tashley
Subscriber Member
Evening all!
I've spent most of my shooting life avoiding two things: studio lighting and portraits. The only portraits I ever do are friends and family and then in a casual sort of a way.
However I had a gig recently (I posted here for advice) to take an official portrait of the Archbishop of Canterbury so I had to think about what kit to use.
In the end, after taking advice here, I abandoned the M8 and took the more formal of my two shots (a seated 3/4s body and head shot) with the Phamiya/P45+/80D combo on a cubed up Gitzo 3541LS at F5.6 and 1/40th ISO200. And Lo! It was sharp and technically good enough.
I also took a less formal one on a 5DII with 24-105 at ISO1000 and though it is technically less good (still not bad) it is the one they eventually preferred though I believe they are intending to use both.
So I learned a lot from this process. I walked the course first, set up carefully, prepared for the worst (which happened: terrible storm clouds cutting two or three stops off my light) and got few surprises.
It all got me thinking though: I'd like to get really really good at portraits and as part of that process I'd like to get really good at the studio side of things. So I bought some interesting kit and fixed me up a studio and started a project to shoot everyone who visits me.
The glass options I have on the Phamiya are the 80D or an older 150mm F3.5 and they are both very sharp. I started shotting tethered but it does make the subjects rather static so I now use mainly the 80D cos it has AF so i don't have to tether. However, the closer you get the more risk there is of distortion so a longer lens would be better. It needs to be cost-effective, have reliable AF and be thoroughly recommended by people who do a lot of studio based flash work!
BTW I really really like some of the work of Dan Winters. So much studio work looks, to me, over-lit, shiny and unreal whereas his stuff often has a renaissance glow to it that I will now try very hard to copy. Any hints?
Best
Tim
I've spent most of my shooting life avoiding two things: studio lighting and portraits. The only portraits I ever do are friends and family and then in a casual sort of a way.
However I had a gig recently (I posted here for advice) to take an official portrait of the Archbishop of Canterbury so I had to think about what kit to use.
In the end, after taking advice here, I abandoned the M8 and took the more formal of my two shots (a seated 3/4s body and head shot) with the Phamiya/P45+/80D combo on a cubed up Gitzo 3541LS at F5.6 and 1/40th ISO200. And Lo! It was sharp and technically good enough.
I also took a less formal one on a 5DII with 24-105 at ISO1000 and though it is technically less good (still not bad) it is the one they eventually preferred though I believe they are intending to use both.
So I learned a lot from this process. I walked the course first, set up carefully, prepared for the worst (which happened: terrible storm clouds cutting two or three stops off my light) and got few surprises.
It all got me thinking though: I'd like to get really really good at portraits and as part of that process I'd like to get really good at the studio side of things. So I bought some interesting kit and fixed me up a studio and started a project to shoot everyone who visits me.
The glass options I have on the Phamiya are the 80D or an older 150mm F3.5 and they are both very sharp. I started shotting tethered but it does make the subjects rather static so I now use mainly the 80D cos it has AF so i don't have to tether. However, the closer you get the more risk there is of distortion so a longer lens would be better. It needs to be cost-effective, have reliable AF and be thoroughly recommended by people who do a lot of studio based flash work!
BTW I really really like some of the work of Dan Winters. So much studio work looks, to me, over-lit, shiny and unreal whereas his stuff often has a renaissance glow to it that I will now try very hard to copy. Any hints?
Best
Tim