At 20:01 9/8/02, Josh Lohuis wrote:
Josh (Oh God!)
Josh,
I flipped this around and put your "sig line" first because you got that
right! You remind me of a local friend who takes on jobs and then figures
out how to do them. Nothing like working under the gun. There are some
difficulties, but do not panic completely (a little would be healthy right
now). You haven't taken on the impossible.
I have recently accepted three photography "jobs". The first one,
which involves me taking pictures of a woman's one-year old baby
(female), do be done sometime before the end of September. I have talked
breifly with the lady, she mentioned being open to anything, including
the outdoors at sunset.
The primary difficulties with a 1-year old is ability to pose
her. Attention span can be short and you will have to work with natural
behaviors when she is in a good mood. I'm not too keen about the sunset
shot. Too many factors must converge simultaneously: weather, time of day
and child's mood. The percentage chance of getting each one individually
is multiplied all together to get the total chance (i.e. if each is 50%,
then it's 50 ubed, or 12.5%). Just getting the child's mood will be
difficult. Talk to the mother and find out if there is a typical time of
day when she is in a good mood, especially when around strangers and/or is
in a strange environment. You don't want to try this at 6:00 PM if she's
typically cranky for a nap at 6:00 PM. I would still use Portra NC for it.
Some of the better methods I've seen used pose the infant supported on the
mother to eliminate "separation anxiety" which can turn an infant's water
works on at the drop of a hat. One in particular has the mother on her
back, drapes the backdrop cloth over the mother's stomach and the infant is
placed there. Composition is done tight to keep the "support method" from
being obvious. The mother can provide security support from the side not
facing the camera. Other methods show mother-child interaction and yet
another showed mother, child and grandmother. Use your imagination in this
regard.
The second job; taking pictures of a woman's dog, to be done early October
(not much more information here [yet]).
Ack! I've done portraits of our dog and cat. This can be difficult if the
pet is not extremely well trained (as a show animal would be). Many house
dogs may be house trained, but not to the extent they can be posed! The
method I've used is in a natural, familiar environment using their natural
behaviors, such as favorite places to sit, lie down, etc. I work with the
lighting and removing distracting objects in thos locations without so
severely changing them as to make them unfamiliar. Then I work to
"trigger" the desired behavior. This takes observation to know what
triggers the behaviors, having considerable patience and being willing to
burn some film to capture a "decisive moment." Our cat and dog can react
so fast to sound they can shift head and ear positions, and how wide the
eyes are open, between the time they hear mirror movement/aperture
stop-down, and when the shutter starts traveling. I've watched this happen
by keeping the both eyes open and looking around the prism with the one not
in the viewfinder. Add a flash which can startle a pet even more, and it
sometimes requires additional patience for the animal to settle down to
normal behaviors again. Not to mention what can occur if you are a total
stranger to the animal. Be ready to spend some time to allow the dog to
become familiar with you before pulling a camera out and to try it in
several sessions if you have to. Pets can have a mind of their own and in
spite of best efforts to trigger desired behaviors. They can decide that
it's just not the day and time to sit in what is normally their favorite
chair or lay in their favorite bed. Friendly, well socialized dogs in
particular can get curious, come right up to you to interact with you, and
plant a wet nose print on the lens front! I would use Portra NC just as I
would with a human, especially if the dog has any black in its fur.
And lastly, a family portrait for another woman, there was mention of a
new grand-piano that is to be included in a (the) portrait.
Lighting on this one will be a challenge along with composition. If this
is a grand inside a house, you'll also be working with an enormous object
without much maneuvering room. This depends on size of room, size of
piano, how it's oriented in the room, and how much of the piano they expect
in the photograph. I have a "parlor" size grand piano in my living room
(bigger than "baby" and smaller than "concert"). Even if it's a "baby"
grand, you're not going to be able to move it to reposition it. You'll
have to work with it "as is." Ask to see where this piano is ASAP! Then
start thinking about how to light and compose the portrait in that space
for both person and the portion of the piano that will be in the final print.
Just my $.02 . . . and hoping others on the list have some ideas too.
-- John
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