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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Shooting elderly folks at a nursing home? Any tips? | |
DougVaughn wrote:
I've been doing quite a bit of senior portraiture in assisted living communities lately as a volunteer, so I understand your concerns. I'm not a pro either and have been figuring it out as I go. I hope to do some of the casual/lifestyle stuff you're talking about as well but haven't arranged it yet. Looks like I'll get to do a seniors fashion show in a couple months, which will be fun.
A few thoughts:
- As noted, keep the lighting pretty flat to minimize wrinkles. You can get away with more dramatic for some men, but they're usually about 10% of the population.
- Natural light is best when available, but I've found large windows and good light hard to come by. The crappy mixed overhead lighting can really mess with your white balance and skin tones.
- For portraits, I've used a 3' softbox with success, feathering it so just the edge lights them (softer). I put a large white reflector very close-in on the opposite side for fill, which really helps with the wrinkles.
- I've used both the 24-70 2.8L II and 85 1.8 with success. Don't have a 35L but agree it's probably a great choice for lifestyle and environmental images.
- The fact you're already a volunteer means you probably know this. Take the time to engage them in conversation and find out what interests them if you can. More personality will come out if you're shooting and talking at the same time.
- 80 year old skin (or even my 53 year old skin) is full of blemishes. At first, I spent too much time trying to smooth it with mixed results (not a pro retoucher either). I finally realized less is more and started retouching only the really bad spots they are likely to hate. Most of the older folks have accepted who they are, wrinkles and all.
Have fun and share some images. Make sure you ask because some folks don't want their photos posted. I even had one family get upset, even after the subject had agreed to the post in writing.
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Wow....what great advice. I've done it only once before and everything you said are pretty much exactly the challenges I had. The fashion show sounds fun. I once saw a news lifestyle segment of a pet show with a runway at a nursing home in Miami. They set it exciting dance music and showed a lot of slow motion, ultra dramatic footage. Somehow it worked. I can just see it with a smoke machine. But seriously, thank you for the tips.
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