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How you deal with people who distracting subjects taking pictures in the back, it’s very frustrating. My subjects always looking different directions because of that
I'll be puttin these into practice tomorrow at a cemetery. Yes I said a cemetery. I looked this up & can't find anyone doin this. I'm nervous bout not gettin everyone in focus.
I used to shoot lots of dance photos back in the film days. The key is that lighting directors set lights for people to see the dancers, so that's the setting to work on. It's similar to shooting a basketball game from under the basket where the pro photogs sit, we set for the players skin tone and avoid the shadowed ceiling or tiers of shadowed seats/fans in the background. This situation is where manual aperture/ISO/shutter will save your day. If possible, ask the lighting tech to allow you to take a reading onstage before the performance and take that reading on a dancer's skin so there is no concussion with a dark costume reading. If the lighting tech cannot allow this, then set your in-camera meter to the "spot" setting and get that reading first during the performance and keep your ISO and aperture and shutter on manual for the best dancer skin exposure, you can fix the background stage set in post. Remember to keep your shutter speed pretty fast, probably 1/500 or faster, you are photographing dancers and they move! Then balance the ISO and aperture to your liking, but remember that dancers are usually in groups so a smaller aperture will have a greater depth of field to keep a group in focus. One last thought, I use a back-button focus set on servo and a single point of focus to capture the dancer I want in focus while they move. This is much more effective than a broad autofocus setting while dancers are moving. Just make sure to have extra batteries because servo autofocus curbs through batteries in most cameras. Lastly, this same thinking can apply to basketball where to he lighting on the court is consistent, but for football, soccer, or baseball I set the ISO to auto to handle changing outdoor lighting or sun/shade location shifts on runners. Hope these thoughts help and have fun.
For instance,when shooting on(3), snap the picture @ maybe 2 and a half then then another on (3) people people tend to tense up when they 3 or say cheese.( like a red light on at a studio station)
The edit that you show is fine but it's obvious that the pics originally had a decent level of bokeh. I would've liked to see how to produce that in case everything in the picture was in focus.
Are you using rhe Marque w Tool? Thisis the oly shame tool I find other than the Lasso / It would be so greatly appreciate dif someone could help here. I am so lost! I have the square for background. Once I click off of it then the color changes, Shoulkd I try a new one then there is no additional color in that new square. Also my layers do not show up to the right. They are at the bottom. I have maybe two layer panels and that's it. The others show at down below. So frustrated!!! :-((
Wonderful video. Your images are just gorgeous. Would love it if you could show your info with each image eg aperture, iso etc. Definitely going to the zoo to practice as soon as I can. Thanks for the inspiration.
Enjoyed this some good sensible tips. One thing to bear in mind if you are using additional flash, factor in that unless it’s a high-speed sync set up you won’t be able to shoot beyond 1/200th of a second which on a bright sunny day could be an issue unless you stop right down on a very low ISO.
when i shoot a large group at a wedding or any other function I ask everyone to close their eyes and open on the count of 3. Then shoot a few frames continuous. I do this about twice to ensure i get the shot, works everytime.
What I do with every photo I take ,I take a picture right before their ready and snap another one on que so that no one is blinking and no one is tensed up at ready,their more relaxed right before go.
How do you something very similar? Admittedly, I say smile, which is terrible, but I say everybody eyes open and smile works every time for me as well.
I would suggest that instead of asking people to give you their settings for a given shot you might try learning how to use the exposure triangle and then you will become a better photographer without the need for other people to "hold your hand". I could very easily tell you right here and now how to obtain the images shown in this video its very simple, but if you carried on asking others for their settings you will never learn to work it out for yourself. Ok, you need to understand how to use your camera on manual mode. This ensures that you are in control of every aspect of the exposure, forget AV or any other mode where the camera is making a desicion you need manual mode! I suggest as a place to start you look up Sean Tucker he has an excellent video covering manual mode. Then i suggest you look up Dave Morrow a landscape photographer many of the techniques he shares are highly useable in every aspect of photography. I am a wedding photographer and Dave taught me loads through his free you tube videos. Good luck, its hard starting out and manual can be scary to those that dont understand it. Once you start using it and you understand how an exposure is built you will not need to ever ask for anyones settings again, this will make you a better photographer and you will gain more confidence in your own abilities.
So what lens do you recommend for larger groups ?? You mentioned one that would be a tighter shot and you don’t really recommend that one…. So what would you recommend? :)
HUGE help. I wish I had seen this sooner, thanks Kavan.. great tips. I just "woke up" my dslr again (been using a iphone 11 pro exclusively.. I ride bicycles a LOT) and I wanted a refresher. This was it, buddy. I appreciate it
You should be focusing on the person in the middle and closest to you, focus falls 1/3 forward but 2/3 backwards, so if you focus closer to you, more will be in focus behind that point versus infront of it
4 is usually pretty good for small group portraits, 5ish people, espec if they're all aligned (one row). If its two - three rows (8+ people) you'd go even higher (f/8) to get more depth
Thank you for the very fun video! I used to do this with in the darkroom with my MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS who were the actual subjects. Using PENTAX K1000's we also prefocused, turned of the lights and popped a visitor 283 flash upwards, then had the subject move LATERALLY ONLY then popped the flash a second time!! WHAT FUN!!!!!!!! thank you
