Portrait photographer just starting out

I've been working for and doing some portrait photography for years

for friends, and have decided to open my own business to earn some

extra income and in a few years, maybe do it full time. Right now I

work with a Nikon 6006 AF SLR with a basic 35 - 150 lens. I've also

just been given my father's old Olympus manual SLR which needs some

careful cleaning. With it I recieved a variety of lenses and filters

that he's accumulated over the years. I have no studio equipment and

actually prefer working with natural lighting (e.g. outdoors).

 

A photographer that I worked for in high school had what seemed to be

a barebones operation. Her studio was four backgrounds and two

umbrella studio lights along with a few props. She worked with two

35mm SLR's and a Mamiya medium format camera (which she used almost

exclusively for wedding formals). She pretty exclusively worked with

a monopod and a handheld light meter.

 

My question is: what is the basic equiptment that I should be getting

sooner rather than later... I have a few ideas, but would like some

other input.

 

Ruth

1. Documentation (critical): Taking time to do it right is important. If you are really serious about doing this you have to go backwards a bit. For now advice from other photographers is secondary (it will come after you cover this step). You need some guidelines on the subject of portraits in natural light. This very interesting subject will allow you to practice, experiment and gain experience with the equipment you have at this time. Forget about props, lights and all the extra you find a complete indoor studio. It's too easy to spend money on equipment you might not need at this time. Right now you need to focus on light, exposure, and your camera. Even though you probably already know most of this, you first need to know how to work with a subject like a professional.

 

For this, books that focus on this subject are extremely helpful. There are many. I recommend these two which can be found at many locations, Amazon.com being one of them.

 

"Professional Secrets of Natural Light Portrait Photography" ISBN reference number: 158428045X

 

"Portrait Photographer's Handbook" ISBN reference number: 1584280433

 

 

2. Getting advice (invaluable): Once you have a good solid knowledge of portrait photography, what it consists of and how to do it, then you can start to get different opinions from other photographers. Having gathered all the information you need first you'll be more confident by knowing where you need to go and what to do. The advice from other photographers will help you try new ideas you might not have thought of and add to your amount of knowledge.

 

My worry is that with such a question you'll get a ton of responses telling you that you must buy this and that. You'll probably be disappointed when you're told that it's a ton of work especially when starting out. And you might also get disappointed when you hear about people not answering the question but only giving their personnal experience which involves equipment you've never heard about.

 

Baby steps, baby steps I say. Having a photographer you look up to is good for inspiration (such as the one you mentionned here). To keep going, get more books on the subjects, have fun, try new things and go out no matter what time of the day it is. I took some very beautiful portraits under trees even in rainy days. So there is really no limit.

 

I guess that's pretty much my advice but even though I might repeat myself, I'll say it again. Forget about equipment, forget about brands and forget about that advice that tells you to get a different lenses or cameras or whatever. You make the picture, not the camera. Knowledge is more important here since you are starting out in this field. For the pros that tell you that you need the best tripod on the market and 3000$ strobes, you can respond that Joddi Cobb of the National Geographic still works with a Nikon N90 sometimes and uses an older Nikkor 200mm f/4.5 zoom with on-camera flash for fill-in flash. And you know what? She makes incredible natural light portraits.

 

Finally if you're still doing this in a year and still have the same drive and focus to make it a business, then get this book:

 

"The Business of Portrait Photography" ISBN reference number: 0817436154

 

Pretty much everything you need to know after this is in here. It will save you a lot of time by telling you how to do it right.

 

Good luck

Yves Jalbert's response is as thoughtful and helpful as any I've seen. Besides that it spoke to me because I'm just now going into portraits, too. May I express my great appreciation to Yves on both counts.

To make a business of it, you need two cameras (one for backup). You should have an 85 or 100 for standard portraits, a 50mm for couples or more intimate portraits and a 24 or 28 for groups.

 

You can do quite well with just a single portable strobe (and flash meter) with umbrella, and a large reflector. It's invaluable to get a battery-powered one, like a Lumedyne or Quantum. That will allow you to do outdoor location work, as well as very quick setups and takedowns.

 

I use a Photek SoftLiter diffused umpbrella (easier to set up than a softbox) and sometimes several cheap slaves to fill in backgrounds on location.

 

I don't like backdrops, but they are very useful for traditional shots, so you might want a mottled backdrop with a vignette effect (so you don't have to separately light it).

 

Finally, get a digital camera as soon as you can. (10D or D100 or S2 is fine.) Not only does it save you money on film and processing (and let you be more competitive), but it lets you preview your shots, which is critical. I used to bring my RB67 and Polaroid back along even when I was shooting 35mm just so that I could check my setups. But digital is 100 times better.

Yves is right. You really don't need alot of new equipment. Your Nikon and Olympus gear will be fine. I would however, suggest two items. I would first suggest getting some reflectors to use outdoors. You can buy them in circular or rectangular shapes. Even better, you can use some very cheap and easy to find foam-core board. You can get it at any office supply store for a couple of bucks. You could start with a white piece about 24" x 36" or so. This one small item will really help your photos by filling in some of those shadows. I use them all the time.

 

Learn to use natural light to it's fullest, then worry about studio lighting. I shoot alot of outdoor portraits and I very rarely use any type of studio lighting at all. I shoot 95% of my work with natural light and reflectors.

 

The second item is a tripod. A tripod is great for posed shots and will greatly improve your images. I think I use a tripod for about 50% of my outdoor portrait work.

While some truly fantastic portrait work can be done

with natural outdoor light or window light, as long as you

depend on the sun, you'll be at the mercy of the weather and

daylight. You won't be able to schedule nighttime

sittings, and you may have to cancel appointments because

of dark clouds. A rudimentary set of strobes,

either monolights or pack/heads, will free you from this

limitation. You'll be able to shoot indoors at any hour

of the day or night, any season, any weather, with

consistent results, using a fine grained slow film,

with a small aperture, and never a worry

about camera shake or subject motion.

<p>

You don't necessarily need an elaborate setup, but if

you want to be a professional portrait photographer,

able to consistently keep your commitments regardless

of weather, then a set of strobes and the knowledge of how

to use them should be pretty high on the list of things to

aquire soon.

I have to go with Yves. Portrait photos work best when you have complete rapport

with your sitter. That only comes from being completely at ease with your kit. I

started my portraiture with an Olympus OM1 + 100mm, Lastolite reflector and a

Vivitar 283. The simplicity of my set-up helped me to concentrate on te important

stuff. If you know your light, then no situation is a problem, If you don't, no amount

of expensive kit is gonna help! I would also like to commend Yves points on finding

out about the business side. It's a part to often missed and is usually a much bigger

reason for success or failure than talent...

Unless permanence is an issue for you, go digital. The quality is there and will save you SO much aggrivation and money. The studio is slowly converting to digital - just got a Nikon D100 and no longer have lab fees or the delays. We do high end portraits, and rarely do our clients care that their image is digital. Of course, the RZ (Mamiya) is used on request or for some weddings...etc.. The benefit with digital, especially for a beginner, is that you get immediate feedback with no cost so your can learn MUCH faster and cheaper.

 

Good luck.

 

Kevin

Yves Jalbert is correct about equipment. Unfortunately, so is Richard Cochran. IMO, you're going to have a very difficult time making a full time living doing natural light portraits exclusively. I wouldn't want to make my living at the mercy of the weather here in Minnesota where none but the most intrepid individuals would consider outdoor portraits in the winter. In Boston, where your bio indicates you're located, I don't think it would work much better than here in Minnesota.

 

Perhaps there are people around who have managed to be able to earn a living working exclusively with natural light in a climate that has real weather, but I'd guess that they're rare. This means you're going to have to learn to work with strobes eventually.

 

Having said all that, I think the most important thing to remember is that good portraiture has very little to do with photographic technique and a very great deal to do with relating to your subjects. Anyone with average intelligence can be taught technique. Add artistic talent and a person can take fine art photos, but still be a poor portrait photographer. Great portraiture is about revealing the personality of the subject. It's an ability that, in my experience, very few photographers posses.

any chance on borrowing some stuff for awhile until you get your feet wet. you can be the best photographer in the world, and have the best equipment in the world, but if you cannot get people in your door and sell your goods it will do no good.

 

the best investment in my mind would be to do a number of portraits and make beautiful enlargements put into beautiful frames on your walls so that people can see your work and can see what you are selling. that is more important than the brand of camera you use or the lights you use.

 

you need to learn how to get your message out to the people who can afford to buy what you have to sell (what part of town are you in)

 

it used to be (probably not anymore) that if you shot with a 35mm camera people thought you were a hobbyist.

 

good luck.

 

Kevin

Er Joe, I've been making a living shooting available light portraits in England. You

know... 9 months of winter followed by 3 months of bad weather country! OK, now I

also have a full lighting kit like you suggest, but I probably use 10% of the time. I

guess it comes down to what style you want, I was never much into Karsh, more into

McCurry and Bresson.

Yves thanks for the big picture. It really confirms that I'm on the right track, and it's just an issue of practice (building more of a portfolio) and marketing myself. I will look into those books you suggested.

 

As I mentioned I'm really getting started in this. I both work and am getting my business degree full time, so I don't plan on investing in studio equipment for a few years, unless things really pick up. Besides the studio lighting, the top of the list seems to be getting a tripod, remote shutter release (no one mentioned, but is INVALUABLE when photographing infants and small children), a few books, reflectors (I already have a small one) and a light meter. Most of these I either have access to or plan on purchasing soon.

 

I like digitial for vacation pictures, but I'm not into it. Technology changes so fast that memory sticks, disks, etc. will change, and I prefer the crispness of an actual photo paper print. I like the permenance of film, it's been around for a long time and has pretty consistant results. Digital cameras seem to do too much correction making photographing almost fool proof - great for photo journalism, but for a portrait - I like the skill and art it takes to make that shot work.

 

Thanks again.

 

Ruth

<I>I've been making a living shooting available light portraits in England.</i>

<P>

I'm guessing you have studio space or some other indoor location available with lots of glass. Even in Minnesota, there aren't many people hardy enough to attempt to do outdoor portraits in the winter. For five months each year, average temps are below freezing, and for over three months the normal daily high temps are below freezing. The climate in Boston is warmer, but there's still a long stretch of winter when it's really too cold to work outside. I have no idea what the climate is like where you are, but I consider anything below the upper 40s (Fahrenheit) too cold to get reliably good results outdoors, and that's only practical when working with people who are adjusted to winter weather. I find 50-F comfortable with a light coat or sweater, but some people in the southern U.S. consider such a temp intolerably cold.

<P>

I'm not knocking the idea of available light portraiture - in fact I prefer the look of available light myself - but you have to have an indoor location to work here in the winter, and that means either strobes or windows. Unless you already have decent windows available, strobes are cheaper, and we haven't even taken up the issue of early winter sunsets.

Ruth,

 

I don't think John's advice toward digital was because it is "edgy" technology.

 

What John was trying to say is that the instant feedback that you get from a digital will speed up your learning process by a power of 10! Being able to immediatly see the picture you have taken is absolutly invaluable when you are first learning. You don't have to wait for the development to see the results.

 

Just a thought,

 

Joe

Ruth, I wouldn't completly give up on the idea of digital. Under controlled lighting, and if you are doing portraits, your lighting will be controlled, I use a Nikon D1X and get incredible results. If I am shooting family shots, I use my mamiya 7.

Although I do have a complete studio set up, I most often go out on location with 1 lumidyne light on a stand, light meter, umbrella, reflector and tripod and a couple of cameras. It is very simple setup.

I understand the use of digital, and maybe the further I go it might be something worth investing in. As it is my husband would like to buy a digital SLR for his own business (landscape consulting). If that was the case, I would have free access to use it to practice and get that immediate feedback.

 

I'm still trying to focus on getting my shots better, I was just given a nice Bogen tripod and a bunch of rolls of various film. I have a friend who is willing to sit for me while I work on posing, composition, framing, lighting, etc. and getting comfortable with the model. It will help me in building my portfolio too.

 

Thanks for the input... I welcome more.

 

Ruth :o)

I have recently (since having my first child, now four)decided that I am very interested in (portrait) photography. I have been educating myself through all kinds of books, wishing that I had taken some photo classes in college. I think it's funny the way people debate over digital vs. traditional, but I am so glad that I have taught myself the ways of the traditional 35mm, and now since borrowing my neighbors D100 a week ago, am expecting my own in the mail soon (that's why I am up in the middle of the night typing this...too excited about the camera to sleep!!!) But as others have said I am excited to just speed up my learning! No waisted film, I can immediately see what I am doing wrong/right, and I don't forget in between photo-taking and film processing what the heck I did. Just from the photos I took of my two kids with the borrowed camera...pretty amazing!!!!! Maybe I'll check the UPS tracking again!:)

 

Caity

i know you have asked about equipment, but let me advice you against "the business of portrait photography" a book suggested by yves (in his overall excellent thread). i bought that book four or five years ago and found it dreadful, the portraiture being so utterly bad! when it comes to books i would suggest that you go for monographs of the masters, like the books by richard avedon and irving penn (they both make an excellent use of available light). sometimes you can learn a lot by watching excellent results arrived at by excellent photographers. your eye learns. i think that's a better first step. the "how to" necessarily comes next...

There are so many excellent responses here it is difficult to add

anything of value. Yet there are a few "experiences" that I can

share that may be of some use to you Ruth.

 

I get quite a lot of portrait business because of two things I did

over and above what has been suggested here already....

 

I donated portrait settings to local charities. These auction type

donations exposes you to exactly the type of folks who have the

desire and means to purchase professional portrait work. Word

of mouth from such sittings is worth its weight in gold. All it takes

is a sample portrait to display at auction and some business

cards. Plus the value of the donated portrait setting may be tax

deductable.

 

The second thing I did was offer to shoot portraits at the people's

homes. So outside or inside you can get the shots regardless of

the weather. Plus you don't have to maintain a pro level studio to

start out. This is especially valuable in that the subject is far

more relaxed in their own environment, and it includes the

possessions that somewhat define their personality for you to

quickly understand them. I shoot both full "environmental"

portraits and close ups when there...which almost always leads

to increased print sales.

 

Personally, I've never gained much from looking at other

photographer's portrait work (except maybe Arnold Newman who

is a conceptually driven photographer). I get more out of studying

painters...including even contemporary ones like Hockney, who's

environmental portrait work is an inspiration.

 

Gear: While I am totally digital myself, digital involves a LOT

more than just buying a digital camera. Plus, it requires a HUGE

investment in time to learn and maintain. Keeping up is quite a

challenge. Were I doing portraits exclusively, I would have stuck

with film. (weddings are different due to the massive quanity of

images produced. And commercial is also different due to all

commercial work having to be reproduced digitally anyway...plus

commercial needs to be done much faster than portraits.

 

Really, when you study the situation you may want to consider

looking into a MF camera like a Hasselblad. I'd suggest a

503CW with A12 back. Two basic lenses will do to start: a 65/3.5

Zeiss for environmental shots and a 150/4 Zeiss for head and

shoulders shots. Pick up a polaroid back and you can check your

lighting on location just like with a digital camera. Digital has

driven down prices on such gear to the point that with careful

shopping you can get a kit for the price of a digital camera and

set of lenses. But even less expensive older Hasselblad gear

will blow away any shot taken with a sub $2,000. digital camera.

Plus you can produce really large prints with the "Blad" which

people will pay extra for.

 

Lighting: as suggested, a simple lighting set up of a couple

Quantums (or whatever) a pair of tranlucent umbrellas with

stands and a flash/ambient light meter will do for most any

on-location job. The reminder can be done outdoors sans any

artifical light using the light stands and a sheet of Foamcore as

suggested by others here.

 

Hope this is of some small value to you and others. Good luck.

Marc,

 

In response to your note regarding donating services to charity. This October is the second year that I've done outdoor portraits with a background. I offer a 5x7 for $5 that will be mailed. I've had repeat customers this year, a few asked for my business card, and one even emailed me to ask if I had a website (I do, but it's still under construction). Any profit that is made goes straight into funding next year's event - Salem (MA) Children's Day. It's seemed to be a good way to get my name out and to get some more experience in the outdoors and working with models of various ages and attention spans. I get the parents to sign a release so I can use the photos in my portfolio (and on my website).

 

Thank you.

 

Ruth