Give me one piece of advice....

[ntiberius]

Tomorrow I'm doing my first ever "big" shoot. It's for free, as a

portfolio building exercise, but the photos will be used in many forms

of publicity--fliers, website, posters, etc.

 

I'm photographing five or six theater ensembles in a row. They've

been asked to come in with costumes, ideas for poses, etc. Mostly

these will be group shots of 7-10 people. Environment is an all-white

room, with about five studio hot lights of varying brightness. They

come in, they get half an hour to do their thing, then the next group

gets ushered in.

 

If you were to give me ONE piece of advice for tomorrow--technical,

mental, preparatory--what would it be? :)

[steve_vancosin1]

Eat a good breakfast.

[john tonai]

Neil,

 

To be honest, and this is not a flippant answer, my one piece of advice is that you needed to ask this question a long time ago-before you took the job. I don't know how prepared you are for the shoot, but your question implies that you aren't

 

But, since that answer obviously won't help you here, STAY COOL and IN COMMAND. It can get chaotic with a lot of egos and ideas (both bad and good) in the room. You need to retain ultimate command.

 

Good Luck

 

John

[ntiberius]

John, I appreciate your concern--but believe me, I'm not *worried* about this shoot, aside from normal anxiety before any "big thing." I've got the technical details down, I have a strategy and a plan of attack (and plenty of time to get set up before the shoot). But I still value the advice of more experienced photographers :)

[john tonai]

Neil,

 

Good to hear that. One other thing, have a blast! It's a great gig.

 

John

[mdanger]

Consider: an assistant to help with so many people; a stepladder to get up on occasionally; powder for shiny noses; bottles of cold water for models under hot lights; good music to relax everyone. Mary

[j_sevigny]

Obvious stuff but worth keeping in mind: try to bring two of everything that might not perform -- two bodies; an extra set of flash and camera batteries; maybe a point and shoot in case everything else goes to s***.

 

Then, do the obvious set-up stuff twice -- check your iso; make sure you're not shooting faster than your sync speed; etc. I've found that making mental pre-shoot checklists can save you a lot of heartache.

 

Suerte.

[tom_musselman]

Neil, this sound like a lot of fun, and a lot of hard work. I would definitely have an assistant. I suggest rather flat lighting, capable of large groups without anyone being too bright, and without deep shadows that someone can fall into. You can always move lights around quickly if you want to be more creative with an individual or couple. If the room is white, maybe bounce the light around

 

The one piece of advice I would give you is to keep in mind that these people have stage experience, maybe a lot of it, and they may be quite professional. In my limited experience with this kind of shoot, these actors pose themselves quite naturally. If they are in costume as you say, they will assume the character. You might not have to say anything to them, just get your camera in the right position. With that in mind, be prepared to go hand held.

 

Have your assistant be on the lookout for shadows from the hot lights. I find I kind of overlook lighting when I am concentrating on the subjects. He, he. Good luck.

[sabrina_h.]

You will have a lot of fun with these actors and they are the most fun to work with (IMO).

As previously mentioned, they will jump right into character without any or much

guidance.

 

The best advice I can give is to pay attention to your technicals. With all the commotion

going on (and there will be commotion, but in a good way :) it's easy to not pay attention

to your light, camera settings and where your shadows are falling. Try not to be

distracted, but try to be friendly and engage in small talk.

 

Be open to suggestions from your subjects. Even though their actors, you'd be surprised

at how much experience they have about lighting and posing.

[david_m]

Expose correctly, focus accurately and BRACKET.

[twmeyer]

Make sure they understand what it means when you yell "HOLD THAT!"... otherwise, you'll just get a bunch of blurry photos. <p>7-10 people under hot lights means depth of field will be at a premium. Any aperture that will get them all in focus will need a shutter too slow to stop animated actors. Perhaps you could have one hero with others supplying support in less sharp-focus-critical roles... t<div></div>

[ntiberius]

Thanks everybody... I'm officially psyched, and off to get set up. Cheers!

[axel-cordes]

As some other said - have a look to your hardware, you should not struggle with empty energy or so... and another thing, shoot when all and your self think it's over or in a break, this often are the best. And relax, enjoy yourself. Saying all this I know the best hints are comming from the sailors standing on shore - I could not be relaxed - but I'm trying. Good luck Regards Axel

[mike_scott2]

So, how'd it go? Are you going to post some samples?

[ntiberius]

It went well! I haven't had a chance to process anything yet, but judging from the previews, they'll be perfectly usable. I showed the group directors some thumbnails and they were delighted. Here are the lessons I learned:

 

1) Two king-sized sheets are not enough backdrop for large group shots.

2) More storage = more peace of mind.

3) NiCD rechargeable batteries take FOREVER to recharge. I was flash-less for the last half hour of the shoot; shoulda brought spares.

4) Squeezing people together is key.

5) I really didn't need to bracket exposures. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

 

I'll post some results after I churn through the 400 or so RAW files. Most of them will require moderate retouching, as the final shots will require the people to be on all-black or all-white backgrounds. I just didn't have enough light to wash out our white sheet backdrops. Next time!

[mike_scott2]

I'm not a fan of bracketing exposures when shooting people - you're increaing the chances that you'll have the wrong exposure on an otherwise great shot. Find the correct exposure and stick with it.

 

Glad to hear it went well...