They want me to take pictures indoors, uh oh!

[hana_mohalo]

I had taken photos of my mom's friend's children. You can see at hanamohalo.com under portfolio -

people - familes for work I've done.

 

It was really challenging because what I hate more than anything is shooting indoors! That day was rainy

so there was no option (though as you can see, once the rain stopped I made them go outside!!)

 

Now that it is near winter, everybody wants photos for the holidays, and it's also too cold and ugly to be

shooting outdoors.

 

I'm into photojournalistic family shots, but I do portraits because it is a must. But I'm targeting people sick

of sears! Lot's of mom friend's. And they want to pay me... but I'm really not confident that I can produce

anything worth paying for! Especially if it is indoors!

 

 

So what do I need to know about trying to get the best possible image for an indoor, in the house photo

shoot?

 

External lights? What is a practical, budget but quality lighting that I could travel with? Would use of

reflectors do anything indoors?

 

Another pet peeve I have is my need for scene perfection. It's tricky being indoors because things get in

the frame you wish weren't there, like not being able to cleverly crop out tables or sofas ahhh, especially

shooting children... everything is bigger than them!! What is advice for this??

 

Tropid: yes of course. camera settings are tricky, I have low light but rather fast subjects. I wanna be

constantly shooting and capture something spontaneous and adorable, but I usually miss or blur. I have

20D canon, I dare ever go above 400 ISO, never tried, would you recommend this?

 

What are any other suggestions for getting unique, quality, and memorable family photos?<div></div>

[Jochen_S]

I shoot my Pentax frequently at higher ISO, but sure that's sometimes too noisy to print beyond 4x6". - Do some tests at home, play with software like NeatImage and get a idea of what might be possible. - I don't know your lens line. F2.8 IS glass should get you pretty far, without IS and a slow zoom you'll definitely need additional light.

 

A quick cheap and dirty way out is bouncing compact flashes in the corners of a room, but you'll be lost if the wallpaper aren't close to white. - Then you'll have to bring some kind of reflector for them too. - Having wireless TTL with original Canon flashes might be nice, but rigging up something cheaper, chimping and shooting in RAW can do the job too.

 

I never worked with reflectors yet, since I have nobody to hold them, but for portraits at a window they seem to be a must-have.

[michael_madio]

Use a flash of some sort as the key, a reflector for fill, and a muslin backdrop if necessary.

[dusty2004]

Keep it very simple, use natural daylight and have fun. Check my childrens porfolio, may give you some ideas.

[scott_hamming]

I hate to recommend gear, but on-camera flash and "slow" lens will not give you what you're

looking for. External flash and bouncing and/or a fast lens will make a big difference.

Personally, I'd go with a fast prime. If you shoot Nikon or Canon, you can get a 50mm prime

for $125 and $90 respectively. They aren't well built lenses, but are highly regarded -

especially for the price. The large aperture is great for more selective focus as well.

[william_fong]

I started playing with my Canon Speedlite 430EX on a Canon Rebel XTi and it makes some awesome shots indoors with pretty low lighting. Point the flash up towards the ceiling so it'll look more natural. I've also found bounce off glass windows works too.

 

Check out this site as well: http://planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/

 

I think having an external flash is going to be your best bet. If you're trying to shoot moving kids, you'll have a hard time moving lighting equipment around.

 

Oh yeah, I'd go with a faster lens as well. I don't think you'll like the Canon EF 50mm/1.8 though. It's slow to focus. Try the Canon EF 50mm/1.4 or the EF 85/1.4, since they use they have USM.

[craig_shearman1]

You need to read a few books on portrait lighting, get yourself some strobes, umbrellas and stands and learn how to light. There are dozens on Amazon so go take a look. Also check out www.strobist.com

[hana_mohalo]

Thanks for responses everybody!

 

I have EF-S 17-85 MM f4-5.6 lens. I have been looking to replace, but with soo many

lenses and just enough to buy one I don't know what will be my next. I want a wider

aperture range really, but I like wide angle. Shooting with this lense is terrible indoors I

usually never auto focus because indoor especially it never focuses right, and stalls. I

want a fast lens, light (ideallistically) and wide aperture range.

 

I think I want to buy an external flash, what would you recommend for the canon 20D?

What is the best flash to use?

 

I'm not doing studio portraits, I'm doing family portraits but a more photo-journalistic

approach to it. Or snap shots for people who aren;'t too technologically inclined lol. I can't

bring a whole studio with me to someones house!! Ideally, I would shoot outside during

nice light, but I'm in NY and people don't go outside once it's november.

[hana_mohalo]

Thanks William Fong for that website and your advice! I went and I'm starting to get the idea

of how to use flash and make it work! I'm looking into those lenses too.

[michaelbonner]

Hana,

 

I really like the way you approach your work with families. I find we have a lot of the same ideas. A couple things that I've found that might work for you:

 

As far as lenses go, my strongest recommendation would be for the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8. It's wonderfully versatile and it rarely comes off my camera. It's sharp, it focuses quickly and accurately, and the 2.8 aperture can get you into some pretty low-light areas. The wide aperture is also perfect for blurring out those less-than-ideal backgrounds. I love the wide-angle effect as well, especially for more environmental portraits. To that end, I would recommend against the 50mm f/1.4 and even moreso the 85mm f/1.8. On a small sensor camera such as the 20D, those lenses will frequently be far too long for indoor work and while the quality is higher with the prime lenses, you will be also be more limited in terms of your compositions than with a zoom, especially when you're photographing subjects as active as kids. At about $400 (close to both the 50mm and the 85mm, I think the Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 will give you far and away the best solution for your money.

 

For lighting, I've found that one of the easiest ways to get better light indoors is to change out bulbs- most people have 60-watt bulbs installed in their lamps, so if you bring along a handful of 200-watt bulbs, you should see a dramatic increase in the light you have to shoot with. I also recently bought a 430EX flash (around $250) and have had a good deal of success with it. That, along with a diffuser (I use it with the Sto-fen Omnibounce) should pull you through when there's no way to shoot with available light. More light should also allow you to handhold more of your photos, which will give you a better chance of catching that perfect moment.

 

Another thing you could do about the backgrounds is to bring one with you. A very cost-effective and very portable backround is a few yards worth of black velvet, which you can get from your local fabric store from under $20. Get a couple of metal clothespin-style clamps from your local hardware store and you're good to go. Hang it on a couch, a kitchen counter, a wall- it's an instant jet-black background and it's very versatile.

 

As far as noise in your photos, I am also very conscious of noise in my photos. For a long time I never let my ISO go above 400 most of the time, but a recent shooting situation forced me to bump it to 800 and I was surprised at how acceptable the results were. I can't imagine that the 350D's in-camera noise reduction is too much better than the 20D's so I might try shooting at 800 to see if that works better for you. I also think that a photojournalistic style, versus a Walmart Photo Studio style allows you more leeway with noise, especially when you capture those perfect moments and in black and white, noise looks like film grain. If the noise is still too much, though, I would highly recommend Noise Ninja. The results are pretty remarkable and I wouldn't hesitate to shoot at 1600 and then clean it up with the program.

 

That's about all I can think of. I hope some of this works for you. Best of luck!

 

Warm regards,

 

Michael Bonner

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

Read www.strobist.com for tons of ideas for flash.

[fullmetalphotograper]

Hello Hana,

 

You have some nice work. There has been some really god advice posted here. I am just a poor dumb

photographer, so please bear with me. First off look at the environment you are shooting at. Shooting indoors

or outdoors have same number of issues and problems. So relax. The trick here is the strength of your

environment to your advantage. If there are windows and shooting during the day use window light. If it is dark

environment use bounce flash. Use higher ISO. Talk to the family visit with them. Find out what part of the

house is the center of activity. Take some posed environmental shots too. For something like this I would shoot

a 28-70mm f/2.8 and a 12-24mm f/4. I would shoot Raw format. I would also watch the color temperature of

the ambient light. If you use flash balance the your flash output to match your ambient light. to avoid those

nasty flash shadows.<div></div>

[erikadams]

OK, so here's a long post, but this is a complicated subject. I think you will not be able to get good photos without either light from a window or flash. Looking at your portfolio at your website, it looks like the house you were in had a large window in a door, with a mirror next to it. This type of place would offer adequate ambient light that you could do well at ISO 400, hand held. Forget the tripod, BTW, with kids. It constrains you too much, and you'll miss shots. With multiple kids, you'll need a bit of depth of field, or only one of them will be in focus, so that means more light is needed.

 

With using flash, a diffuser is essential. The flash photos in your portfolio seem to show very harsh lighting, which detracts from the images. You can create a frame of wood, stretch a white sheet over it, and fire your flash from a foot or so behind that. You can bounce flash, you can buy a diffuser to fit over your flash. Consider also something to use as a reflector, to fill in on the other side from your flash. A big piece of white posterboard, for example. Take a few shots and see if your exposure is right. If kids are on the move, then setting up stationary lighting won't work. Your best bet would be a bounce flash and someone holding a reflector to provide some highlights. Try practicing first in some kind of lower stress environment, to get some ideas about exposure and what works for you.

 

Regarding clutter in the background, the use of a wide angle lens will only include more clutter. So if you want to use a wide angle, then a good cleaning up beforehand is needed.

 

And finally, have fun, take lots of shots, let the kids do their thing and catch them having fun, and get down on the floor so you're shooting at their level.

 

The photo I'm attaching had lighting from a bank of windows to the left, but leading to a yard covered in trees, so not that bright. Kodak Ektachrome 100VS, f2.0 at 1/30th of a second.<div></div>

[dnemitz]

Hi Hana,

I'm am in exactly the same situation that you are. I love to photograph kids and families

outdoors... I live in Minnesota and I'm running into the same problem. I'm getting calls for

people who indoors photos and here I am with NO money to buy fancy lights and lenses.

I'm just shooting with a a Canon Rebel XT. When I'm talking with my clients, I am straight

up honest with them... I let them know I don't have all that stuff and I'm going to use

window light. They are all okay with it! I had a shoot a couple days ago with a 1-year old

boy and I just brought the 3 backgrounds that I have (literally some fabric from the fabric

store), used some household tape to hang in and away we went... I ended up getting some

great shots. I'm not big on backgrounds either but peoples houses are generally very busy

and it distracts from the child.

 

I told my client that it was going to have to be a pretty bright day. We scheduled a couple

of times and picked the sunniest day when the light would be coming through the window

the best. But that's all I used was light from the window - no flash, no reflectors. I know it

probably breaks some major photographic rules but I'm doing the best with what I have

and people seem to want it.

 

Best to you.

[dusty2004]

My advice is and will awlways remain the same. Aquire skill and knowledge. There is no need to spend large sums of money on equipment you find out later you did not need. We wrongly think that equipment maketh the photographer. It does not. Great results can be achieved with basic gear and knowledge. Knowledge and the wisdom how to use it is far superior. As my skills improved I realised I could do with far less gear. Better to be master of what you already have. Cheers.