Making Money with Clients Portraits

Taken in their own homes

So how do I go about it? I don’t use a prime lens for shooting with clients, particularly with kids. You want that flexibility to be able to zoom in and out on them. So I use Panasonic G9 micro 4/3 camera with a 12-60mm lens (that’s 24-120mm FF eq). All the big manufactures offer a similar focal length lens for full frame maybe 24-105 f4. I used to find the classic 24-70mm a bit short on full frame but great on a APSC sensor

Typically when you think of portraits you might think of images like these – head shots or more posed group shots – and that’s fine if that’s what the client wants. Click the images to see a larger view.

What I try to do more these days when I’ve got families, particularly if it’s a family group, get them more involved in the action. So I get people rolling around tickling each other. I get them making shapes and jumping in the air. And it helps them relax because these aren’t professional models, but they want pictures of themselves that look good. And if you can get them laughing and having a bit of fun, then they’ll be more relaxed and you get better images.

And they will enjoy the experience. And they will go away & tell their friends. And they’ll say – “we had some family portraits done the other day – it was so much fun & the images were fantastic”

Some things I often do with kids, is get them lying on the floor and then I get them to squeeze the one in the middle, or I get them piled up in a stack. So you get the biggest one on the bottom and then somebody on their back and somebody on their back etc and then get the guy at the bottom to wriggle to try and get them off. And I keep snapping away – you never know quite what you’re going to capture. Again you can click the images to see a larger view.

The equipment I use to create these high key backgrounds, is a Lastolite Hilite. I’ve got two of them. I’ve got one that’s six foot by seven foot, which is the one I use more often, but I’ve also got one that’s eight foot by seven foot. If you’ve got big groups to do, then the extra couple of feet does make quite a big difference. They do four sizes of them.  The little one on the left is about, 4.5 x 3.5 ft, and it comes on a stand and you can use that for three quarter shots and head shots. And then they do 5 x 7 ft, 6 x 7 ft & 8 x 7 ft. 

In terms of price here in the UK, these bigger ones, which you need for groups new, the 5 x 7 ft and 6 x 7 ft are  £350 and £400 respectively. And the big one is about £600. That said, I bought all mine off eBay. You can buy the 5 x 7 ft and 6 x 7 ft for about £200 – 250 off eBay and the bigger ones go for about £350. To use them to give you that very high key white background, you put your flash guns or your strobes in the side and they illuminate them from the back to give you that pure white background.

From my main light(s) I used to use two umbrellas, one to the left and one to the right and stand in the middle of that while I was shooting. Since then, I’ve changed to using one of these umbrellas and this is seven foot across. The Walimex Pro umbrella that I use it’s about £80 off Amazon. 

For an extra £30 or £40, you can get a cover that goes over it to make a massive soft box. And so you’ve then got your client in front of the background, your light up to one side and that’s basically your setup. When you have that big an umbrella, it’s only about a foot off the ground at the bottom, but because of the size of it, you can stand in front of it and not create shadows on your clients and it produces a nice, soft, even light.

So that’s how I create unique fun, high key, studio quality portraits, for clients in their own homes