HELP!! My boss wants a portrait.

[Chri5]

Hello All. My boss is standing in the local elections and he wants me to take his portrait and of course I said yes Id be glad to and I am glad to but the only problem is I only do landscapes and have very rarely done any portraiture stuff. Can anyone give me any advice. I have no flash gun and the only lenses I have are a nikon 35mm prime and sigma 10-20mm. Please save me :_(

[Manfred M]

Go to your boss and tell him that you are not a portrait photographer and don't think you can do it and why you say this. Tell him that you are a landscape photographer and that your equipment is not suitable for portraiture.

Portraiture requires different equipment than landscape work; your lenses are definitely not generally used for portraiture (Canon and Nikon sell a lot of 70-200mm lenses to the portrait photography crowd). Wide angle lenses and ultra wide angle lenses are rarely used in this type of work (although we see some fairly interesting editorial shots from time to time using this type of gear).

You don't necessarily need a flash (and on-camera flash is usually not the way to go either), but that does create some pretty serious lighting constraints. Shots taken near natural light sources can and do work, but again, the light has to be right... Modifiers, reflectors do help a lot, but then you need to know how to use them.

The other part is posing your subject so that the pose and lighting work. Unless your subject is naturally a good poser, you are bound to get what I call "deer in the headlights" images; stiff, funny looking and totally unattractive. A portrait photographer has to work with their subject to get them to pose to look good in the shot, so you need both the technical and people skills and practice to pull this off. It seems to me that you have neither.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Chris . I'm sure some portrait shooters will give you some useful info. Besides, you can get some info by searching the old threads and posts about portait shots

[bnnrcn]

I was going to edit my post and say that 'You need Manfred' , but I think he posted already while I was writing my post

[Polar01]

As Manfred states, your lens are not really that good for portraits, I would say something like even in the best light these types of lens would not produce a flattering image.

Cheers: Allan

[Chri5]

Thank you all for the advice. I understand that my equipment is not for portraiture but Im going to give it a go anyway. It will be good practice and if I dont get anything usable I will explain. I dont think he is looking for anything to spectacular he just wants a shot that is sharp and presentable.

[Manfred M]

Thank you all for the advice. I understand that my equipment is not for portraiture but Im going to give it a go anyway. It will be good practice and if I dont get anything usable I will explain. I dont think he is looking for anything to spectacular he just wants a shot that is sharp and presentable.

In that case a few suggestions:

1. Use the 35mm lens;

2. Use indirect natural lighting. If outdoors, shoot in a shaded area, if possible not in open shade;

3. Shoot from a position that is a couple of inches from above eye level (of the subject);

4. Take lots of shots so that you have some material to work with;

5. Fill the frame with the subject; and.

6. Go out and practice shooting someone else. There are lots of examples of portraiture around. Try to emulate what these photographers have done.

[HaseebM]

Hello All. My boss is standing in the local elections and he wants me to take his portrait and of course I said yes Id be glad to and I am glad to but the only problem is I only do landscapes and have very rarely done any portraiture stuff. Can anyone give me any advice. I have no flash gun and the only lenses I have are a nikon 35mm prime and sigma 10-20mm. Please save me :_(

I don't see a problem here. All you need to do is go to your boss and request him politely to purge for a 50mm portrait lens and a set of strobes, which will be used solely for his portraiture work.

[Manfred M]

I was going to edit my post and say that 'You need Manfred' , but I think he posted already while I was writing my post

Strangely (coincidentally?) I am working on an editorial portraiture assignment for the photographic composition course I'm taking right now. This is as far as I've gotten (3 to 5 more shots to go to be submitted by Sunday). I'm not sure if I'm quite done yet, but am getting close.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Chris,

I'm no portrait shooter, but I know that focal length (35mm) will 'encourage' you to shoot from 'too close', which in turn will overly accentuate the face and/or body features closest to the lens.

So I would add to Manfred's list;

3a. Shoot from a distance that allows for a post processing crop of about 50% (that's assuming you have a recent 24MP Nikon; e.g. a D3200 or D3300)

The crop will be equivalent to shooting with a 70mm focal length - which with your 1.5 crop factor equates to about 105mm.

You must practice!

Good luck, Dave

[shreds]

I suppose it depends what ticket your boss is standing for.....monster raving looney party or something a little more serious.

Still think I would politely decline if I had not been down this route before.

[IzzieK]

Maybe this is what you need...I have not read it yet but I will when I go upstairs...

http://photzy.com/free-guide-headshots-101/

[William W]

I generally concur with the points made by Manfred, Allan and Dave –

I’ll add -

I dont think he is looking for anything to spectacular he just wants a shot that is sharp and presentable. . . It will be good practice and if I dont get anything usable I will explain.

Firstly, I think that it is imperative that you KNOW what he expects and ensure that you are both on the same page. You might be on very good terms with your boss, but in my experience it is much better to do any explaining BEFORE the shoot rather than after the shoot with an handful of unacceptable images.

***

. . . My boss is standing in the local elections and he wants me to take his portrait . . . I have no flash gun and the only lenses I have are a nikon 35mm prime and sigma 10-20mm. . . I understand that my equipment is not for portraiture but Im going to give it a go anyway.

1. A major part of what you need to know is what is the PURPOSE (the use) for the Portrait.

I will assume the main use will be for Political Bill Boards and similar POLITICAL / ELECTION ADVERTISING MATERIAL, e.g.:



Additional points that I suggest you should consider:

2. You then need to know if he will be using B&W or Colour or BOTH. If he will be using B&W at all, then it is important that there are CONTRASTS in his clothing. Keep the clothing simple and not patterned. Achieving this is usually easy for a Male Subject. In the above sample, the Subject has dark grey suit; white shirt; light blue tie. For example, what would have been dumb for that particular shot, which was to be used for B&W, would have been to allow the Subject to wear a dark red tie - as it would have the same grey tone as the dark grey suit.

3. Keep the BACKGROUND very simple. As you have no flash, and I expect little experience in Portraiture Lighting and no access to a Studio anyway: then (as already suggested) use a SHADED AREA. But select a spot where the background is as light coloured monotone as possible and without much texture and get a good distance between the Background and the Subject.

4. Get your hands on an 85mm or a 50 mm lens. Seriously. You should be able to borrow one. 85 would be better. On your APS-C Camera an 85mm lens would be typically employed for Political Bill Posters.

5. If he does not have a publicity agent – and I am assuming he doesn’t, then you will have no direction as to “the look” which is required – and I’ll also guess that your boss will be at sixes and sevens regarding “the look” too, so, I think that you might as well have a plan and the best plan when working without direction is to keep it simple and straight-forward. In this case, the “straightforward political look” where I work is, as in the example I supplied above. As Ian has alluded, much of "the look" will be governed by his affiliation (or not) with a particular Political Party, so that there is accord with that Party's BRANDING. If he is an Independent Candidate, then he might have decided his own Branding and therefore should be able to direct you further. However if you want to work with a 'safe formula' - then:

5a. > Use ⅛ Profile Body
5b. > Head Square on
5c. >(As opposed to Manfred’s suggestion), I suggest a slightly lower camera Elevation, just under or at the nose and not above the eyes. There is a reason for this and the Political Spin Doctors will go into all manner of research about it
5d. > Frame all shot a little wide with the view allow cropping for an Head and Shoulders Portrait available in VARIOUS ASPECT RATIOS

6. I agree to shoot many frames – but I encourage you to shoot many frames with the basic outline as above to get various expressions, then, after you have various expressions with that basic formula, try a few other POSING Options

7. I disagree to get the boss to hire or buy Studio Strobes (or Portable Flash Units) UNLESS you are experienced in using same and it is implied that you are not.

8. I agree with Dave Humphries: if you HAVE to use the 35mm lens then you must use a Shooting Distance, so that you are at the spot where you would be if you were using an 85mm lens (it will be about 12ft).

9. Seriously, Importantly: borrow an 85mm lens or even borrow kit zoom that has a long end to at least 50/55mm. Because you will lose a great deal of image real estate if you use a 35mm lens and you have the Camera is situated at about 12ft from the Subject to create the PERSPECTIVE of an 85mm Lens for the Head and Shoulders final cropped image.

WW

[rpcrowe]

You have received some very good pointers regarding the portrait of your boss. I agree with everything above, especially needing a longer focal length lens. Although I like to shoot my portraits at 100mm or longer (with a 1.6x crop camera) you CAN get by using a 50mm lens. I mention this because both Canon and Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lenses are really inexpensive.

Here's another consideration: If I were running for election, I would want the very best possible portrait. The election portrait should say, VOTE FOR ME, I'm honest, I'm smart and I understand the problems of the office.

I would be willing to spend some money to get the very best portrait possible. I would not be frugal (cheap) about the portrait which is probably one of the most important factors in any election...

Some non-photographers believe that just because someone has a camera a bit better than the cardboard, throwaway cameras that used to be sold at supermarket check out stands, he can shoot professional images. I am not saying that you can't do the job, just that I would go to a portrait studio and get my election portrait shot there...

[mrinmoyvk]

Hello All. My boss is standing in the local elections and he wants me to take his portrait and of course I said yes Id be glad to and I am glad to but the only problem is I only do landscapes and have very rarely done any portraiture stuff. Can anyone give me any advice. I have no flash gun and the only lenses I have are a nikon 35mm prime and sigma 10-20mm. Please save me :_(

As your boss is standing for local elections, I dont think he needs something or pre-wedding shoot type or any dramatic studio shots. Anything that can be enlarged to huge size for advertisement would be more than enough for him I guess (get this confirmed before hand). If that is the case, make sure you get the image amazingly sharp. Try getting some 50mm+ lens from some of your friend or some rental shop and go for it. At least you can do that much to keep your boss and potential politician happy.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Chris,

A while back I was put in a position where I had to take 20 odd individual portraits with the only guidelines being, they need to be something like these (shown a book containing images of previous years candidates in the scheme), I would not have much time to do them and that was it. As someone that had never taken a portrait seriously I simply asked questions here, investigated on the web and learnt and practised beforehand what I could do with the gear I had available.

As you mentioned you only have the 35mm here is an example of one of the group I took which was shot at 34mm wheras all others were taken at longer FLs up to 60mm. I'm not for one minute suggesting 35mm is suitable or preferable but just giving it as an example. I include the original uncropped and the crop that was used for publishing.





I'm sure many can say what is wrong with this or what could have been done and in doing that may give you some ideas.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Chris,

Grahame's example shows us a couple of points to be wary of;
a) the subject was stood under an overhead light that has led to a very bright forehead and dark eye sockets (aka panda eyes)
b) fortunately, Grahame has used fill flash quite skilfully to remove much of the panda eye problem

Also it looks like the forehead has been 'rescued' in PP, or perhaps, being a monochrome final result, the contrast suits better.

Just goes to show that 'it ain't easy'

[Downrigger]

Here’s another issue, and it may get no uptake (i.e. I may be all wet, or a bit weird): Portraiture involves what seems to me an intimate interaction, and to me that is suggests it is best framed in a professional relationship unless the photographer and subject are close friends already, or family. The subject is revealing him/herself and the photographer is making a personal statement about how they see what is revealed.

It’s probably not as intense as providing someone psychotherapy, legal counsel on a personal matter, or medical care, but to me it has many of the same features – good portraits are exposing (though more complexly, political portraits may apprehend what is best concealed).

For that reason I would think it an unusual boss/employee relationship where anything but a casual, friendly snapshot to meet a minimum requirement for entering a local race – like a passport shot - might not create “boundary” issues. The reverse would be a boss seeking the modeling services of an employee – equally problematic in my view. I’ve not done portraiture but I’ve had it done and it seems to me stuff goes on between the two persons involved – you know, “stuff”.

[William W]

Eyeglasses!

Does the fellow usually wear eyeglasses? That's another set of issues.

Easiest to take the lenses out.

*

Mark, you are not wet - one has to create RAPPORT.

Not necessarily easy to do in a situation where a relationship already exists.

WW

[Manfred M]

Eyeglasses.

Does the fellow usually wear eyeglasses? That's another set of issues.

Easiest to take the lenses out.

WW

Even easier to take them off, unless of course these are part of the persona for the photograph.