Month: April 2012

One of the most basic decisions when taking a shot is how close to stand to the model.

If you’re using a prime (fixed-length) lens, the decision is straightforward — stand at the distance required to get the framing you want. If you want to zoom in, walk closer; if you want to zoom out, walk away.

If you’re using a zoom lens, the decision is more complicated. If you want to zoom in, you can either zoom in with the lens, or you can keep the lens as-is and walk closer. Likewise, if you want to zoom out, you can either walk further away, or zoom out with the lens.

You may be asking, “Does it really matter how I zoom in and out?”. The answer is yes, it matters a lot, and that is the subject of this post.

To illustrate why it matters, I took the two photos below. In both, the model was standing in the same spot, and both were shot with the same camera, lens, and settings. Neither photo has been retouched. The only difference in how these two were taken is that the one on top was shot on the wide-angle end of a zoom lens (24mm), and the one on the bottom was shot on the zoomed-in (telephoto) end of the same lens (105mm).

In both photos, I wanted Caroline, the model, to fill the shot. To accomplish this, when I was shooting on the wide-angle end, I was standing very close to the model, and when I was shooting on the telephoto end, I was standing far away. In other words, in the top one, I zoomed in closer with my feet, while in the bottom one, I zoomed in closer with the lens.

As these photos show, it matters very much whether you zoom in with your lens or your feet. There are quite a few differences between the two photos. Among them are:

• The wide-angle shot is more distorted, with straight lines looking slightly curved
• The wide-angle shot makes it seem as if the model is standing further away from the bushes. The photo also makes the distance between the bushes and the window seem greater.
• The telephoto shot makes the model’s face and body seem flatter.

The most noticeable difference, though, is that the wide-angle photo shows a lot more background. For example, the wide-angle shot shows the whole door, while the telephoto shot shows just the corner.

So why the differences?

The picture below is a simplified diagram of how these two photos were taken. In the photo on top and the diagram on the left, the photographer is close to the model, the lens is zoomed out, and so the camera is pulling in light from a very wide angle. (Hence, the term “wide-angle shot”.) In the shot on the bottom and the diagram on the right, the photographer is further away, the lens is zoomed in more, and so the camera is pulling in light from a much narrower angle.

The angle of light that a lens pulls in is called the field-of-view or angle-of-view. The wide-angle shot above was shot at 24mm, which has a field-of-view of about 84 degrees. The zoomed-in shot above was shot at 105mm, which has a field-of-view of about 23 degrees. The narrower the field-of-view, the smaller the section of background that’s included in the photo.

So which way of zooming is best? The answer, like most things in photography, is: It depends. If I’m shooting at a scenic location and want to pick up a lot of background, I shoot at a wide angle:

Note how much of the background on either side of the cosplayer is in the photo because of the extreme wide field-of-view.

On the other hand, if I want to pick up only a narrow sliver of background, I shoot with a narrow field-of-view:

Note that only the background directly behind the cosplayers is in the photo because of the relatively narrow field-of-view. The crowds and neighboring stores have been excluded from the shot.

If you’re shooting with a prime, of course, you don’t have the option of zooming in or out while shooting, so you may not think this post applies to you. It does, though, because at the start of the shoot you picked the lens to shoot with, and in doing so, you’ve decided the field-of-view for the photos from your shoot. You may have chosen a 50mm prime and gotten a medium-wide field of view, or a 200mm prime for a fairly narrow field-of view.

A zoom is more convenient because you can change the field-of-view between each shot. However, since most zoom lenses don’t go from very wide to very narrow, you still need to decide the range of field-of-views for your shoot by choosing which lens to use.

For example, if you own both a 24-105mm and a 70-200mm lens, which one do you take on a shoot? You need to decide the field-of-view you’re going to want for the shots (wide angle or telephoto), and choose appropriately.

As I’ve mentioned before in other posts, one of the keys to a successful shoot is to visualize ahead of time what kinds of shots you’re going to do, and bring the gear appropriate for those shots. Don’t bring a 300mm prime to a shoot and expect to be able to do landscape shots; likewise, don’t bring a 16-35 wide-angle for hallway cosplay shooting and wonder why you’re picking up so much of the crowd.

Unless you’re already very familiar with wide vs. telephoto shots, I highly recommend experimenting until you can visualize the field-of-view. At your next few shoots, if you’re shooting with a zoom, take some photos of the model in the same spot at both the wide-angle and telephoto ends of your lens (like my two shots above), and examine them to see the differences. Try to visualize the difference in the field-of-view angle between the two shots. Which one worked best for that shot, and why?

Mastering field-of-view can be tricky for many people, but once you do, you will have one more skill in your toolbox for making photos look the way you want them.

There are four location types for shooting cosplay photos. Each has its own style, and each has its pros and cons.

The types are:

• Convention Hallway photography
• Convention scheduled shoot
• Cosplay Gathering shoot
• Non-Convention shoot

I’ve already covered convention shoots and gatherings. This week I’ll wrap up this series by discussing non-convention shoots.

Non-Convention Shoots

With a non-convention shoot, the possibilities are wide open. You can work with the cosplayer ahead of time to select the cosplay to be photographed, to find a location that matches that cosplay, to select the time of day, and to decide on a shooting style. You can spend as much time as you need (within reason, of course) to pose the cosplayer and to get every shot exactly right. Done right, your best cosplay photos will be from non-convention shoots.

Of course, all that freedom also means you have ample opportunities to make mistakes. You can pick a bad location. You can get stuck on a 4 hour shoot with a hard-to-work-with cosplayer. You’re also on your own. If your batteries run out, there are no other photographers around you to borrow spares from. If you don’t know what to do, there are no other photographers to watch and learn from. If you’re stuck, there’s no one to ask advice from. (If you’re really lucky, the cosplayer may have enough photography experience to make suggestions and help you out, but in the end they will usually look to you as the photographer to run the shoot.)

I’ve found that non-convention shoots work best if the shoot is with two or three cosplayers instead of just one. (They don’t all have to be from the same group/series, as long as they all work well in the same background and shooting style.) This has several advantages. First, whichever cosplayer(s) you’re not shooting can help out with lighting and posing suggestions. Second, alternating between cosplayers gives each cosplayer a chance to rest between shots. Finally, having several people there really helps with the energy of the shoot, making it more fun and improving the quality of the photos. Because of this, unless I’m doing a quick shoot of a cosplayer I’ve already worked with a lot, I always shoot with at least two cosplayers at every non-convention shoot.

I don’t recommend shooting more than two or three cosplayers at a time, as having that many tends to bog down shooting until you get comfortable with large group shoots.

Safety Warning: Do not go someplace alone with a cosplayer you don’t know! Bring a friend along! Yes, even if you’re a big strong guy! (Then you can put your friend to work as a lighting assistant too!) Cosplayers, this also applies to you too! Almost every cosplayer and cosplay photographer would never do anything bad, but it only takes one bad person…

When setting up a non-convention shoot, here are some things to consider:

• What cosplay will the cosplayer be wearing, and what’s the series it’s from like? (For example, My Little Pony has a very different tone than Death Note.)
• What background is suitable for that cosplay? This is important in terms of tone (robot pilots don’t usually work in the middle of a park), cosplayer comfort (bikinis and very windy locations don’t mix), and public-appropriateness (revealing costumes don’t work well in crowded public places).
• What shooting/lighting style is best for that cosplay? For example, Pokemon and Soul Eater require very different shooting and lighting styles. The choice of location also figures into this; trying to do studio lighting on a windy beach would be quite challenging, for example.
• How much time does the cosplayer have for the shoot? How much time do you have? Don’t forget to allow for cosplayer prep time before the shoot. In windy or otherwise costume-unfriendly environments, the cosplayer will also need time between shots to fix up their costume.
• How will you meet up with the cosplayer? Are you carpooling, or will you meet at the shoot location? What time will you meet up? Exchanging cell numbers ahead of time is very important in case something comes up at the last minute.
• What expectations does the cosplayer have for the shoot? What expectations do you have? When does the cosplayer expect to see the photos?
• What equipment do you need to bring? It’s important to bring spares (batteries, an extra lens if you can, etc) in case something dies, but it’s easy to go overboard and bring everything you have. Then, not only is all that gear a distraction, but you also have to carry it around with you for the entire shoot. Keep it as simple as possible!

On the subject of equipment, being flexible enough to handle unexpected challenges or opportunities is good; bringing everything you own and redoing your whole setup for each shot may be a bit extreme. Even though time is not as tight as at a convention or gathering, it’s still very important not to waste the cosplayer’s time, so keep the shoot moving! Remember, if you ever decide to shoot pro models, you will be paying them by the hour!  Learn to make the most of the time you have.

Most importantly, don’t forget to have fun! Cosplaying and cosplay photography are supposed to be enjoyable hobbies; don’t get so stressed out shooting that you lose sight of that.

There’s a lot more that can be said about non-convention shoots, but I’ll leave that to future posts. If you have questions or suggestions for topics you’d like for me to cover, please leave them as comments or PM me!