My First Real Photoshoot (night before)

Well......
Not counting the countless hours on college film sets and in the College TV studio back once upon a time..... I am finally having my first real photo shoot. I have purchased a bunch of starter equipment and have borrowed a bunch more.

Portrait Photography.
This was never my favorite part of photography, since... well... I don't like people. HA I know that's a funny thing to say, but I have a hard time around people I don't know and large groups. Hence the reason why I like being behind the camera. But anyway.... I've decided to give it a try.

I have been bugging my friends for a week solid now on photographing them. What a perfect time of the year. With the holidays right around the corner, who wouldn't want the classic time tested family portrait to stuff in a card and send out to the family? Well... apparently a lot of the people I know. It's hard to find "friend models" altho I'm sure if I were to post an add in the paper, my box would be flooded with "pick me, pick me".

But I wanted to learn on my friends. Why? They are my friends and if I mess up the worst I'll get is some ribbing and we'll try it again. And with familiar faces I will relax a bit more so I can concentrate on my shot.

I have a new backdrop, umbrella with stand, some fresh memory cards and batteries, and a light kit. I don't have a bounce board yet, but for now I think I'll settle with some cardboard/Styrofoam spray painted gold.

I looked around on line, and read some pages in my class book. And it seems like everyone and their mother has their own "recipe" for the perfect shot. Shoot at F8, no shot at 1.5; shoot with a 85mm lens, no shoot with a 200mm lens. What I have decided is to try it all. A little with each setup and see how it goes. I'll have to take notes and log my changes as I shoot. (another good thing my first shoot is a friend)

Before my model shows up I'm thinking of taking a few self portraits. To test the lighting. This should be interesting. I will set up all my gear and set the camera with a timer and snap away.

Things I want to test out.
1. Silver Vs Gold bounce board
2. Fstops
3. angels of the model/camera
4. white balance settings
5. Auto Vs Manual shooting

That should be more then enough... I have a few hours but not ALL day. Hopefully by Sunday I'll have some examples to post up here.