Teacher Portraits

[termina3]

Hey guys,

I'm on assignment for the school newspaper; I'm supposed to take the photos to accompany a "new teacher" article.

Classically these photos have been, well, not so great ones of them in their offices, or staring at the camera–you get the idea. I have no doubt I'd be able to replicate this, but I was hoping to take it a step farther.

Kids in the photo is outa the question, and I'll have about 15 minutes with the teacher in their classroom. I have a D70, 18-70 f/3.5-4.5 DX, 70-200 (i.e. 105-300 on digital) f/2.8 VR at my disposal.

Posing ideas? Lighting? Things shouldn't get too artsy, but hey, I'm open to any ideas.

Thanks!

 

[libertyterran]

Hey guys,

I'm on assignment for the school newspaper; I'm supposed to take the photos to accompany a "new teacher" article.

Classically these photos have been, well, not so great ones of them in their offices, or staring at the camera–you get the idea. I have no doubt I'd be able to replicate this, but I was hoping to take it a step farther.

Kids in the photo is outa the question, and I'll have about 15 minutes with the teacher in their classroom. I have a D70, 18-70 f/3.5-4.5 DX, 70-200 (i.e. 105-300 on digital) f/2.8 VR at my disposal.

Posing ideas? Lighting? Things shouldn't get too artsy, but hey, I'm open to any ideas.

Thanks!

Remember to bring an external flash. A wide-angle lens might help a lot as well .
GL

 

[HckySo]

Have them sitting at their desk with a laptop and put an external flash pointed at them hidden on the laptop. That's always a fun shot, Ryan Brenizer did it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carpeicthus/1039074829/

 

[mac4life2007]

Light from laptop screen remind me of Apple Photo Booth

Have them sitting at their desk with a laptop and put an external flash pointed at them hidden on the laptop. That's always a fun shot, Ryan Brenizer did it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carpeicthus/1039074829/

Great idea!

 

[ChrisA]

Hey guys,

I'm on assignment for the school newspaper; I'm supposed to take the photos to accompany a "new teacher" article.

First off, for a pleasing perspective, get some distance. Use a 50mm to 80m lens for a head and shoulder shot. Don't use any direct aimed flash. Natural light is best if you have it. A window light is the best. If you do need more light aim the flash at a white colored wall or the ceiling. In short no direct flash, try for natural light

Next talk to your subject and take a few shots. These are "throw aways" the idea is to get the subject warmmed up and used to the camera. Then whan they are acting more natural try and catch some natural expressions and un-posed shots.

Don't bother trying to duplicate a studio type portrait shot. If you get a natural pose and expression and don't have the "flash on the face" look you will be fine.

 

[Westside guy]

If the weather's decent, and you've got any sort of interesting background nearby, consider shooting outside - you'll need to sell that idea to the powers that be. Still use a wide aperture (if you don't have a portrait lens like my 35mm f/2, go as wide as your existing lens will go).

If you're shooting outside, you're probably stuck doing this early in the morning - school days tend to end too early to get good afternoon/evening light.

Variations on this would be to find out if they have an outside interest that'd work for the photo (e.g. they're really into their car), and use that as a prop. Note that, if you're doing something like this, you'll need to ignore my "wide aperture" advice.

Edit: In your sig - why don't you have an HD named George?

 

[jayb2000]

Some suggestions:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/08/lighting-102-umbrella-specular-portrait.html

and for the laptop thing, check out these samples:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/449687@N22/pool/show/

 

[termina3]

Thanks for all the help guys! The shots turned out great.

Edit: In your sig - why don't you have an HD named George?

He's next . Don't have enough HDDs yet...