Portrait advice....

T-rev

Okay so acquired a Canon 300D with a standard lens and my friend wants me to take some snaps of her and her family. She wants faces, hands, feet, etc. Kinda simple things.

I do have some experience shooting but with a Canon S3 IS.

Just wondering what settings I should use.

Should it be aperture based for DOF effect?

Any suggestions on some shots to do?

I will be shooting in the house on Sat evening so it will be under false light. Two adults, and two boys (1yr and 4yr)

Any advice appreciated.

bullpost

I'd say if you can swing it at all to rearrange this to allow you to shoot with natural light - will give you so much more scope.
The shots of the children can look very harsh when using flash if you are not experienced.

Thecageyone

I agree, you'll want very strong natural light for a small group if you're not using off-cam flash. A reflector is a good idea too. If you don't have one you can always make one. A large sheet of card-board covered in tin-foil will do the same job as a silver reflector.

If you can't do it out door, at least situate them near as possible to a large window or patio doors. With the reflector on the opposing side to catch, and fire any escaping light back onto them, and kill the nasty shadows.

Other than that, use a tripod and Aperture priority if you're not comfortable with Manual mode.

As for shots/poses, just mix it up, take lots of pictures, the kids will give you some hassle no doubt. I know how hard it is to capture a couple of kids, getting both with their eyes open and not a fuzzy blur from all the jumping about, can be tricky. that's why I'd suggest off-cam flash. If it is to be evening in doors, you might be forced to use the on-camera flash which is less than ideal for portraits.

Bright daylight with the reflectors i would definitely go for.

Maybe an ISO around 400 to allow faster shutter speeds and as wide an aperture as you can for those shallow DOF shots and get some in on f/8 also for overall sharpness, especially group shots. You will need all the light you can muster for those ones.

Be confident but relaxed and have fun, good luck

Fajitas!

Thecageyone wrote: »

I agree, you'll want very strong natural light for a small group if you're not using off-cam flash. A reflector is a good idea too. If you don't have one you can always make one. A large sheet of card-board covered in tin-foil will do the same job as a silver reflector.

Or if you want to avoid harsh shadows around the eyes, squints and high contrast, go for soft light. Cloudy days are perfect. The softer light is generally more flattering, you'll have less glare and shadows to worry about, and less fill light to think about. You should get nice even lighting. White reflectors won't give as harsh a sheen as silver ones. A 5-in-1 costs about 50 euros.

If you're not too comfortable with the Aperture Priority mode, shoot the way you know best. Try to use the longer end of the lens if you want to play with some depth of field, it'll also give less barrel distortion than the 18mm side.