I am a beginner. I have been taking pictures of a friends daughter for beauty pageants. She is needing headshots done in black and white. I am afraid to shoot indoors because of lighting. So I plan on taking them outdoors. Do the same rules apply to B&W as color? What is the best time of day to shoot? Is 400 a good speed of film for what I am wanting. I have a Minolta that is either manual or auto. I usually keep the setting on automatic. If anyone can add anything that might help me, I would really appreciate it.

-- Monica Dotson (mdotson@midamer.net), September 07, 1999

Answers

Hi Monica,

First of all, you will perhaps get a lot of 'contradictory' advise. That is because there are no hard and fast rules. What one person hates, another one may love.

Here are my answers to your questions:

- The same exposure rules DO NOT apply to color negative film and black and white negative film (unless you shoot Ilford XP-2, etc)

- When photographing caucasian skin tones, it is best to meter for the face & then open up one stop.

- Outdoors is just fine as long as you photograph in 'open shade' such as the shadow side of a house, in a shaded carport, etc.

- Use some fabric for background (black or white depending what the background should be). You can buy cheap fabric remnants at Wal-Mart or other stores that carry fabrics.

- Earlier in the morning and later in the afternoon are the best times to photograph.

- ASA 400 film should be fine. However it really depends on what you are looking for. So, unless you know, you may want to go with T- Max 100. OR Ilford's XP-2 that you need to take to a color lab to have developed, but then you can print it black & white. It really is an excellent film & wonderfully suited to photographing skin tones. Personally I use a lot of Fuji Neopan 1600 - but that is another matter.

chris

http://members.tripod.com/ChristianHarkness

-- Chris Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), September 08, 1999.

p.s.

- use a tripod!

chris

-- Chris Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), September 08, 1999.

Monica, Chris is right, you'll get lots of different advice. I agree with all his, and would add that you should keep the light source physically big. In other words, direct light like the sun will be harsh and unflattering. If you are in the shade, the light source is the sky (physically big) and you'll get softer more pleasant results. Cloudy days are good too. Try some shots indoors. For a big light source, just shine a flood lamp on a large piece of foamcore, posterboard, or a white wall. Position the subject fairly close to the wall or board so you get some contrast between the lit and unlit sides of the face. Adjust to suit, and add more light on the other side if the contrast is still too high. This is the easiest and most effective "studio" type lighting for people. 400 speed film is good, as the shutter speed will remain high enough to hand hold, but you should still use a tripod for best results. I'd try some Plus-X too. T-Max films are excellent, but can be very fussy about exposure and processing. The older films are more forgiving. If you use the C-41 process B&W films, you can just let the local lab process it and concentrate on the camera end of the project. Good luck!

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), September 08, 1999.

First, we'll worry about the light... you'll want a soft light that dosen't give you hard shadows. You'll want to shoot in the shade, or on an overcast day(the whole portion of the planet under the overcast is in the shade.)

Next, is the film...ISO 400 would work best if you had no tripod... that being the case, I'd suggest XP-2 (amazing lattitude) rated for ISO 320 (set exposure comp to -1/2 stop, or change the ISO if your camera model allows it.) If you have a tripod, I'd recomend a slower film (Iso 100/125.)

Now, for your camera...put it on a tripod...so you can use one of the many fine 100-125 speed B&W films. A ballhead on the tripod would make the whole process a little bit easier for you

-- Roseblood (kyller@annex.com), September 08, 1999.

First, we'll worry about the light... you'll want a soft light that dosen't give you hard shadows. You'll want to shoot in the shade, or on an overcast day(the whole portion of the planet under the overcast is in the shade.)

Next, is the film...ISO 400 would work best if you had no tripod... that being the case, I'd suggest XP-2 (amazing lattitude) rated for ISO 320 (set exposure comp to -1/2 stop, or change the ISO if your camera model allows it.) If you have a tripod, I'd recomend a slower film (Iso 100/125.)

Now, for your camera...put it on a tripod...so you can use one of the many fine 100-125 speed B&W films. A ballhead on the tripod would make the whole process a little bit easier for you. If you have a model like the X-700 that uses center-weighted metering, try to be aware of possible problems if your model is being posed against a background that is more than 2 stops brighter/darker than her (a black wall, a sunlit sky) and adjust exposure accordingly. A good way to do that would be to come in close, as suggested by someone else, and meter of a skin-tone, then adjust the exposure from there, based on their skin-tone. If you have a model like the 400si,300si, or any of the other with 6 segment metering, you shouldn't have to make as large a shift in your exposure if the background was more than 2 stops diffrent than your subject. If your model is one that includes 14 segment metering, you should be okay just trusting the meter. I'd recomend the A mode on all of the above cameras... you pick the F- stop for depth-of-field, let the shutter speed fall where it will...you are using a tripod right?

-- Roseblood (kyller@annex.com), September 08, 1999.

As to shooting indoors... I recomend a tripod, 400ISO film (XP-2), a neutral background (buy a 40x60 sheet of matboard if you don't have anything else handy) a 32x40 sheet of white foamcore, or white matboard(cost more). For the light, you'll want as large a window as you can get. The window should not recieve direct sunlight, but instead have a viwe of a large expanse of unclouded sky. Pose your model next to the window, with the window just out of the frame (or in the frame, if it's a photogenic window and it'll suit a pose you have in mind.) On the other side of your subject, have an assistant (or stand if you have one) hold the foamcore in place to bounce light back into the shadow side of your model. Set your background up behind the subject...depending on how dark you want it to go, will tell you how far back you want it... the further away from the window and the model...the darker it will get...but...too far back and you'll have the margins of the background in the frame (not good...I hate it when I do that.) Too close and the model may cast a shadow on the background (or knock it over! use caution!)

Good luck, let us know how your shots come out.

oh yes, you are using a tripod right?

-- Roseblood (kyller@annex.com), September 08, 1999.

Don't be afraid! No guts, no glory. Shoot indoors in B&W, at the window - lace-curtained. Measure the light on the face at the side of the window and open up one stop for caucasian skin indeed. You'll get more sphere. What are you afraid of? To bother the model? If this is so, you won't succeed outdoors also. Relax your relation to your model. To spoil film? With 36 exposures?

-- Lot (lotw@wxs.nl), September 08, 1999.