Simple portriat

[RonWhitaker]

I volunteer at a local hospital and have been asked to take some pictures of patients in hospital at an awkward time of year.  The will be able to move to wheel chair against some wall with Christmas decorations.  I freeze up with people and don't do well but still would like to help them out.

I have two flashes Canon 580Ex and 430Ex speedlite, I have a home made bounce diffuser:
http://super.nova.org/DPR/DIY01/

Lenses: 17-55, 100 macro, 70-200
Tripod and remote switch will be used.

I don't know which lens is best and how far away I can get.
I don't know how to point the flashes to get best effect.

Making people comfortable and posing them is another art I don't think there is time for here.

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

RonWhitaker.ca

[engineer]

Ron
Welcome to the forum.
I've moved your question from the beginner topic to the portrait topic.  The portrait experts there can probably help.

A few suggestions and thoughts.
Normal to moderate telephotos (55 to 85 mm on full frame 35mm) seem to give the most pleasing portraits.  Wide angles can give good results, but you really need to be careful or you end up with very unflattering results.  You don't say what camera you've got but if it's not a full frame then the 17-55 at the upper end of the range would be my choice. If it's full frame, then the 70-200 used at the low end of the range would be my choice.

White balance could be a real problem.  I suggest you take a photo of a gray card or one of the many white balance aids offered to be sure that you get the white balance correct.

Hope that the people at the portrait topic can offer more help.
Again, welcome to the forum and let us know how your portraits turned out.
Les

[RonWhitaker]

Thanks,  Sorry 1.6 crop Canon 50D.

I was hoping to shoot jpeg.  I normally shoot raw and adjust colours to my taste.  This doesn't work with people.  Doesn't flash and jpeg mean the colours are going to be set OK?
If not how do we adjust white balance?

[engineer]

Here are a couple of discussions of WB and flash.  Hope you find them useful
http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5705 This one seems to provide the better advise and a practical method.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=327837

Les

[RonWhitaker]

Thanks that saves me a lot of time. 

If I leave one flash on the stroboframe where could I put the other flash to reduce the effects of obvious flash?

Thanks much!

RonWhitaker.ca

[engineer]

You're getting out of my expertise and knowledge.  Here are some suggestions I've come across  when I was looking for information on a different topic.  These are all tutorials on lighting.
http://super.nova.org/DPR/
http://www.connectedphotographer.com/issues/issue200407/00001352001.html
http://www.diyphotography.net/portrait-lighting-cheat-sheet I've found this cheat sheet useful for what little portrait work I've done.
http://ir.webphotoschool.com/ Several tutorials on lighting for various things.  Not sure if any meet your needs but worth looking.
http://www.professionalphotography101.com/portrait_lighting/Light_source_distance.html
http://www.montezucker.com/content.html?page=7
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html Series of articles well worth reading them all.
If you find any of these useful (or not), please share your findings with the rest of us on the forum.
Good Luck.
Les

[Heartsfire]

Les has given you some great information and good links.

First, I would not put them against the wall.  You want to move them out away from the wall as far as you can.  Putting them flat up against the wall is going to give you a lot of shadows.

I would use the 70-200 at the mid range point.  Most lenses perform better near the mid range and have a sweet spot.

I myself would use the 580 on your stroboframe and use a tripod.  Try to set up in an area with a white ceiling and bounce your flash off of that. That will give more pleasing light than a straight on flash.

[RonWhitaker]

Thanks all for the good suggestions.

I have a second flash that can be used remote.  With what you said putting them away from the wall I could put the second flash to light the wall behind.  What do you suggest?

Still not sure if 17-55 used at 55 end or 70-200 used at 70 end.  What are the benefits?

Thanks

[engineer]

I think the question about which lens may depend on how much space you have to work with.  If you get cramped for space, the ability to go to wider angle could be a life saver.  70 mm in a 1.6 crop camera is 112 equivalent in full frame.  I suggest you check out the space and see what framing you can get with each lens.  The 70-200 will probably give you nice head and head and shoulder shots but you may have problems getting full length.  Do you plan any group shots?
I think the space you have to set up in, will pretty much determine which lens you use.
Good luck.
Les

[RonWhitaker]

Lenses: That's pretty much what I thought.  I am not sure how many people in each shot.  They will be sitting down probably one in a wheel chair so I am thinking others should be sitting or standing behind.

Thanks all for your help.

[Heartsfire]

Ron,

How did your shoot go?  We'd love to see some of your portraits.

[mitch]

For portraits, I would suggest something like the Canon 17-40mm "L" zoom and the Canon 24-70mmm "L" zoom. Combined, that's about $1500 in glass.

With a 1.6 cropping factor you get from about 24mm equivalent to 100mm equivalent. The APC-size sensor will use the center of the 17-40mm lens, will avoid a lot of the barrel distortion at the 17mm end.

Cheers,

Mitch

[RonWhitaker]

The shoot was volunteer at a local hospital for inpatients and family.  Restrictions on site means nothing can be shared.  On the positive side I felt good about the images and learned a lot.  I am not the people person for shooting.  I believe the people are happy and that's all that counts.

I would like to thank all the advice I got.  I did have to use equipment I had so used the 17-55 and bounced the flash off a wall - worked pretty good.

Ron

[engineer]

Glad to hear that things went well.  You're right that if the people involved were happy that's all that matters.

Great that you took the project on.

Les