Corporate Portrait

[rasputin]

The company I work for has a new CEO and he needs his photo taken, so everyone pointed at me .

Looking at the old CEO's portrait I don't think they expect much. You could do better with a camera-phone. But I'd like to impress anyway.

The main photo will be indoors in a reasonably bright room. Just an upper body shot, but there will be a background which needs to be visible (and slightly out of focus).

My main concern is lighting, which I have very little experience with. I have:
2 manual flashes with radio triggers (possibly a third if my Sony -> ISO adapter comes soon)
1 umbrella softbox (a shoot through umbrella with black backing)
Gold/Silver reflector.

Any recommended setups, or tips?

[beano500]

Nikon do a "virtual try out" at http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/technolo...

Not sure if you can find similar stuff on the worldinterwebwidenet that might help ?

[_dobbo_]

Seems to me if you have little experience of lighting this isn't the time to learn, so I'd say just use on-board flash diffused and bounced off the ceiling.

UNLESS.... You can get in the room with a willing victim who you can practice on to get the lighting right, then call in the CEO when you are ready?

[rasputin]

_dobbo_ said:

UNLESS.... You can get in the room with a willing victim who you can practice on to get the lighting right, then call in the CEO when you are ready?

This is what I'm planning.

The area where I'll be shooting isn't really ideal for bouncing the flash. Very uneven ceiling and some coloured walls.

My current thought is:
Umbrella soft-box next to me, almost directly in front of CEO.

Diffused flash behind CEO to light up background.

And if the third flash is available - set it up behind him at an angle, to give more definition/separation from the background.

In my imagination, that works. But in real life I have no idea

Edited by rasputin on Monday 14th December 11:48

[_dobbo_]

That's the trouble with lighting - trying to manifest an idea in real life is often an absolute nightmare unless you are doing it all the time. Sadly I can't offer any advice on the setup side but what you've described seems to make perfect sense to me.

If you've got time to practice you should be able to get it set up nicely. I suppose with a remote release you don't even need a model, just sit in the seat yourself until you've got it right.

Good luck anyway!

[Simpo Two]

Get the lighting sorted out and all the settings about right before you call him in - that way he's only there for a few minutes and you look more professional (he won't see you tripping over light stands and muttering 'why isn't it going off?'

[rasputin]

And how about a reflector?

I've been practicing folding it up all weekend, and after all the times it bashed me in the face I feel I need to get some use out of it

[rasputin]

Right, part 1 is done. Unfortunately he didn't have much time so I could only get a couple of the shots I was planning. We will do more later.

And... I've been playing with my new umbrella softbox, wireless triggers, etc. all week and they've been working flawlessly and I got some really nice test shots!

Then, today, got set up, and - nothing .

Fiddle around for a while, try again - only one trigger works.

Fiddle again, try all channels, etc. - nope.

So revert to bouncing the Sony flash and having second flash with optical trigger - but for some reason the flash "froze" when it was attached to the trigger (couldn't change any settings) and would only fire once, then I'd have to pull it off and stick it back on.

Typical


Anyway, I think I got a couple of decent ones, and with a bit of processing I hope I will improve them further...

[Simpo Two]

'Always have a back-up'

Still, when it all goes tits up in front of the CEO, don't say 'Oh fk, it won't work' say 'Actually, Mr Smith, I think it will look better if I do it THIS way...'

But shouldn't the flashes slave together - ie you only need one trigger?

[rasputin]

Yes sorry, wasn't sure what's called what.

One transmitter on camera. Two receivers on flashes.

My backup was my trusty Sony flash and a few hundred spare batteries .

And if all else failed, image stabiliser and 50mm f/1.8 should have coped without a flash I reckon .

May put a couple of the photos up for some criticism, so watch this space ...

[CivicMan]

What about natural window light, Snowdon style.



Nice neutral background, maybe a hint of reflector.

Or is that just all too passe these days?

[mikeyr]

CivicMan said:

What about natural window light, Snowdon style.



Nice neutral background, maybe a hint of reflector.

Or is that just all too passe these days?

perfect ... if the OP's boss is Charles Dickens or perhaps Ebeneezer Scrooge

PS: i like the photo - just don't think that the style would be what a corporate company might want.