Hello list - I hope you're here today (Saturday) and that you have the time
to reply before tomorrow (Sunday).
I have a friend that is going to play around with some make up and hair
styling on some of her friends (1 guy, 3 girls and a kid). She (my friend)
is an amateur make up artist but she has done some commercials and a movie,
so she must be quite good.
Now, on Sunday morning (European time, GMT -1), she and a bunch of friends
are going to meet in a "real" photo studio (campus photo club) with soft
boxes, umbrellas etc. One of the friends is a guy who is going to take
pictures of the "models". I learned the he is an absolute amateur, as the
rest of the crowd, and that he and my friend would like me to come along to
shoot some pictures - actually, they seemed both relieved with me coming
along. There are absolutely no extreme expectations or any money involved,
they're just going to try it for fun.
Usually when I shoot portraits (environmental; never studio!), I use my
85mm f/1.8 USM at e.g. f/2.5 to get rid of the background (and use
available light). However, in the studio the background would be (for a
start) the default black one, and quite far away. So, no need for shallow
dof. The guy showing the place yesterday said he uses the strobes at f/8 to
f/11 in order to get everything tack sharp.
The sync. speed I will be using is 1/125, so I wonder whether I could hand
hold the 85mm safely (if the prints are blown up - who knows), or whether I
should use the 28-135IS at sync. speed with the IS engaged which would help
reduce any possible camera shake?
The zoom used at f/6.7 to f/11 should be quite sharp, but shouldn't the
"portrait lens" 85mm be even better? Or does portraits need tack sharpness
at all - some people, I guess, would perhaps use a soft focus filter, and
if so, does it then make sense to use the best optics available? What would
your choice be (the 85mm or the zoom)?
I'm talking about handholdability because I imagine it would be easiest to
be a bit mobile, and because I never used my tripod for portrait sessions.
The "photo club guy" said he always use tripod in the studio (I don't know
if for portraits or macro work though). Do you have any comments?
I'm going to use print film for sure, and I read that Fuji Superia Reala
(ISO 100) should be good for skin tones as well as being sharp. My friend
would like most of the pictures in color in order to show the make up the
most (but I think some b/w would be very nice, and that the make up still
would show important). So, I will bring what I have in the fridge: 6
Superia Reala, 2 Delta 3200, 4 Kodak 400CN, 1 Kodak HEI, and one AGFA RSXII
for cross processing. Hmm, I better buy some more ISO 100 print film now,
while the shops are still open. Any comments?
I really hope some of you will take the time to give some thoughts on this,
and please feel free to just reply on one of a few of the topics above.
Little is better than nothing at all.
Kindly,
Martin Chr. Hansen, Denmark
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