred to the Becker Style in other post...now I know what your talking about!  Simple, simple, simple...it's a beautiful thing!!

Thanks--can't wait to play!! 

Ok Here we go. I dont have a lens with a real big aperture but went as big as possible. Ithink my daughters getting sick of me taking her picture though. Just noticed her eyes are bloodshot- she was in the pool all day.

Another question is how can you copy multiple photos from photobucket into a post without going back and forth to copy and paste?

Ok, here is my try.

I got one of 6 shots where BOTH eyes are in focus...so what did I do wrong?  Is it the angle...the settings..what?

My daughter just finished playing softball....so the messy hair is just because I made her pose for me :)

Ignore that......

here is one where only one eye is in focus.

I did nothing but crop and resize these...and very small crops btw...

And one more of one focused eye....

Forgot to add teach...

Nice movie..... this lesson seemed easy :)   Looks like it is proving to be harder than it looks....lol.....

Love it...Love it...Love it.

 

Great job everyone! These can be tricky. Try to have their heads more so facing you and you will more than likely get both eyes in focus. I did one of these on Monday. I don't have the SOOC resized but I will add it if that is the rules. I can't remember.

F1.8 ISO 100.

One eye in focus might be ok. Do you like how it looks? If not.. then have the subject turn their face toward your camera, just a smidge, and do the shot straight on.  

The idea is to get as much of this as possible in camera, and not much post processing.See what you can get!

Dave

 

First let me say that this lesson could not have come at a better time!  I promised myself this time last year that I would work on my photography so that I could take my kids birthday pictures (we usually take them in July)...so THANK YOU for subbing!

 I think everyone is doing such a good job and I can see all of us growing! Woo hoo for us!

 Pinto-I like the angle...give us an explaination of how she was sitting!  I want to try it for the birthday shots

 Mr. Sub- How would you do this for two subjects?  Say twins or a soon to be 4 and 6 year old???

~Neo

If there are two folks in the pic, you might have to close down the aperature, to like 5.6 or 8.0. so you can get both sets of eyes in the depth of field. When you are wide open your DOF doesn't leave a lot of room for error.  You'll lose some of the butta, but, you'll get the pic, with the background of your choosing.

These are my sisters at 5.6
Dave

 

 Here's one of them, at F2.8

Here's one I did on the 4th of July.

Stealing from Rick Sammon, always try to get red in the pics!

At f2.8 the close eye is nice and sharp, the far eye is just barely in focus.  

Dave

 

Ummmm...don't want to give the sub a hard time...but just wondering if it's OK to post shots that were taken before the assignment was given?? Just no access to any willing models right now, but do have some nice shots that I think fit the assignment...won't post one until I get the OK though!

 Uhhhh sure Lisa. I just did!

If no one tells the teach, then it didn't happen!

let's just keep it on the down low!

That's as long as you promise to do your homework too!

 

 

Thanks Dave.. promise I won't spill the beans!

Took this with my 50mm lens, just a few feet away from her, ISO 200, f 4.5, ss 1/125, and a reflector to add a little extra light to her eyes. I find that if I go much wider with this lens, I really lose focus on the eye that's further away. Hope to find some guinea pigs to practice this technique on this weekend.



Hope I'm not pushing it by posting a 2nd image! Just love how the sky above her created such awesome catchlights. This is one of my very favorite portraits. Again the 50mm lens, f 5.0 (not wide enough??), ss 1/160, ISO 200.

Those are nice Lisa. I'd say try some wide open next time and see what you get.
 

OK Class.

Teach is heading to the breakroom to get into his flask.

Ummmmmmm

I meant I'm going to bed to get up in 2.5 hours to drive to the airport to go to a wedding in Texas!

I'm thinking I'll be draggin my puter. If not, I'll be back on Sunday to see what mayhem has occured!

 

Dave

 

 If anyone is looking for different ideas, I just posted about this topic on my blog a few days ago!

It's amazing what can turn into a great background with these kind of shots.

Shan

 Shan,

Your videos Rock! I've learned a lot from them!

Thanks. 

Dave