I recently took on a photo shoot for a local business. Besides the large group photo above, I also did 'yearbook' style portraits of over 150 employees. They are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year and wanted, well, a yearbook.
When asked, I questioned whether I wanted to take on such a big project, having only done a handful of family portraits. However, the opportunity was too great to pass up, and I'm glad I took it.
Of course, the number of shots was worrisome, but I figured all I had to do was set up the lights for one shot, then the rest should fall in line without too much tweaking. Before any of that, though, I had to gather my equipment. I already had two Photogenic strobes with umbrellas, a reflector with stand, and an off-camera flash mount. I only needed to buy a backdrop, and ended up with a two-sided collapsible (dappled gray and solid black).
Another concern I had was where I would take the shots. I wanted to have a private space, but one that was easily accessible by the employees. I also knew I needed to have 4-6 feet minimum between me and the subject and the subject and the background. We found a great meeting room to use, 10x13, about the size of my set-up at home. Perfect.
How long would it take? Having no experience with this type of shoot, I could only guess. I was pretty much spot-on, luckily, figuring four mornings (over two weeks). In total, I shot for about 13 hours. Sometimes the employees would be lined up outside the door, and I got several done quickly. Other times, there were 5-10 minute lulls during which I backed up my files and adjusted my equipment.
Poses. Straight on? Slight tilt of the head? I decided to do both with most people, and this worked out well. Though, of course, some folks -- okay, MOST of them -- didn't want their picture taken, and it was hard to get them to smile let alone to try out different positions. (In fact, I started joking with them that getting your photo taken must rank right up there with drowning and public speaking as one of people's greatest fears.)
The only issue I ran into camera-wise was how the different colored shirts affected my camera's white balance, changing the backdrop's gray to cool or warm, depending. I was able to easily tweak the color in Photoshop so that the background in each image had essentially the same tint.
All in all, it was a great learning experience in terms of both working with the equipment and working with people (the latter definitely being the more challenging and more rewarding of the two).
Happy shooting,
Glenn
When asked, I questioned whether I wanted to take on such a big project, having only done a handful of family portraits. However, the opportunity was too great to pass up, and I'm glad I took it.
Of course, the number of shots was worrisome, but I figured all I had to do was set up the lights for one shot, then the rest should fall in line without too much tweaking. Before any of that, though, I had to gather my equipment. I already had two Photogenic strobes with umbrellas, a reflector with stand, and an off-camera flash mount. I only needed to buy a backdrop, and ended up with a two-sided collapsible (dappled gray and solid black).
Another concern I had was where I would take the shots. I wanted to have a private space, but one that was easily accessible by the employees. I also knew I needed to have 4-6 feet minimum between me and the subject and the subject and the background. We found a great meeting room to use, 10x13, about the size of my set-up at home. Perfect.
How long would it take? Having no experience with this type of shoot, I could only guess. I was pretty much spot-on, luckily, figuring four mornings (over two weeks). In total, I shot for about 13 hours. Sometimes the employees would be lined up outside the door, and I got several done quickly. Other times, there were 5-10 minute lulls during which I backed up my files and adjusted my equipment.
Poses. Straight on? Slight tilt of the head? I decided to do both with most people, and this worked out well. Though, of course, some folks -- okay, MOST of them -- didn't want their picture taken, and it was hard to get them to smile let alone to try out different positions. (In fact, I started joking with them that getting your photo taken must rank right up there with drowning and public speaking as one of people's greatest fears.)
The only issue I ran into camera-wise was how the different colored shirts affected my camera's white balance, changing the backdrop's gray to cool or warm, depending. I was able to easily tweak the color in Photoshop so that the background in each image had essentially the same tint.
All in all, it was a great learning experience in terms of both working with the equipment and working with people (the latter definitely being the more challenging and more rewarding of the two).
Happy shooting,
Glenn
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