Tripod & Portrait Photography

[byteyou]

Last week I was at the esplanade and I saw a couple having the pre wedding photoshoot. The photography was using a tripod as its getting dark.

My question is, how is he going to focus on the eyes or anywhere he want if his camera is on the tripod. I think its kinda hard to focus and then recompose when the camera is on the tripod since it does not have so much flexibility.

Can someone give me some insights into it? shooting with smaller aperture? so that the entire face/body/eyes will be sharp? From what I saw that day, the photography was shooting real fast and i dont think he is focusing on the eyes. Thank you

 

[CS TAN]

A camera with a ball head on a tripod is pretty flexible to me.

 

[Fireemblem]

hmm selecting the AF points to where it is needed?

 

[pokiemon]

rule of thumb is to focus on the eyes for portrait so that if you have a shallow DOF your picture is safe.

however this doesn't apply in all situations. if i am focusing to infinity, i can focus on any part of the body and i know my sujects will still be sharp. so you can use a trippod. but yes, using a tripod is cumbersome and slows me down.

 

[Dream Merchant]

Just switch AF points to the eye, or focus manually.

Wedding couples on a shoot do not usually dance and run around. Managing camera angles and adjustments on a tripod should be fast and easy to do, even with a 3-way head. If it's slow and clumsy, either the set-up is not optimal, or the operator needs to find a better way to maneuver the set-up/get more familiar with the set-ups.

 

[DonnyDan]

Using a tripod as difficult as you think. Try and shoot with it you will understand. But i do know people using tripod to shoot for emotion effects which usually uses a long exposure.

Last week I was at the esplanade and I saw a couple having the pre wedding photoshoot. The photography was using a tripod as its getting dark.

My question is, how is he going to focus on the eyes or anywhere he want if his camera is on the tripod. I think its kinda hard to focus and then recompose when the camera is on the tripod since it does not have so much flexibility.

Can someone give me some insights into it? shooting with smaller aperture? so that the entire face/body/eyes will be sharp? From what I saw that day, the photography was shooting real fast and i dont think he is focusing on the eyes. Thank you

 

[byteyou]

A camera with a ball head on a tripod is pretty flexible to me.

Hi there, so by making use of the ballhead, you would focus first and recompose?

Just switch AF points to the eye, or focus manually.

Wedding couples on a shoot do not usually dance and run around. Managing camera angles and adjustments on a tripod should be fast and easy to do, even with a 3-way head. If it's slow and clumsy, either the set-up is not optimal, or the operator needs to find a better way to maneuver the set-up/get more familiar with the set-ups.

hmm i thought of switching AF points but wondering if there might be times when where after you compose your picture, no AF point falls nicely onto the eyes.


To all, thank you for sharing your knowledge with me.

 

[Dream Merchant]

Hi there, so by making use of the ballhead, you would focus first and recompose?



hmm i thought of switching AF points but wondering if there might be times when where after you compose your picture, no AF point falls nicely onto the eyes.


To all, thank you for sharing your knowledge with me.

Bods with lesser points, yes, may be a problem.

Focus, lock and recompose only works at distances greater than 15 feet, due to parallax error at shorter distances.

Last resort, use a magnifier and focus manually.

Basically, have to find a way to make it work.

 

[IsenGrim]

theres always a way. like: ask your model to move.

 

[catchlights]

use tripod for portrait, slow but will get more better and usable shots. anyway, that also depend on what type of portrait you are doing.

 

[Anson]

The last time I remember using a tripod for portrait shooting was when I was doing a indoor studio product shoot. :think:

 

[CS TAN]

Hi there, so by making use of the ballhead, you would focus first and recompose?

For me, with lenses that are at f/1.2 or 1.4, I can't afford to recompose. If I can't get one of the AF points to fall on the subject, I just crop afterward. It is not worth the time to try to make fine adjustment and miss the right moment.

After all, that is what 21mp is for...

 

[jackzhangxiao]

1. Ball head is useful
2. for those high end cam they have 51 focus point. easy to choose