Venture type portraits

[Kipper]

I took advantage of one of the venture photography offers the other day £25 for an hour session in the studio and then a framed 7x5 print. Wanted to get a nice photo of me and my daughter (or just my daughter) for a birthday present for my Mum.

While I was very impressed with the photographer and the images he captured I was blown away with the price list!

For a framed 10x10 print with a basis frame you are looking at about £500 this then goes all the way to £1000 plus for anything big enough to deliver any kind of impact on a wall!

I can trade the 7x5 in which gives me £95 towards another size...

I am thinking of just trying to do it all myself, I have a Nikon D80 with Kit lens and Nikon 50m f1.8 I can get hold of huge rolls of white paper/card as a backdrop. I've never really shot any portrait stuff so am a little in the dark, I don't have any studio lights or anything but was going to try an outside set up (or in the conservatory) and make use of natural light.

I would rather put the cash I save towards some more kit so any suggestions of other lenses etc would be good!

I have wanted the Sigma 10-20 for a while and while its not really a portrait lens I think I should be able to create some interesting shots with it.

Any advice on this "venture" style of photography would be great also if anyone has any shots of people taken with a wide angle lens I'd love to see them.

Ventures website - http://thisisventure.co.uk/images.aspx?cat=6

 

[Clart]

recent self portrait taken with sigma 10-20

 

[MaLicE]

venture is piss mate, the images they produce are nothing to do with camera work its all done post process using photoshop!!

if you can use whit bacgrounds your half way there, get a couple tungsten lamps and a decent flash (sb 600-800-900) will be fine, most people class 80mm as the sweetspot for a portrait lens which your nikon 50mm will be roughly giving you on the d80.... so you wont need another lens maybe the sigma 30mm f1.4 would be a good lens for portraits....

studio flashes aren't that expencive just aint easy to store etc... 200-300 quid will get you 2 heads, bulbs, stands, softbox, sync leads, gels etc and a light meter.... with that and photoshop you can do etter than venture! there are even guides on it online on how to get the venture effect... and a huge canvas print will cost £100 quid! so venture can go suck dick lol, trust me i HATE venture!

 

[theduck]

sigma 30mm f/1.4 is a great portrait lens, but you do have to get rather close, even when using it on a 2x crop camera. Personally prefer using my nikon 50mm f/1.4 (which gives me 100mm equivalent) as I can be a bit further back.

 

[GaryS]

Sigma 10-20...

I prefer 50mm unless trying silly things

 

[ukaskew]

Have you considered going outdoors? Beautiful light at this time of year, find a nice location and most of the hard work is done for you. Go out for a day, and particularly in the morning or 4-5pm on a clear or slightly cloudy day you should get very nice light.

Something like this wouldn't be too hard too achieve, particularly with your 50mm 1.8...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/childish/2280525091/

 

[theduck]

Outdoor portraits do work very well

http://stumac.stegough.com/photo/Models/slides/Under_the_Half_pipe_by_StuMac1985.html

http://stumac.stegough.com/photo/Models/slides/Curious_by_StuMac1985.html

 

[Lagerlout]

recent self portrait taken with sigma 10-20

That must be some bright light

 

[Adam111]

I won an hour studio time and a free 7 x 5 print in a competition, my mum spoke to a neighbour who'd had photos done there and found out the prices, i was gob smacked, so i cancelled the appointment because i knew I'd be probably be persuaded to buy more.
Ridiculous price when you think about how cheaply you could do it yourself!

 

[Jungle_Jim]

Venture is stupid money for the work they produce, im really not a fan.

i prefer proper portraits shots without the 'hardlight' filters venture apply giving a bleached out effect.
you can pick up a studio lighting kit for about £200 these days and then have a bash yourself. here are a few of mine just usings mates to model, the top one i was just messing about with lights to create gradients (inverse square law)

 

[GR7]

recent self portrait taken with sigma 10-20

That must be some bright light

Do you always wear sunglasses indoors Clart? Should have put them on your dog!

 

[Andy.]

I really like shot 2 Jungle_Jim

 

[Peperami]

If its something you're really interested in, why not ask one of the lads off here with skills to shoot a portrait for you for a fraction of the price.

Jungle jim, those are amazing!