Portrait Family Photography

I have done some portrait photography...children, family ect. Don't have any lights yet, so I was thinking of buying a couple inexpensive lights with umbrellas....should I get the strobe lights or continuous lighting?

Get the strobe, more power, more depth of field for you. Don't go cheap, they will only frustrate you. There is no place to repair them or replace bulbs. Buy an Alien Bee and get more as you have the cash. One Bee umbrellaed and one bounced on camera strobe can be a wonderful start.

2008-01-05 08:20:42 by maria

Life as a portrait photographer... some clients are more lovely than others.

Starting up a small child/family portrait photography business and need a name. Something sweet and elegant but not too cheesy. Thoughts?

"The Memory of a lifetime"

2009-04-19 22:50:19 by chzbrgr

Price: $31.95

My wife and I are looking for a nice digital camera. She would like it for taking routine pictures(vacation, birthdays, etc...). I love outdoor photography, I also would like it for taking family pictures. I have a Nikon N70 and have been very happy with it but would like to go digital. Any help would be appreciated.

You didn't state a budget.
If you have some Nikon glass, take a look at the Nikon D50, D70s, or the new one, D80. Or the D200 but that is a step up in the pocketbook.
Any of these will serve you in whatever capacity you desire.
Don't forget to budget for memory cards, maybe a flash unit, and an image working software program of some kind. (Adobe Photoshop CS , Paintshop Pro, and Photoshop Elements are some of the most popular.)
You will find your wide angle lens is not as wide on a smaller sensor dslr, so you also might want either the kit lens or an ultra wide angle of some sort.
Good luck!

2006-11-07 14:31:23 by ChuBBs C

Price: $29.95

I have a canon digital rebel xt that i received as a Christmas present. I'd like to take professional looking portraits of my baby and family, whats the best lens for this? I'd also like to buy a good lens for landscape photography. Any suggestions?

If you understand the fundamentals of photography you will know the lens that best fits your needs. The fundamentals are not really rocket science, to really really use an SLR/DSLR like the XT you need to know how to get the max out of it.

For example: If by landscape you mean like a sunset or a sort of mountain/lake scenery you will need a deep depth of field (DOF) and you need to know what DOF means and how you can very easily change that on your XT (you do this by changing the aperture of your lens in the the Aperture Priority (Av) or Manual mode (M) mode). Similarly for babies you want a shallow DOF and you do this since the baby is the focus of your pic and you want the background blurred.

But by changing the aperture you also mess with the amount of light thats entering the camera and that affects the shutter speed etc.

Its not that hard, once you understand the fundamentals you will know EXACTLY what kind of lens you need. For starter I suggest:

1) Get a good photography teacher or a good easy to read photography book. I recommend "Understanding Exposure" it has lots of pics that explains what the terms means visually. IMO its the BEST $15 you will ever spend in your photography hobby. You will understanding what makes up an Exposure-Aperture, Shutter and ISO.

2) Once you know that, when you read your Camera manual it will make a lot of sense.

3) For beginner portraits the best lens is the $75 EF 50mm f/1.8. This is a prime lens (it does not zoom you zoom in and out with your feet) and it a fast lens (any lens with an aperture more than f/2.8 is called fast, since it usually yields fast shutter speeds) and bigger the aperture f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0, f/2.8 even f/4 the shallower the DOF and the more blurred the background is.

Note: In photography f/2.8 is smaller than f/2, which is smaller than f/1.8. This is because it is a ratio, so f/1.8 is large coz it lets in MORE light than say f/2.8. It's confusing now but will make a lot of sense once you get the fundamentals.

I am assuming your camera came with a EF-S 18-55mm kit lens. This is a moderately Wide Angle Zoom lens and its really good for landscapes and close people shots. If you do 1-3 as listed above you will figure out what your favorite focal length is for shooting and what you really need.

I could easily tell you to get a $640 EF-S 10-22 mm lens for wide angle landscapes or a $300 EF 50mm f/1.4 for portraits but you need to know WHY they cost that much and how to use them first to justify the cost. There is a reason why good lens cost a LOT of money and you need to understand photography to understand their cost and how to get the most from them.

2007-12-29 19:18:28 by Sarah Stevens

I am looking to start a portrait studio. I will be taking pictures of families and children/babies. Maybe even senior pictures. I have a 8mp SLR Canon Digital Rebel XT. Is this good enough to start out with? Also, I read that the Tamron 90mm macro lens is good for portraits. Is this true and what other lens will I need? Will I need the following things and if so what kind do you recommend: studio lamps/lights, bounce cards, light reader/meter? Is there anything I'm leaving out? As for backdrops. I'm thinking of having my white background be the kind where the wall curves as it meets the floor..is there a certain name for this? Should I also get a backdrop system for muslins? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!!

First of all, I do wish you good luck on your venture.

So, you are going to open a photography studio, but don't have any idea whether you have the right camera, or lighting, or meter, or backgrounds, or lenses.

I think the first thing you need is some education in studio photography. It ain't brain surgery, (or even wedding photography) but you need at least to have some notion of the things you will need for start-up and more importantly, how to use those things to produce images that customers will treasure enough to pay for. Just having the equipment is not enough, you need the knowledge to use it!

Also, another important thing you will need is business savvy.

For the record, you could shoot portraits with a digital Rebel, although that camera isn't exactly awe inspiring I would rather have a medium or large format camera for studio photography, though, or at least a professional level DSLR.

2007-05-18 14:27:36 by pictureit