My cousins are in a band and asked me to shoot some promotional shots which could be used for merchandising and for their website. I fully charged my battery and took with me my tripod as we would be shooting indoors and a slow shutter would be needed. I took my Nikon D90 camera and my 18-105mm lens and Nikkor 105mm Macro lens for any close up portrait shots. We borrowed some lighting equipment which consisted of two softbox lights and two umbrellas for the side to stop any shadows forming on the back of the greenscreen. We had a green screen backdrop which is a good colour for using if you want to change the background on any images in post production. The green screen can be removed very easily and different backgrounds added. We positioned two lights in front on the side and then used umbrellas to diffuse the light so no shadows were cast against the green screen.
Green Screen technology is the effects used in everything from Hollywood Movies to the weather forecast. Its a single colour backdrop which is normally blue or green. Using Green Screen technology it is really simple to superimpose anything or anyone into any shot. Here I have just changed the colour of the background in photoshop but different backgrounds can also be used.
These images were all shot with my 18-105mm lens except the close up shots of Emily which were taken with my Nikkor Macro 105mm lens. For all the shots I used a medium to wide zoom of in between 24-80mm which is a good focal length for group and full length portraits.
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Evaluation
I really enjoyed doing these shots it was really nice to photograph people you feel really comfortable with and we had a great time doing it. We are planning another shoot tomorrow but this time in costume while we still have the lighting equipment. The backdrop was creased which shows through on some of the images but this can be rectified in photoshop.
Safety Considerations
Whilst shooting this shoot every care was taken for the safety aspects. There was lots of wires around for the lighting equipment and very little space. I ensured that all the wires were in a safe place and there was no possibility of anyone tripping over. There was no drinks or liquids around to eliminate any possibility that any liquid could be spilt onto any equipment or electical goods. All the lighting equipment was checked to ensure it was erected properly so no accidents could occur with lighting falling over.
Books used for research before this shoot
John Hedgecoat - The art of Digital Photography
Ilex - Portrait Techniques
Really good pictures….considering that you just learning, they are really well presented and probably all the process was great fun…
ReplyDeleteHello Deb,you can tell everyone was relaxed and having fun,personally i am not into people photography but i do like these as they portray a fun group of people loving life and well caught on camera.The light you used must of been spot on too as i cant see any shadows.
ReplyDeletehi I think these are great and look good fun. I like the way you've changed the background colours to match the tones and the explanation of green technology.
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