Posing The Family of Four

[Benji]

Originally Posted by mcmu275

will having the main light at this level and angle also take care of the glasses issue?

It may. Some eyeglasses are less reflective than others. To prevent all eyeglass glare I request that my clients stop at the optomotrist and obtain an empty set of eyeglass frames that match or closely match what they are wearing. With no lenses, not only are there no reflections from the lights (and therefore we can use the absolute best lighting pattern to flatter everyone's face) and there cannot be any distortion of the eyes caused by the lenses.

Benji

[Jess]

HI Benji! It's good to be back here, and this is the place I am picking back up with. Been gone since Feb, with that change over, I couldn't log in, and then never bothered again trying.

Anyway, it's good to see a face with a name. Thanks for your awesome tuts you give.

One thing I am seeing though in these pics, as with the lighting, aren't you broad lighting most of them, since the light is coming from the right? the son is the only one not being broad lit, I believe.

I learned that from you!

[fosheezy]

Uh, hello i'm lost! i dont know how this site works.how do i post something i need help with? Where do i go on this site ive been on here just recently and typed a reply but i don't know if i was in the right room please help me to understand how Photo camel works.

fosheezy39@sbcglobal.net

[mgarthe]

Thanks Benji!

I am new to this site and I know you will be helping me! Great Tutorial!
Michelle

[jjc60631]

How would you change this up if the mother was on the heavier side?

[Benji]

Originally Posted by jjc60631

How would you change this up if the mother was on the heavier side?

I would pose the smallest of the children in front of and slightly to one side of her. The faces of them would NOT be above/below one another. By posing a child this way his or her body would partially obstruct our view of Mom's body. If the child were older I may lay him or her down on the ground (on the tummy) but with his or her upper torso and face partially obstructing our view of Mom's body.

Benji

[jjc60631]

Benji,

Thanks, I'll give it a try. I'll try it at home using my family.

John

[Johnny Perkka]

Hey Benji!

I'm doing a "family of five" shoot in a few weeks. I have a vision of having them on stairs with a white brick background. I'm insisting on using the sun as my main light (although you explicitly told us not to ).. But to balance it of I'm going to use a fill flash..

Any tips on the lighting, maybe use a reflector instead of flash etc.?

And the big question is how would you pose them whilst they are on the stairs..
The stairs are shot from the side in relation to the camera (I thought that I would get the 45 angle rule going naturally if I had them like that).. The stairs are similar to the ones that have appeared in your bride picture a week ago..

Thanks in advance..

[Benji]

Well Bill if you insist on using sunshine, go ahead, but don't say later I didn't warn you.

I'm not sure how you are going to "balance" the sunshine with flash, unless you have an extremely powerful flash unit. The BDE rule states that the correct exposure for objects lit by full sunshine is aperture @ F 16 shutter speed equals ISO. I assume you will be using an ISO of 100, and you must use a shutter speed that will not exceed synch. Synch on most digital cameras is 1/250 so assuming you use synch (which will allow the largest aperture) the aperture setting must be f/10 or you will be overexposed wherever the sunshine is in the image. A flash unit that delivers f/10 at the distance you are needing it will be one powerful flash. If I were doing this shot I would use daylight, not sunshine. As far as using a reflector, do this before you take it along. Take your silver reflector outdoors on the next sunny day and direct the reflection back into your eyes, just like you will be doing to your customers. Now imagine you have five people you are doing this to and they will have to withstand this for several minutes. Once you try it you will see what I mean.

Posing. Ideally the eyes of the shortest person should be at the same level as the chin of the second shortest, which should be the same level as the eyes of the third shortest and on up. You may have to fudge on this one, depending on the most important person in the image, usually the breadwinner. The breadwinner should be centered, or highest, or both. The second in command should be second highest and right beside the breadwinner. then work down to the lowest in the pecking order. You may have to stand/sit one or two on the ground at the base on the steps, or perhaps seat someone on one of the lower steps. Without knowing the heights of the members of the family you don't know until you get there and size them up. I once had a 6'4" groom and a 5'2" bride. What a challange that was to pose.

Good luck.

Ben

[Johnny Perkka]

Thans B!

I meant with the flash to just lift the shadows a little (got to have shadows, you know me)

But that made sense what you said.. It's going to be tough.. I was hoping for a sunrise or sunset to get softer light, but it is still too cold for that..

Anyway, thanks, you're da man..

[onesaint]

Originally Posted by Benji

I made sure the readings from highlight side to shadow side were within the ability of digital to capture the scene.

can you elaborate on this?

thank you for the great tutorials btw.

[Benji]

Originally Posted by onesaint

can you elaborate on this?

thank you for the great tutorials btw.

If the shadow side of the face is so dark that an "Info" reading (in Photoshop) reads below about 32, the shadows will print as black no detail onto photographic paper. They may look OK on a computer screen but they won't on photographic paper. On the other side of the scale we want the brightest highlight on the other side of the face to be about 240. Through experimentation I have found that about three stops difference between sides is all one can go and maintain customer satisfaction. The two images below demonstrate the difference. In the first image the difference between the two sides (highlight to shadow) was 240 and 67. In the second image is was 240 and 32. Note how dark the shadows are in the second image. Customers generally like less of a ratio over more ratio.

Ben

[onesaint]

Thanks for the great explanation Ben.


i recently found and am going through the hard learning curve of color. the main thing for me was if i edited in prophoto colorspace then i could see things great on my pc, but others couldn't. then if i printed it was way different. So i settled on adobe rgb and bought a thick book on color. =^)


in another post you mentioned sometihng about good printers editing the curves, levels, and all that themselves. Could you possibly post some recommendations of said printers (or were you talking local only)?

great tutorials and a fantastic yard, btw.

[Benji]

Originally Posted by onesaint

Thanks for the great explanation Ben. In another post you mentioned something about good printers editing the curves, levels, and all that themselves. Could you possibly post some recommendations of said printers (or were you talking local only)?

I was saying that a good professional lab can do the needed corrections. You need to do the editing on the file as far as retouching and sharpening, they will correct the levels and get the correct color balance.

I use H & H color lab in Kansas City. Your local one hour lab or Wally World or K-Mart will make sure there is an image on the paper, and won't care if the face is green or blue or magenta.

Benji

[Worm324]

Great Stuff Benji Always learning something new everyday!!

Best,
Jay

[onesaint]

Again, thank you for the great reference. its much appreciated.

[digitaldome]

Thanks a bunch Benji!

[dave502]

Great tutorial Benji and nice results.

[psydoc1]

Benji,

I sent you a private message. Don't know if you received it or not, but I am sending another message because now I know how to attach pictures. Anyway, please check out our family portrait that is attached. Any suggestions? I don't necessarily like the pose. Also, any slimming techniques for the mother (myself)?

psydoc1

[Benji]

Originally Posted by psydoc1

Benji,

.....please check out our family portrait that is attached. Any suggestions? I don't necessarily like the pose. Also, any slimming techniques for the mother (myself)?

psydoc1

PD,

Actually I am rather impressed with what you have done, but I will suggest a couple of changes.

All bodies turned at a 45° angle to the camera. Three of your four children are square to the camera. Always tuck the legs under the body, never allow them to point their fee/legs out toward the camera. Crop in closer. We don't have to see all of the Christmas tree to know that is is indeed a Christmas tree. I see this as a horizontal, not a vertical. Usually a pyramidal pose looks best, this means dad (since he is the tallest) will be the top point of the pyramid, you would be next since you are the next tallest, and you will be on his right. Next at dad's left will be the son that is now at your right (the eldest son I believe) then on your right will be the other little boy. Last two will be the two girls, one in the middle and one beside her (beside but below dad.)

By posing two of the children partially in front of you they will block the viewers eyes from your couple of extra pounds. I have included a crude drawing of what I am trying to say. (ES is "eldest son" YS is younger son and LG is little girl.)

Benji