HELP - Newbie Sunset on Beach Shoot

[JCM]

Hello All,

I would be so grateful to get some advice/tips on doing a (free) session for some family members of mine! Here are a few of the facts and ideas I have. Any advice, corrections, tips, etc. are welcome. Thank you very much in advance!

* Family of five. 2 adults and 3 teenage boys

* On the beach before and at sunset

* Can use ideas for poses, group arrangements, candid shots, props, cutesie shots with Mom, direction of the lighting, etc.

* I really need to know what the best setting are for this (shutter speed, aperture, ISO and WHITE BALANCE most of all. I have a Canon T1i and I am familiar with the settings and how to change them. I have a tripod, 18-55mm lens, 55-250mm lens & external flash (that won't seem to turn on?), but that's about it as far as extra equipment goes. What equipment do I need for this?

* I would like a couple of shots of them with the sunset behind them, should I wait until the sun has just dissappeared below the horizon?

I know this is a lot, but any information I can get will be a blessing! If you respond, thank you in advance for taking the time!!

[Benji]

One could write an entire book on how to do this correctly. Lets see if I can do it in a couple of paragraphs.

Lighting. The sunshine behind the subjects will be considerably brighter than the daylight in front of them so you will need to add some light to bring the subjects up to within a resonable level of illumination so the sun will not overpower them and burn out their hair and shoulders. The easiest way to do this is with a flash unit. It could also be done with a LARGE silver reflector.

Posing. How to pose the family depends on the heights of the boys. If they are as tall or taller than their father, they should be seated or kneeling on one knee. EVERYONE should be posed at a 45° angle to the camera, those on the left facing to the right and those on the right facing to the left. I usually use a pyramidal pose with the father in the middle his wife by his side. Do not stack the heads or have two heads side by side that are the same height.

Camera stuff. The aperture should be stopped down enough to guarantee everyone will be in focus. The shutter speed (when using flash) will control the power of sunshine. Meter the sky next to the sun but EXCLUDE the sun from the viewfinder when metering. When usinhg flash you CANNOT exceed the synch speed of the camera (usually about 1/200 or thereabouts.) A mid telephoto lens will keep the faces about the same size. I would use 100mm or so. A tripod will help with the composition. Remember to allow some extra space at the left and right so an 8 x 10 or a 16 x 20 can be ordered withouit lopping off anyone at the edges. Make several captures of the first pose then change it, and make several more. Then dad with sons. mom with sons, all sons together and each son individually, and lastly mom and dad together. Use the same lighting on each capture for continunity in case they want a 20 x 24 of the entire group then 11 x 14s of the smaller groups and 8 x 10s of individual captures and make an arrangement of them on the wall.

Benji