Re: Help w/ portrait of person w/ large head
What Shel said -- plus -- if the photo use will allow it and you want to minimize the overall size of his head you could use short lighting. Turn him 30 - 45 degrees to the left or right and light the far side of his face with your main light and use a reflector or other light source to slightly fill the shadows on the close side of his face. Using the *istD gives you the advantage of trying several lighting ratios between main light and fill until you get the one you're most please with. When you're deciding on how much profile to show, just don't let the tip of his nose extend beyone his far side cheek. You can also experiment with the main light placement so it primarily lights the far side of his face, but also puts a little of the main light onto the near side eye. -Paul - Original Message - From: Shel Belinkoff [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 10, 2004 7:24 PM Subject: Re: Help w/ portrait of person w/ large head Perhaps I'm missing something. If you're doing a tight head shot, and the fellow's not deformed in some way, IOW, if his head has all the features in proportion, why would there be a need to use anything but whatever lens you'd normally use? Make sure his eyes are in focus and stick with the standard 85mm - 120mm or so optic. If you've got an M 75~150 zoom, that may be a fine choice. Shoot from different perspectives, zoom with your feet as well as the lens, be sure the exposure is correct, and you'll end up with something worthwhile, both for his work and perhaps for display in his home. Shel
Help w/ portrait of person w/ large head
Does anyone have any suggestions for taking a portrait for someone with a fairly large head? This man is tall, around 6' 5. He needs a head shot only for his work. What kind of angle should I shoot at? Any other creative ideas??? Maybe someone has some sample photos they have taken of someone with a similar feature? TIA, Steve __ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com
Re: Help w/ portrait of person w/ large head
Another advantage of using a long focal length is the smaller view angle. You'll capture less of a noisy background (such as tree branches) providing a simpler final image. The viewer's eye will stay on the main subject and won't get distracted by irrelevant data in the background. Tim On 12/10/04 13:00, Fred wrote: Not that I shoot glamor photography (g), but, when outdoors, I generally like to use a long lens for portraits. Not only does doing so make for pleasing enough (to me) facial features (although some might argue that a moderate telephoto makes for more natural features), but using a long lens (more importantly) also helps make for more candid portraits (since the subject is generally much less aware of being photographed). Most often I'd be using a 100-300/4, a 300/4, or a 300/4.5 (typically at about f/8, if I can get enough light).
Re: Help w/ portrait of person w/ large head
Using the istD, I might consider a 200mm lens, which would give me an effective focal length of 300mm. What are peoples' opinions of the SMC-A 200mm lens? My only somewhat long tele lens is the 120 f/2.8, which I think I will give a try for this gentleman. Thanks for all the suggestions! Keep 'em coming... --- Tim Sherburne [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Another advantage of using a long focal length is the smaller view angle. You'll capture less of a noisy background (such as tree branches) providing a simpler final image. The viewer's eye will stay on the main subject and won't get distracted by irrelevant data in the background. Tim On 12/10/04 13:00, Fred wrote: Not that I shoot glamor photography (g), but, when outdoors, I generally like to use a long lens for portraits. Not only does doing so make for pleasing enough (to me) facial features (although some might argue that a moderate telephoto makes for more natural features), but using a long lens (more importantly) also helps make for more candid portraits (since the subject is generally much less aware of being photographed). Most often I'd be using a 100-300/4, a 300/4, or a 300/4.5 (typically at about f/8, if I can get enough light). __ Do you Yahoo!? Jazz up your holiday email with celebrity designs. Learn more. http://celebrity.mail.yahoo.com
Re: Help w/ portrait of person w/ large head
On 10/12/04, Steve Pearson, discombobulated, unleashed: Thanks for all the suggestions! Keep 'em coming... 15mm 3.5 and a good pair of running shoes... Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=|http://www.cottysnaps.com _
Re: Help w/ portrait of person w/ large head
Perhaps I'm missing something. If you're doing a tight head shot, and the fellow's not deformed in some way, IOW, if his head has all the features in proportion, why would there be a need to use anything but whatever lens you'd normally use? Make sure his eyes are in focus and stick with the standard 85mm - 120mm or so optic. If you've got an M 75~150 zoom, that may be a fine choice. Shoot from different perspectives, zoom with your feet as well as the lens, be sure the exposure is correct, and you'll end up with something worthwhile, both for his work and perhaps for display in his home. Shel
Re: Help w/ portrait of person w/ large head
- Original Message - From: Steve Pearson Subject: Help w/ portrait of person w/ large head Does anyone have any suggestions for taking a portrait for someone with a fairly large head? This man is tall, around 6' 5. He needs a head shot only for his work. What kind of angle should I shoot at? Any other creative ideas??? Try using a longish lens. If you are shooting 35mm, something in the 135mm range would be about right. Other than that, have the guy sit so that you aren't pointing the camera up at him. I like the optical axis of the lens to be at about eye level, or slightly above for head shots. William Robb
Re: Help w/ portrait of person w/ large head
On Dec 10, 2004, at 8:57 PM, Steve Pearson wrote: He needs a head shot only for his work. What kind of angle should I shoot at? Any other creative ideas??? I certainly cannot speak from experience, but on Photo.net, in the section on people photography, they mention that the trend in glamour photography today is to shoot loong lenses (300mm) to reduce the sizes of facial features like noses, etc. Maybe you could try shooting with a long lens. I suppose it will take a large area, but who knows??? -- -Jon Glass Krakow, Poland [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Help w/ portrait of person w/ large head
the trend in glamour photography today is to shoot loong lenses (300mm) to reduce the sizes of facial features like noses, etc. Not that I shoot glamor photography (g), but, when outdoors, I generally like to use a long lens for portraits. Not only does doing so make for pleasing enough (to me) facial features (although some might argue that a moderate telephoto makes for more natural features), but using a long lens (more importantly) also helps make for more candid portraits (since the subject is generally much less aware of being photographed). Most often I'd be using a 100-300/4, a 300/4, or a 300/4.5 (typically at about f/8, if I can get enough light). Indoors, it's a different story. Usually, there's not enough room available for such a long lens for portraiture, and/or the flash won't reach far enough, and I'd be more likely to be using a moderate telephoto, e.g., 80-200/2.8, 60-120/2.8, or an 85 or 135 prime (often at f/4 or f/5.6). Since I'm a total amateur, I offer the above, not as any sort of learned advice, but simply as what works for me with my particular style (or maybe I should not use the term style for my shooting, which might falsely imply quality, but instead use modus operandi - g). Fred
