Lessons

Lesson Info

Student Shoot: Group Portraits

All right so what are we doing again remember you kind of get a reading let's say you unsure about the depth of field let's just say I'm gonna be part of the bridal party okay uh boy oh boy so I'll be in here uncle bob all right so let's just say I'm here right and if you now shoot a two point two and you're aiming inch and making sure that he's sharp uh I'm gonna be out get it yeah so you have to do a couple of things either using a higher s stop so that the depth of field will keep me in range be always don't focus on his ice if I'm back here what's one third in from his eyes or hiss whoever schools and let's just say they're all on exactly on the same plane you know you move up so we're all equal here except joe okay so the idea is you want to focus roughly right here we're on his ear that's where you want to get me in focus if you're using lights a three point five you got you got it so dial in three point five dial anisha shutter speed of say sixtieth and eightieth we're not movin...

g and then see where your eyes oh needs to be to be one stop underneath the ambient light according to your meter and while I'm not about to because you flash now is hitting the ceiling up there I'd say right now I would direct it behind you slightly right about there you'll pick up that ceiling that's white and will come back here and I met about two thousand years so okay let's see what happens did he get it? Oh, magnificent did that thank you so much. All right. So really quickly though, but where was your f stop on that? It was three to three to yeah, I probably go two, three, five a little more because I'm slightly soft. My arm is pretty sharp too. Um I want you to make sure that I'm in I'm gonna let you do it again. You kind of like a scene from a scary movie it's kind of creepy that way one of these things way need more light on your best it's not like so say three point fire or even f for at this point right let's go out for it and I'll go up tio twenty five and you're focusing on his collar right up here right right behind his ear around his ear not his eyes god, that was funny always getting with a smile look at that I can see my eyes sharp is beauteous he's sharp I'm sharp we're all short awesome so be aware that what is that an eighty five the fifty fifty okay so be aware because the focal length has has a lot to do with that's right if he using a fifty if wide angles you don't need that much of a accuracy right if you're at two point five f three on a wide angle that's let's say twenty four millimeter although you don't want to shoot that you know saying because you're gonna distort us this fifty look at the bodies it's beautiful it's no distortion in it at all but with the fifty and eighty five it's crucial where you focus and what f stop your so I say right now because I was behind and I'm tak sharpen that one but the one previous I wasn't and that was only a function of you change the f stop by one stop I think right from like three to two for you that we did yeah all right so that's yeah it's a little more stop but makes a difference that's not bad but that's what you do you come in you focus right around here where my arm meets his shoulder that's about a third of the way in from the front of his eyes to the back of my eyeballs or my head at least that's dangerous huh he's funny isn't it but it's not bad you let it from there we have this lighting up here I just had a curiosity if you stuck it right now in programme mode then no flash what lighting do we have here can you just do that? Just put it in p for a second I'm just curious to see because here's how the meter will see it it's a little different you want what you owe me a shooter just tell you what it should be okay wait a second so my expose your conversations I've had no compensation one too he's funny well it's not bad, is it? Yeah well it's not bad I mean exposure's cool but the lighting is just right so between this and the other we had a little extra added light yes where's the other one can you move it back? Whoever is in control all right, so we've added light here is more contrast to write but notice that p mode isn't far off no it's not it's a p mode is not far off so that's what I'm saying today's cameras the p mode and I don't care which manufacturers is pretty accurate. There are instances where the meter will get fooled that's when I override it but I say that isn't bad for p mode given that what I see with my eyes right here is kind of yucky light yeah, right it's not the best, but look at that that isn't bad and you haven't even touched it in post yet yeah, like I probably put like the second shot probably throw like the filter some over whatever you want to do is trying to make people think it looks cool, you know yugo but out of the gate in camera that's not a bad image in pee mode given this what we have we used to always say we're gonna light this and there'll be double lights on this thing which there's nothing wrong with that too if you have the time to do it, I don't and I'm going to say one more time me job using has no time for this because my clients don't want it not that you can't do that you shouldn't do it I can't do it, I'm not allowed they like me they hire me because I'm fast I'm a fly on the wall I don't interrupt the flow of things if I don't have to I don't spend inordinate amount of time in in in posing people and doing group shots and doing posed shot I don't do any of that because my client simply don't wanted by they come time to come to me they've seen my portfolio's they sat in front of me, they don't see that stuff minimal, they opened up a book and they see three, four, five images that's posed the rest isn't the rest is grab shots, a really beautiful shot that looks like a portrait as she's holding the champagne glass I've got no retention click that's my post shot it's hey rebecca I did that were about that remain rebecca she looked over and she was staring out the window at people gathering in the lawn and she was holding the champagne glass and she was holding uh her veil over her arm like this and she was looking over rebecca click that was it that was my post portrait that's how fast I need to shoot it and I like it because it allows me the freedom to see and feel mohr because I don't have to spend time to make this a photo shoot it's all about the story including this this is part of the story for most are part of the story but fast you just gotta jam right through them yeah all right I think we're going on a break are we on a break do you want to ask questions before we go on a break you get hot in here what what up with that it's getting a little it's getting warm outside yeah so yeah we're going to take a break in about ten minutes so why don't we do a little bit of q and a before we're sure gonna break all right, perfect. Um katie l has a question what about huge families like I have six siblings and my husband has ten so when going for group shots there much larger and this is a common family size in the area from yeah and that's why I say I make the's not long and even if I have ten bridal bridesmaids and ten groomsmen I gang them up I see people if this is a family situation often times I will put two chairs in the centre eh either the bride and groom sit there and everybody wrapped themselves around or be if grand parents are involved they're off to the site and they're seated so there's always two or three rows I'll stack him and the way to do that since we don't have steps and often times in churches we do have steps I put him on each different level here we have a flat floor so it's taller people not so tall and the least tallest in those three different sections okay I have a question from a sample a waske I'm sure I must that up they're from st cloud minnesota and they'd like to know about your formulas for shooting formals do you shoot two thirds do you shoot full bodies um do you have a formula for that and why yeah I do two things that I've done myself and now rich does for me okay a lot of people get stuck in horizontal mode I don't know why that is but let's say you have even just the bride and groom here I see a lot of these shots where it's here across the bride and groom and way out here because it's horizontal why it should be this way it's her dress you want to show she wants to see her dress all of it all the way to the bottom so my thing is if I have a group I will come in and do maybe two thirds and then I will back up notice that I said I will back up because what's on my camera fifty millimeter right I'm not using a wide angle I'm moving now its's my lovely little lens I will back up till I get full length for the whole group now there are times where maybe the four of them are here. How about it's the bride and groom mom and dad on either side okay, so there's one horizontal type vertical back up full length all simultaneous real quick. I get to give them a choice. Kate lens as a question for large groups with multiple rows would you shoot at a higher aperture to make sure everyone is in focus? And another question from isabella seventy two is wondering if you're getting everyone and focus at f two on those on f to the especially on a fifty millimeter you if there's three rose you're not going to get everybody in focus so higher aperture for sure and again if there's three rows here where my focusing one third in k ah higher f stop and one third not on the front row I know the bride and groom are there that's, not where I'm focusing. I'm focusing in probably on the next level, on the shoulder, in front of the on that first row or on the nose of the second room, the nose of the second row so that I have this sharp that's sharp and that sharp at a higher f stop. I don't shoot f ate, but I will shoot f four f four point five with that rule of a third in and get him all sharp all three rows. You did talk about this yesterday when you talked about always being in the moment, but oasis, rockport asked you ever attend the rehearsal to get the flow and lighting down prior to the wedding day love rehearsals? I do a lot of hers I got I'm hired to shoot the rehearsals two hours, usually and it's usually a rehearsal dinner, but I will show up at the rehearsal so that I know who's who the idea is to find out who's the family who are the family members. You can see the interaction between the bridegroom and their favorite or their grandma, you know and and and that's really important, so that when I know the day of the wedding happens, I'm going to focus on that relationship because I now know about it. So it's really great to be able to be present at rehearsal dinners or rehearsals because you get a real idea who the players are? Yep, quite a few people have questions about using back button focus dave owen says on the five day you can actually use back buck and focused with it and a lock on the shutter button what does joe think of back button focus? I don't particularly care for it because it's again another thing I used to use back button focusing is called custom function for in a cannon and it's great when you have to recompose so focus recompose because you can shoot on the front button after you've recomposed and it won't do anything but I know I do that basically on the front button so I focused by president halfway down and recomposed and as long as my fingers pressed halfway down and guess what I can do with that front button this is practice if you squeeze it to hit the trigger and it fires don't let it all the way up because then it refocuses I only let it halfway up fire halfway up it stays focused in the same position just like back button focusing and it's a little trick that I learned that takes a little practice but you khun fire let it up halfway fire let it up halfway fire and it stays folks in the same spot that back button for me is a lot I'm comfortable with that because also my front finger dials in the f stop or shutter speed I might want after I've locked the a lock on the back so that's another function I don't want to lose is my front finger ask how do you get around not blinding the guests when bouncing the flash the side especially when kneeling down and shooting low right that's when you don't use the guests when they're standing you either if you're standing up yourself go overhead over them and a little bit behind or my assistant so I am now he or she standing sideways if people are standing right here she doesn't do this she stands a little bit to block the light from hitting them and she looks forward as she's being flashed that she walks with I mean she has a hand on my shoulder and we go at the same rate in either direction and here's the bounce not the guests anthony for m four is wondering if you ever use a step ladder when shooting the group shots I haven't I use chairs so there's always chairs and the easiest thing to do flip this up stand on a chair and they're if there's three rose that's another way to do it is shoot down I do this a lot I do this a lot thanks for the question that's awesome yeah I do this a lot