Rapid advice needed please!

I have been volunteered (by my wife) to take some photographs of her trio (available for weddings , funeral and bar mitzvah) tomorrow lunch time. It has to be tomorrow as they need the photograph by the end of the day. Great.

This is two ladies and one man all over 50 who play violin, viola and guitar. They want the photos taken outside at the local ruined church as it has some very nice stonework they can pose against. There was some talk of using a very fussy arch with trailing plants but I am trying to veto this.

This is not playing to my strengths!

The photograph is for inclusion in a programme for a local festival - so that won't be big and also for their web site where again the photograph won't be big.

My feeling is that nothing in the photograph should compete with the three subjects - agreed?

Therefore, I'm thinking tight crop shallow depth of field to get the sandstone walls out of focus. Also I'm thinking they'll need to be close together to make the most of 'them' rather than space around them.

How the hell can I include their instruments which they reasonably wish to include without taking up loads of space and introducing dead space? I was thinking it would be OK to have just the necks of the instruments in shot as that will show enough of them to say what they are while not spreading everything out too much.

I know I'm going on a bit here but I need help. Shots taken where the body is not at an angle tends to be unflattering for ladies so I was thinking that having Rod central and the ladies at an angle would probably be most effective? Or all three in a row at an angle?

I’m hoping for indirect but bright light – no reflectors available and no flash either on natural light.

Final problem the ladies want to wear pink tops – this is surely kiss of death.

Now I’m hoping for collective advice.

Many thanks in advance.

Mike

Sounds like you've answered most of your own questions - stick with your gut instinct. You could manage some full length shots if the background isn't distracting... I've always found musicians look best in black (not Pink!!!), lends a slightly classy air and might reproduce better if the festival prog is B&W...

Thanks for the encouragement - they want to avoid the heavy formal look of black as I understand it. I am suggetsing we do the pink and they either take a change of top or a cover up. Rod will be in sober colours I'm sure, he is after all 67! He has had a wonderful career and taught hollywood actors sufficient guitar technique so they could seem to play on film.

Mike

Clearly they know what they want Mike! Not sure pink works all that well with a stone church wall...

Go for it and see how you get on - what's the worse that could happen?

It's the pink against skin tones and trying to keep what may be a 'striking' pink under control while getting some life into the rest of the shot that worries me.

As you say what's the worst that can happen? So long as I get some competent shots I can't really lose I guess.

Mike

I like to make it clear to people in these situations that, while I am willing to do what I can, I am not a pro photographer and people are not my subject of choice as an amateur.

With the bar set thus people are generally pleased with the result, they aren't expecting the world. I don't know your level of expertise, but since you are posting this I'm guessing you are no pro either, some management of their expectations will do wonders.

good luck

I am a total amateur but the trouble is my wife has a touching faith in my abilities and can recall how committed and competent I was 30+ years ago! I am only returning now after a break of 25 years and digital is all new to me.

I shall aim for competent and be pleased if I do better. A lot depends on the weather, just what their fallback plan is if it rains I don't know although they are rehearsing all afternoon so we can grab what we can when we can.

Mike

Good luck mike. just one thought if this isn't too late - if the pink doesn't work in colour try converting to mono. It might be worth making sure when you are taking the photos that there is a reasonable contrast between the clothing and the background.

Steve

My break wasn't quite as long as yours, but I went from film (ME Super) to digital (K10D) a little over a year ago.

One thing caught me by surprise regarding exposure. In my film days I used to zoom in (or get very close if I was using a prime) to effectively spot meter on the part of the frame I was interested in.

This worked very well for backlit subjects.

With digital, I find this approach tends to overexpose the background so much that it can easily ruin the whole shot, and I have to compensate for that more than I used to have to with film (boosting the shadow areas on the computer where necessary, for instance).

If you have a wall behind them, this may well not be a specific problem for you, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. Good luck anyway.

Steve that is a thought but I think they want colour all the way - although I must check if it will be colour in the programme. If it isn't then I think I'll do the B&W conversion for as you say you don't want the pink disappearing into the background.

I guess I'll be able to tone down any really bright pinks in photoshop but I'd rather not have to. If that gets too tricky I'll send it to my son to deal with!

Thanks

Mike

Thanks Chris, the rules for digital do seem to be work more with the highlights than the shadows as you can always recover something from them while a blown white is gone forever.

I hope that won't be a problem but thanks for the heads up!

So far rather grey and overcast, we need a little lift in the light!

Mike

We got some bright overcast for 20 minutes before it rained.

They liked this one which I have bashed out from Silky.




It's possibly regretable that Rod has that thing sticking into his head but I will PS that away.

Mike

You did a fine job Mike, they should be happy with that shot.
Just go for a tighter crop to get rid of the pipe in his head. :
Well done

Thanks for the kind words Clarky. The bimbo in the middle spent most of the time looking anywhere other than the camera - makes a fine cake though.

I have about another 10 which are possibles as well. What I bitterly regret is letting my wife wear that white top which has burnt out in some shots.

Mike

Great job. Well done.

G