Family portraits with my brother and his family

[Chisox2335]

My brother and wife have seen my wildlife photography and some candid shots I've taken at birthday parties and asked if I'd take some family shots of them (more staged than the candids I take). I shoot wildlife 98% of the time and don't have a ton of practice with people. I'm going to practice with my fiance a bit before hand. I have my brother and his wife's expectations accordingly. As far as camera/lens combos I could use some help.

Cameras (I'd likely only use the 6D and 70D)
6D
70D
60D

Lenses
Canon 100-400L (this is out, unless I have really not thought of something)
Tamron 70-200 F2.8 SP (thinking on the 6D)
Canon 24-70L F4 (thinking on the 70D)
Canon 15-85 (incase I decide for some reason the 24 is not wide enough on the 70D)
Rokinon 14 F2.8 (this is out, unless I have really not thought of something)
Canon 50 F1.8 (I don't think 1.8 will be useful with 4 people in the shots and the focusing this lens kind of drives me crazy, please feel free to tell me if you disagree though)

Any other suggestions for which lens and cameras fit best?

Thanks!

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

First of all, the IQ will be better on the 6D, and it will be wider. The 24-70L is perfect to use for family portraits.


Lighting is where you need to spend your time and effort, you have the right equipment. Lighting is at least 50% of the equation, and likely a lot more. Its not always easy to keep eyes well lit, and have all the subjects lit evenly.

 

[Chisox2335]

First of all, the IQ will be better on the 6D, and it will be wider. The 24-70L is perfect to use for family portraits.


Lighting is where you need to spend your time and effort, you have the right equipment. Lighting is at least 50% of the equation, and likely a lot more. Its not always easy to keep eyes well lit, and have all the subjects lit evenly.

So the 24-70 on the 6d as the primary an maybe not even use the 70d?

Thanks! I also have a ex430 speed light. Should I use that for fill lighting even though I'm shooting in daylight?

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

First of all, the IQ will be better on the 6D, and it will be wider. The 24-70L is perfect to use for family portraits.


Lighting is where you need to spend your time and effort, you have the right equipment. Lighting is at least 50% of the equation, and likely a lot more. Its not always easy to keep eyes well lit, and have all the subjects lit evenly.

So the 24-70 on the 6d as the primary an maybe not even use the 70d?

Thanks! I also have a ex430 speed light. Should I use that for fill lighting even though I'm shooting in daylight?

Daylight is the most difficult type of lighting, its almost impossible to control, and a 80% likelyhood of harsh lighting.


Any of your cameras will take excellent images if you have good lighting.


There is no way a 430ex can overpower the sun to do a good job of fill. Use two or more high powered strobes with large reflectors, 5 or 6 ft. You can rent them.


A overcast day works well, or early morning before the direct sun ruins things.


There is a lot of information about lighting of groups outdoors on the internet.


http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-equipment-products/191661-outdoor-lighting-group-picture-other-stuff-i-need-buy.html


Reflectors: You can likely make one using a plastic pipe frame and white cloth that will reflect and diffuse the sun light to illuminate evenly.


https://www.photoflex.com/pls/using-the-litepanel-kit-to-control-contrast-outdoors

 

[Chisox2335]

First of all, the IQ will be better on the 6D, and it will be wider. The 24-70L is perfect to use for family portraits.


Lighting is where you need to spend your time and effort, you have the right equipment. Lighting is at least 50% of the equation, and likely a lot more. Its not always easy to keep eyes well lit, and have all the subjects lit evenly.

So the 24-70 on the 6d as the primary an maybe not even use the 70d?

Thanks! I also have a ex430 speed light. Should I use that for fill lighting even though I'm shooting in daylight?

Daylight is the most difficult type of lighting, its almost impossible to control, and a 80% likelyhood of harsh lighting.


Any of your cameras will take excellent images if you have good lighting.


There is no way a 430ex can overpower the sun to do a good job of fill. Use two or more high powered strobes with large reflectors, 5 or 6 ft. You can rent them.


A overcast day works well, or early morning before the direct sun ruins things.


There is a lot of information about lighting of groups outdoors on the internet.


http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-equipment-products/191661-outdoor-lighting-group-picture-other-stuff-i-need-buy.html


Reflectors: You can likely make one using a plastic pipe frame and white cloth that will reflect and diffuse the sun light to illuminate evenly.


https://www.photoflex.com/pls/using-the-litepanel-kit-to-control-contrast-outdoors

Thank you for the help. I'll take a look at the links. I'm going to recommend earlier in the morning as well.

Really appreciate the quick feedback!

 

[Famateur]

I just did the same thing for my brother and his family. Unfortunately, I only have a 70D, EF-S 17-55 F2.8 IS and 430EXII, but it still turned out well. They were so pleased that they insisted on paying me about the same as the pros they were shopping around for.

One thing that made a HUGE difference: reflectors, and someone to hold/aim them.

I had a couple of Westcott 5-In-1 40" reflectors (about $40 each), and they were invaluable. Being able to bounce fill light back to the face in an otherwise back-lit scenario made for nice soft light in the front and natural hair light from the back. Of course, this works best for the individual shots. These reflectors are too small to be effective for the full group, but I was able to find a good location with great natural light. There was one location that had some harsh sun, but I just pulled the sleeve off a reflector and used the diffuser with great success.

Another thing that helped: A beautiful location with a lot of open shade.

In my case, it was a well landscaped city park with huge cottonwood trees and a stone amphitheater. The shade was enough to keep the light soft, but not so much that I had to crank up the ISO. I was on 400 ISO the whole evening. The stone amphitheater also made perfect tiered seating for some of the family shots.

If I were you, I'd put the 24-70L on the 6D and the 15-85 on the 70D. I'd bring a good tripod, reflectors/diffusers and a flash or two if you have them.

Finally, bring a happy attitude and your best compliments, and distribute them liberally while shooting. Sincere, specific compliments will help keep your subjects fresh and feeling good. Showing some of the better shots on the back of the camera now and then throughout the shoot will help, too.

Anyway, good luck, and enjoy!

 

[Famateur]

Oh, one other thing: Bring plenty of spare (charged!) batteries for both cameras and flashes. Also bring all the memory cards you have, and if possible, a laptop to dump them to, if necessary.

Few things hamper an otherwise good shoot like running out of juice or storage space!

 

[Chisox2335]

Oh, one other thing: Bring plenty of spare (charged!) batteries for both cameras and flashes. Also bring all the memory cards you have, and if possible, a laptop to dump them to, if necessary.

Few things hamper an otherwise good shoot like running out of juice or storage space!

Thanks for the input. I don't have reflectors and I'm hesitant to go buy them for something I'll likely do once but I appreciate the feedback. We do have a park were going to that has a bunch of dinner nicely planted gardens a playscape for some kid shots and a petting zoo so we have options.

As far as battery and storage I got that covered. I'm headed on a safari in October for my honeymoon and have 11 batteries and 6 32gb SD cards more SD cards will be coming for the honeymoon. I like to have backups lol

 

[RLPhoto]

Stand them in the shade or under a tree that has little specked light. If you place them on the edge of the shade back towards the sun, you can use the sun to rim light them and expose for the shade to give them the softer light on the face.

or find a big white wall and stand them near it to get the reflected light to fill in the shadows.

The quickest thing I would do w/o having to mess with any light mods. The results won't be perfect and especially in mid daylight.

 

[Chisox2335]

Stand them in the shade or under a tree that has little specked light. If you place them on the edge of the shade back towards the sun, you can use the sun to rim light them and expose for the shade to give them the softer light on the face.

or find a big white wall and stand them near it to get the reflected light to fill in the shadows.

The quickest thing I would do w/o having to mess with any light mods.

Thanks!

 

[klickflip]

Stand them in the shade or under a tree that has little specked light. If you place them on the edge of the shade back towards the sun, you can use the sun to rim light them and expose for the shade to give them the softer light on the face.

or find a big white wall and stand them near it to get the reflected light to fill in the shadows.

The quickest thing I would do w/o having to mess with any light mods. The results won't be perfect and especially in mid daylight.

+1 great advice.

Definitely put them in shade or partial shade under tress, or ideally a bright but light cloudy day then the whole scene is lit with gods finest soft box
Or maybe with sun to the rear side in the evening which is my favourite light.
Choose your location carefully, something like a big park is ideal- watch our for background clutter tho. maybe try something more natural and candid like having a picnic then start to direct them once they are comfortable and get all looking to camera.
If you want more posed then find something like logs or a fence or wall that they can all lean against/ over and sit on but keep it natural and not too posed and everyone straight on to camera.
I'd say 6D (don't bother with the 60D having too much kit and options will just complicate things), - 6D plus the 70-200 at around 100-135mm @ f4/5.6 should do a decent job of separating them from BG.
Don't get stressed just take some shots! thats why prob starting with candids in a picnic setting might be best.

 

[Chisox2335]

Stand them in the shade or under a tree that has little specked light. If you place them on the edge of the shade back towards the sun, you can use the sun to rim light them and expose for the shade to give them the softer light on the face.

or find a big white wall and stand them near it to get the reflected light to fill in the shadows.

The quickest thing I would do w/o having to mess with any light mods. The results won't be perfect and especially in mid daylight.

+1 great advice.

Definitely put them in shade or partial shade under tress, or ideally a bright but light cloudy day then the whole scene is lit with gods finest soft box
Or maybe with sun to the rear side in the evening which is my favourite light.
Choose your location carefully, something like a big park is ideal- watch our for background clutter tho. maybe try something more natural and candid like having a picnic then start to direct them once they are comfortable and get all looking to camera.
If you want more posed then find something like logs or a fence or wall that they can all lean against/ over and sit on but keep it natural and not too posed and everyone straight on to camera.
I'd say 6D (don't bother with the 60D having too much kit and options will just complicate things), - 6D plus the 70-200 at around 100-135mm @ f4/5.6 should do a decent job of separating them from BG.
Don't get stressed just take some shots! thats why prob starting with candids in a picnic setting might be best.

Thanks guys. I was at a wedding last night and a friend asked to take a couple snapshots. Ended up taking 30 pictures of random groups of ppl. Feedback has been positive this far on the shots.

 

[Chisox2335]

Did the shoot yesterday. All in all for my first time it went pretty well. With a two year old being mostly uncooperative it was a matter of just capturing him and my one year old niece smiling at the same time. They were happy with the pictures but I know I could certainly improve. I cropped more pictures than I would have liked to. The lighting wasn't terrible but I almost wonder if I should've just left the camera in auto white balance and just worried about it in post. I was trying to jump from daylight to shade to flash too much I think.

Feedback has been positive of the pictures I sent them on Facebook. I took 302 and ended up sending them 70.

A friend of ours already asked if I'd do a session with them. My problems are I prefer wildlife and landscape photography, the family session makes photography nerve wrecking for me where I prefer to do it to relax and Id have no idea what to charge if I were to do it ( I feel like Id only charge them if I felt the session turned out well)

Thanks for all the help everyone gave!