Above water portait advice

Hey guys,

I landed a contract to shoot 9 portraits for a local company -on site i.e. office style shots

I was wondering if there are any pro topside shooters who do this style of work who could give me a tip or two?

I currently have a nikon d80 and my two potential lens are the 18-55mm and a 60mm.

I do not have an off camera flash unit althought I'm thinking of investing in one for the job.

Basically, i'm going to buy a flash unit connected via a hotshoe. Then buy a small soft box to put on this. Then shoot portraits at around f6 or so to get a nice blurry background. I'll meter the light for the ambient light and use the soft box to add a nice warm glow to the skin using a side lighting technique. thoughts?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Cheers

Cal

Well I suggest you check out Leibovitz's portraits of the queen at the palace. Natural light from a huge window with a bit of assist from an off camera softbox for the rooms I think looking at the pics. I think on-camera flash limits your options. If you're going to do this again, invest in pocket wizard remote triggers. It'll help in your under water stuff too.

You might want to see if you can rent a studio strobe setup. Larger softboxes make much more flattering light. Just make sure it comes with a hotshoe adapter, since your camera doesn't have a pc sync slot. Try renting lenses too. I recently used a 35mm lens for some nice portraits. A 50mm would be good too.

Hey guys,

 

I landed a contract to shoot 9 portraits for a local company -on site i.e. office style shots

 

I was wondering if there are any pro topside shooters who do this style of work who could give me a tip or two?

 

I currently have a nikon d80 and my two potential lens are the 18-55mm and a 60mm.

 

I do not have an off camera flash unit althought I'm thinking of investing in one for the job.

 

Basically, i'm going to buy a flash unit connected via a hotshoe. Then buy a small soft box to put on this. Then shoot portraits at around f6 or so to get a nice blurry background. I'll meter the light for the ambient light and use the soft box to add a nice warm glow to the skin using a side lighting technique. thoughts?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Cheers

 

Cal

Does the D80 allow Commander mode, allowing you to keep a Nikon strobe off camera? Depending on how much of this you want to do think about investing in at least two Nikon Speedlights. It is really an amazing system with incredible flexibility; lots of great books on the Speedlight system used very creatively. I'll send the name of one or two I have when i get home later.

Does the D80 allow Commander mode, allowing you to keep a Nikon strobe off camera? Depending on how much of this you want to do think about investing in at least two Nikon Speedlights. It is really an amazing system with incredible flexibility; lots of great books on the Speedlight system used very creatively. I'll send the name of one or two I have when i get home later.

The D80 does have a flash command mode.

Bob

Forget about Pocket Wizards for Nikon. I saw a demo and it's not out yet till later this year. Opps

Forget about Pocket Wizards for Nikon. I saw a demo and it's not out yet till later this year. Opps

????

They work fine with, Nikon, but no need if you use Nikon strobes

I'd either use strong natural light or rent a light kit. One on-camera strobe is sure to make a mess out of things. I use a pair of Canon speedlites with stands and umbrellas for a quick and dirty light kit. It works great for this kind of thing. Depending on the company, they're probably not looking for shots that are real edgy and just want to look good and professional. Pick up a book on posing techniques because that is very important. Office people can sometimes be quite stiff and just want to be told how to stand to look good and they always want to it be over with quick.

I would suggest u to use Nikon CLS.

Nikon CLS is very smart and easy to set up.

I always using it, whenever I want to do outdoor portrait

here is one example of my work

on this one, I was using Pocket wizard and SB 900 + White Umbrella

Andree

As others have said, get the light off the camera is top tip, if not even essential.

As well as the obvious one , , , , practice.

Cheers,

Richard B.

Thanks guys!

I'll get an off - camera strobe connected via a cord. Any ideas for the cheapest and best way to do this?

Cal

????

They work fine with, Nikon, but no need if you use Nikon strobes

The iTTL models aren't available yet AFAIK.

Thanks guys!

 

I'll get an off - camera strobe connected via a cord. Any ideas for the cheapest and best way to do this?

 

Cal

Does your underwater strobe have a slave function? Can use that as a secondary flash

I would suggest u to use Nikon CLS.

Nikon CLS is very smart and easy to set up.

I always using it, whenever I want to do outdoor portrait

here is one example of my work

 

 

 

on this one, I was using Pocket wizard and SB 900 + White Umbrella

 

 

Andree

I like your model..

The iTTL models aren't available yet AFAIK.

Cal, if you get a Nikon strobe, you don't need a cord or Pocket Wizard. You can then use your pop-up strobe with the Nikon Strobe, either in Commander Mode or using the camera Strobe as a second fill strobe etc.

Check out Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe McNally, he pretty much proves that you need very little else in the way of strobes, particularly for location shooting. The SB900 or if you can find a used SB800 are great strobes.

http://portfolio.joemcnally.com/#mi=1&...mp;a=0&at=0

If you want off camera shooting without using the on board flash, you need the SU800. The Nikon CLS is a pretty cool system. I suggest you go to the store and check your options.

You can also use an SC-29 cord but it will limit your mobility. That said, for portraits in an office that may not be a big issue. You could use it to hard wire a strobe on a stand with an umbrella. Then use a reflector or big white board or sheet opposite for fill light. Quick, dirty and cheap but it will work.

Also, go to the office in advance and check out the setup. Seeing the office will help you determine what you need.

Cal - I just sent you a message. Give me a call about it and I can hook you up with some gear to trial.

Cheers Steve

hey cal,

multiple off camera strobes with PW's (i use radiopoppers) and umbrellas is all good and fine. I do my fashion work with such setups. BUT if you really are looking for decent quick and dirty lighting and don't want to bother pushing to the whole wireless off camera with modifiers route for your first hired job, here's a dirty tip. You do need a hot shoe strobe, but put it on the camera, and find a white wall or door to bounce it off. A corner of a room works as you can get a white wall background (be sure not to put them against the background, keep them a few feet off it to throw it out of focus) and have a white wall to bounce light off from the side. Use your 60mm lens, it'll be much sharper than ur 18-55.

Here's an example i shot today of a girl receiving a community service award. Please note that this is NOT one of my professional portraits, its quick and dirty on-the-go lighting using an on camera strobe bounced off a door behind me and to the right. this turns the door or wall or whatever into a giant softbox.

Here's one without the flash to see the ambient fill light level. the rimlight is from a nearby window behind to the right.

and a diagram of the lighting:

by no means a top standard pro portrait, but for a quick job with no ability to set up tedious lighting, not too shabby. and pretty simple to replicate.

also, for posing, have them angle their bodies at about 30 degrees away from you and then turn their head towards you. dont dare let them face their body flat on to you. hope that helps. Cheers,

Chris

Great advice guys!

It'll taking me a while to digest all of this

Cheers

Cal

undertow - thanks for the diagram. thats really cool!