The photography thread

RaymondLin · August 2018

Bought a new lens.

zepp76 · August 2018

@RaymondLin very nice! I bought a new lens too, a Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM

benmurray85 · August 2018

zepp76 said:

@RaymondLin very nice! I bought a new lens too, a Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM

(I think) I have this Canon lens. It’s amazing and my favourite lens. You’re going to love it.

zepp76 · August 2018

benmurray85 said:

zepp76 said:

@RaymondLin very nice! I bought a new lens too, a Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM

(I think) I have this Canon lens. It’s amazing and my favourite lens. You’re going to love it.

@benmurray85 I bought it as the reviews said it was a good lens for portraits. My mate has asked if I can take a few portrait style photos of his family (wife, two sons) if anyone can offer any tips on this style that would be great please.

many thanks.

BigMonka · August 2018

zepp76 said:

benmurray85 said:

zepp76 said:

@RaymondLin very nice! I bought a new lens too, a Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM

(I think) I have this Canon lens. It’s amazing and my favourite lens. You’re going to love it.

@benmurray85 I bought it as the reviews said it was a good lens for portraits. My mate has asked if I can take a few portrait style photos of his family (wife, two sons) if anyone can offer any tips on this style that would be great please.

many thanks.

I've got the older non-STM version and do like it (especially for the price). It can be nice for portraits but I find its much easier to do that outside as 50mm on an APS-C body is quite long within someone's front room.
Also I'd recommend stopping it down to at least f2.8 as it can be a bit soft at f1.8 and if a beginner then you'll probably end up with too many of your shots with the focus not quite on the right thing and the shallow depth of field doesn't give much wiggle room for error. Although it is fun taking some shots with it an f1.8 just because you can

benmurray85 · August 2018

zepp76 said:

benmurray85 said:

zepp76 said:

@RaymondLin very nice! I bought a new lens too, a Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM

(I think) I have this Canon lens. It’s amazing and my favourite lens. You’re going to love it.

@benmurray85 I bought it as the reviews said it was a good lens for portraits. My mate has asked if I can take a few portrait style photos of his family (wife, two sons) if anyone can offer any tips on this style that would be great please.

many thanks.

Oh mate I’m a real beginner, I wouldn’t even dream of offering any tips!!! I use it for a lot of street style stuff and echo @BigMonka comments about the space issue. It used to really frustrate me at first but now I know that I need to allow that space I work round it. You’ll love it pal. Just have a dabble and you’ll get some good results

RaymondLin · August 2018

zepp76 said:

benmurray85 said:

zepp76 said:

@RaymondLin very nice! I bought a new lens too, a Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM

(I think) I have this Canon lens. It’s amazing and my favourite lens. You’re going to love it.

@benmurray85 I bought it as the reviews said it was a good lens for portraits. My mate has asked if I can take a few portrait style photos of his family (wife, two sons) if anyone can offer any tips on this style that would be great please.

many thanks.

First, take your time…

Remember the must get shots

1 - one the whole family stands there or sit there and smile.

Now that one is out of the way (do it at any time), but a place where they are not squinting, in the shade if out in the open.

2 - Candids, of mum with child, dad with child, just the child, child playing with child etc. Depends how old they are, photos of their little feet, photos of them looking at the camera, photos of them holding on a toy.

Here is a tip, instead of asking them to hold a pose, as them to do something, so instead of saying "put your hand here" say "could you start your hand here and finish by the shoulders" let them move there naturally and it will be a more natural position than you asking them to place a hand where you want it to go.

Ask them to walk away from you, walk towards you and snap.

zepp76 · August 2018

@RaymondLin wow, they are fantastic photos! The Bokeh (is that the correct term?) in the second image is great. Thank you for the great advice, I wouldn't have thought about doing candid shots, that's a good idea. I've ordered a set of ND filters for the 50mm, will they be useful in portrait photography? I'm sure I read somewhere that the right nd filter can help with obtaining Bokeh as well as a wide aperture. Again thank you for the great advice.

RaymondLin · August 2018

zepp76 said:

@RaymondLin wow, they are fantastic photos! The Bokeh (is that the correct term?) in the second image is great. Thank you for the great advice, I wouldn't have thought about doing candid shots, that's a good idea. I've ordered a set of ND filters for the 50mm, will they be useful in portrait photography? I'm sure I read somewhere that the right nd filter can help with obtaining Bokeh as well as a wide aperture. Again thank you for the great advice.

I don't use ND for portraits, they are for video or landscapes. You won't need the ND for portraits, the last thing you want is to cut light.

And yes, the blur, and its character is call bokeh, a japanese word. That 2nd photo is taken with a 50mm (on a Full Frame) at F/1.4.

zepp76 · August 2018

RaymondLin said:

zepp76 said:

@RaymondLin wow, they are fantastic photos! The Bokeh (is that the correct term?) in the second image is great. Thank you for the great advice, I wouldn't have thought about doing candid shots, that's a good idea. I've ordered a set of ND filters for the 50mm, will they be useful in portrait photography? I'm sure I read somewhere that the right nd filter can help with obtaining Bokeh as well as a wide aperture. Again thank you for the great advice.

I don't use ND for portraits, they are for video or landscapes. You won't need the ND for portraits, the last thing you want is to cut light.

And yes, the blur, and its character is call bokeh, a japanese word. That 2nd photo is taken with a 50mm (on a Full Frame) at F/1.4.

@RaymondLin Again thank you for your advice, it's much appreciated.

That must be a seriously narrow DOF at F/1.4 I'm gathering a tripod was used? Do you trust your auto focus or do you shoot in manual? Are there any techniques or practices that will help in obtaining a sharp picture in manual mode? I don't really want to rely on auto focus especially when doing macro photography as the auto focus struggles at such close focusing.

sorry for all the questions but if you don't ask, you don't learn!

RaymondLin · August 2018

No tripod, kids run around so you just put it in aperture priority with auto focus on and put a single focus point where you THINK and want to eyes to land in the outcome and shoot and aim for the eye. You will learn to take multiple because of your breathing will shift back and forth a mm here and there and people blink.

zepp76 · August 2018

They are great photos for hand held, I take it you used quite a fast shutter speed? I guess it's already chosen for you in aperture priority I suppose.

RaymondLin · August 2018

zepp76 said:

They are great photos for hand held, I take it you used quite a fast shutter speed? I guess it's already chosen for you in aperture priority I suppose.

In bright daylight at 1.4 you will be shooting at like 1/800th (shade) to like 1/4000th a second easy

strumjoughlamps · August 2018

@zepp76 ; be careful with ordering lots of bits n bobs, you run the risk of being the master of none with a head full of 'what the bloody hell am I doing with all this kit'

RaymondLin · August 2018

You really don’t need that much for family portraits, a 50 full frame focal length can do 90% of the job hand held. Just move around with your feet.

zepp76 · August 2018

strumjoughlamps said:

@zepp76 ; be careful with ordering lots of bits n bobs, you run the risk of being the master of none with a head full of 'what the bloody hell am I doing with all this kit'

@strumjoughlamps Wise words taken on board! I'm done with spending now, I've purchased all the lenses I felt I need whilst I had the money to do so. I now just need to find the time to go out and practice.

boogieman · August 2018

zepp76 said:

strumjoughlamps said:

@zepp76 ; be careful with ordering lots of bits n bobs, you run the risk of being the master of none with a head full of 'what the bloody hell am I doing with all this kit'

@strumjoughlamps Wise words taken on board! I'm done with spending now, I've purchased all the lenses I felt I need whilst I had the money to do so. I now just need to find the time to go out and practice.

Too many lenses can actually be a curse: you end up never having the right one with you. Definitely better to have a small selection and then learn how to use them to the best advantage.

ThePrettyDamned · August 2018

boogieman said:

zepp76 said:

strumjoughlamps said:

@zepp76 ; be careful with ordering lots of bits n bobs, you run the risk of being the master of none with a head full of 'what the bloody hell am I doing with all this kit'

@strumjoughlamps Wise words taken on board! I'm done with spending now, I've purchased all the lenses I felt I need whilst I had the money to do so. I now just need to find the time to go out and practice.

Too many lenses can actually be a curse: you end up never having the right one with you. Definitely better to have a small selection and then learn how to use them to the best advantage.

Such wisdom! I used to use a 50mm and a 135mm the most on film (on 35mm anyway, on medium format I used a 60mm and 250mm on 6x7).

So now I have a crop sensor camera and have a 50mm lens (that's cheap, sharp as hell... And hardly ever used as it's not quite long or wide enough for me), an 85mm 1.4 that's practically welded to the camera (that's equivalent of 135mm f/2 - wonderful focal length and gives enough camera - to - subject distance to compress the background a bit but is wide and long enough for a good blur) and the 18-70mm zoom that's hardly used as I've never used zooms before a few years ago..

If I could go back I'd probably get the same camera, the sigma art 35mm 1.4 and an 85mm 1.4. That gives me a fast 50 and fast 135 equivalent that I'm used to... And maybe in time I'd want something wider.

Honestly though, I've found blur just isn't that important compared to good composition light and editing. I go to flickr and find people using the same gear as me but with much better results because they're better photographers

danishbacon · August 2018

I've been working in the field on various capacities for the last ten years. I was lucky to meet a lot of serious talent along the way. I was also lucky to have been exposed to piles and piles of classic books and had access to a library with more piles still. My take on the whole thing is pretty simple. Study images, understand what makes them interesting (to you) and learn how to seek out those specific types of moments/scenery. It's far more important to be legitimately interested and focused about the nuances of that which you are photographing than to say, "I find people interesting". Ask the question, what about people interests you, and drill down even further. At the end of it, the things are quite simple. Mix in some good light and a sprinkle of luck and you've got yourself the ingredients for a good photograph. Just don't burn the frame

benmurray85 · August 2018

@danishbacon those pictures are incredible. I love that style.

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