Ok, so i've been asked by a guy i know to take pictures of his young niece. I have a D300 and plan on sticking my 70-200 2.8 on it for this. I thought about using my 85 1.8 but hope the zoom will give me more flexibility especially if she moves around a lot. This is probably going to be in snow, so i want to use my SB-600 to help properly expose the photos, specifically getting the child to be properly exposed.

I was wondering if anybody had any advice for this? I've never done this type of thing (commissioned people photography) so I've told the guy I don't want to be paid, having some good photographs in the portfolio is good enough for me.

Also, I'm planning on buying a reflector soon. Are there any that are better than others? More portable? Can you mount them on a tripod? (usually i've seen assistants holding them, but i don't have an assistant! :-P) Could a reflector be useful for this shoot?

Given the situation you describe the best strategy would be to put the back of the subject to the sun and use fill flash in high speed sync mode.

High speed sync will allow you to use wider apertures yet still keep the snow in the background from blowing out in the bright sun. Keeping the sun to the back of the girl will help minimize squinting and harsh lighting patterns on the face which are are difficult to fill. The light reflecting off the snow around her will provide considerable fill so you may find you don't need very much fill flash. But bright light reflected off the snow can also cause squinting.

One of the things fill flash does in a backlit situation is create catchlights in the eyes. The size of the catchlights will literally be a refection of the flash. For bigger more flattering catchlights you can add a reflection/diffuser to your flash LINK

Remember that lighting, in the holistic sense, is the sum of the light and what reflects it and for a portrait the goal is to make the FRONT of the face contrast more with the background than anything else. A clothing consultation with the parents can have a big impact on the effectiveness of the portraits, in the sense of making the face the natural center of attention. Doing that is mostly a matter of eliminating other distractions, the biggest being the clothing.

On white its mostly color contrast, not tonal contrast with will attract the eye of the viewer to the face. She might look really cute in person in that pink snow suit, but in the photos it will be difficult to separate the suit from the face. Lighter non-distracting clothing will make the face a stronger center of attention in the portraits, especially the wider full body shots.

Chuck

Great! Thanks for the advice

Raphael:

Although the post discusses the use of two (2) separate strobe flash units, David Hobby's 10 November 2008 entry to strobist.com may be quite helpful.

His post sets forth several principles of likely use; in particular, the reduction of ambient light is perhaps worthy of some 'trial and error' on your part; reducing the ambient -- while using iTTL on one or more flashes; either with or without FEC (flash exposure compensation) -- can produce some very stunning images, in my opinion.

I believe Chuck's advice above -- position the sun to the rear of the subject -- is very wise counsel.

Richard

Great advice folks. I have a similar situation going on and needed some guidance. Thanks!

I realize the cat is out of the bag and I don't want to start a debate but....

Next time seriously consider doing this for some form of payment and not for free. If you totally botch the whole thing, then you can always let them know that you will not be charging because you botched the job or give a discount, etc.

I sincerely believe portrait, wedding and sports photography is really being dragged down by oodles and oodles of people offering up their time and capital for absolutely free.

When I started as intern engineer at GM, I didn't know one single thing! I didn't even know how to open doors by using my I.D. badge. They still paided me for my time.

Otherwise, you've received excellent advice.

You'll have lots of "reflectors" literally all around you. Consider the possibility of bouncing your light off the snowy ground or a snow covered hill for a few of the shots.

crockett wrote:
I realize the cat is out of the bag and I don't want to start a debate but....

Too late!

crockett wrote:Next time seriously consider doing this for some form of payment and not for free.

What reason should he not do this out of the kindness of his heart (it's the holiday season)? I do all kinds of nice things for friends and people at work without expectation of compensation. When my wife and I have guests over for dinner, we don't present them with a bill at the end of the night.... we're not professional chefs.

Anyway, it's not like he's not getting anything out of it. He gets to practice and try out some techniques and other ideas without worrying about really screwing up. if he gets some good shots for his portfolio, I say "good on him". Not much different than a TFCD situation. Perhaps if the shoe was on the other foot, the father could ask for a modeling fee for his daughter, so as not to depreciate the value of working models....etc.

Let a guy take some pics and give them away. No one is going to have to file for bankruptcy if he makes some pictures for his friend.