outdoor locations/tips for portrait shooting

[Buddenbohn]

hey everyone

over the christmas break i'm going to snap some photos of one of my friends for a christmas gift for her boyfriend... i've never really photographed anyone in this type of situation. I was thinking about going to the botanical gardens in ft. worth. Is there anywhere else that might be a better environment?

Any tips on photographing a good looking blonde haired-blue eyed college girl would be greatly appreciated! But seriously, any advice on angles, possible poses, places to shoot, ideal camera settings, etc. would be incredibly helpful!

She is a tall, blonde with a very tight bodybuild -- i figured that would be helpful to know if yall can help me out with possible poses. Example pictures would also be quite helpful!

Thanks alot,
Eric

P.S. I'll be sure to upload some pictures around Christmas time to show yall what I came up with.

[brad]

Botanic gardens is a good choice.. so is the Kimball Art Museum up the road.

The best advice that can be given for outdoor portraits: Fill flash and/or reflectors... control that light. :)

[Gordon]

Originally Posted by brad

The best advice that can be given for outdoor portraits: Fill flash and/or reflectors... control that light. :)

Or alternatively, find the shade, have them look towards the brighter light (not sun hitting their face, but towards the brighter areas), maybe use some reflectors - use the available light. ;)

[brad]

Yes, yes.. open shade is a big plus. Be careful of mottled shade.. its hard to notice unless you are looking for it, but it can ruin a portrait.

[Bruce M. Morris]

Eric,
Another thing that you might not be aware of with the Botanical Gardens... If you show up with lots of photo equipment and a pretty girl they are likely to charge you the "pro Photographer" rate of $75 to use their scenery.
Soemthing a little closer to you in Arlington, have you considered the lake area on the north side of Ameriquest Field? If the weather is warm enough it is a place where you could get some nice shots without the ball park in the background. Just watch for the type of sun and shadows that fall on her.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

OK to be honest with the last couple of hard freezes the various "Garden" backgrounds out there may just not look that good right now. I would think more along the lines of archetechture or large scenery type backgrounds. The Kimbell would be a good one, then some of the buildings on TCU/SMU/UD may have some great background with arches and things-too bad we don't have any of the old Spanish Missions up here like they have in San Antonio.

Also think about brokeh in the shots (using a narrow Depth of Field where your subject is in focus and the background blends into a blurr), for portraits that can be a dramatic effect especially if there is a repetetive change in lighting behind the model.
Get out this weekend and look around.
(Also maybe the Hall of State at Fair Park? or some of the other Art Deco Buildings?)

[brad]

Originally Posted by Bruce M. Morris

Another thing that you might not be aware of with the Botanical Gardens... If you show up with lots of photo equipment and a pretty girl they are likely to charge you the "pro Photographer" rate of $75 to use their scenery.

I keep hearing this, but I've been out there a bunch of times with couples, pretty women, and brides in full gown... never once have I even SEEN one of these "security" people, nevermind been aproached by one about paying a fee.

Now that Japanese Gardens.. oh yea.. you get charged $75 to do pro photography in there... but that makes sense, there just isn't room for that to be going on as well as people visiting... so they charge you for the hassle on them.

[Gordon]

Originally Posted by brad

Yes, yes.. open shade is a big plus. Be careful of mottled shade.. its hard to notice unless you are looking for it, but it can ruin a portrait.

True that.

[Bruce M. Morris]

Brad, I went out for a wedding there and saw that they had it posted about "pro" photographers. Dont know how much they enforce it. I think there has been other discussion here about the pros and cons of shooting there and that it ISNT a public (city,state,Federal) facility but rather a private organization that opens their grounds to the public.
As Paul mentioned earlier, this might not be a good time for outside garden shots.. One alternative place that a tall blonde might look good in photos is the front of the Ft Worth Stockyards Mercantile Bldg.( I think that is what it is called.) It has a long porch with repeating arches and a nice cream color that would work well together. There are also LOTS of rough brick walls that can be used for architectural elemental backgrounds in that area.

[Stephen H]

Hey Brad, maybe you just have that "amateur" look! <kidding>

My idea: go roam around Fair Park. Free, fairly easy to get to. Especially watch for the big murals as backgrounds.

[CaptainTom]

In a portrait, I try to make the background as innocuous as possible by using controlled depth of field. I would also concentrate on head and shoulders poses because if this is for a boyfriend, he will probably prefer that format for his wallet, desk, etc.
For full length shots, try to control DOF so the model doesn't just get lost in the background. Some sort of visual seperation is best.

Clients always want to go to exotic or beautiful locations for portraits. I accomodate them, but then they usually pick the photos where you can't really tell where we were. Go figure.

[Gordon]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

Clients always want to go to exotic or beautiful locations for portraits. I accomodate them, but then they usually pick the photos where you can't really tell where we were. Go figure.

That seems to often be true. But I suspect it has something to do with them feeling more comfortable that if the surroundings are good the results will look good. If they get confident in you or your abilities, you could take them to a scrap yard and they'd still believe you'll pull something great out. At first though, I get the impression that they look around and go 'here ? really?'

I have enough trouble convincing people that getting out of the 'lovely, warm sunlight' and into the shade is a good idea. I've learned it helps not to argue, shoot the one with the horrible light and background that they want then move on to what you are looking for - not arguing or forcing people works wonders, let them think they are getting what they want, then let them buy what you really wanted to take :)

[Buddenbohn]

Wow. Yall are full of tons of helpful information!

Sorry to leave such a short reply on here, Just got home from one exam and now i've got to study for my next exam at 4:30. When I get back from campus I'll get back on and post again.

Thanks!

Eric

[Gordon]

My single biggest suggestion for this though and one that I see not happen over and over. Pay more attention to your subject than to your camera. A lot more. Talk, interact, make eye contact, perhaps more importantly, listen. Keep them engaged.

Set your camera up before hand and try not to fiddle with it much. This requires a bit of confidence in your equipment, but get it right before you start and just keep shooting.

Check the exposure/ histogram to make sure you are getting a decent exposure/ adequate shutter speed, but keep the technical stuff simple as possible. If you have a tripod, use it and get your head out from behind the camera if you can, too.

[Kevin Curtis]

Don't be afraid of the sun light. Here is a session I had this past May at 4 PM in the afternoon.. The key was having 2 assistants to hold both a block and a reflector.

Gallery Link

Regards,
Kevin