To all ye who want to paint with light ...

I should have started this blog many moons ago as I started experiencing the joys of rediscovering the art of photography. But as the saying goes - it's better late, than never!
So, here I am, in the hopes of recording what I learn as I progress from ignorance to enlightenment; about what my eyes can see that my camera can capture; and, what my mind imagines and my camera paints with its capabilities.

Please feel free to add any comments and share your wisdom (tips or tricks) that you have picked up along the way.

And do check out my How-To and Birding pages as well.


Monday, February 14, 2011

Day 269 - Formal Portrait Session with Friends

I had a very good friend and her family come to visit over the weekend, and I had the opportunity to do some formal portraits with them.  We did this during the evening, and I brought out all my lighting equipment to see what I could accomplish with it.  Batteries are always running out, and with that my time to take pictures.  However, I got a few nice ones before I was forced to quit.

My friend's beautiful 10 yr-old.  Extremely photogenic and a lovely girl with a sweet disposition.  I had two flashes set up with the shoot-through umbrellas on a light stand.  The umbrellas were positioned about 60 deg in front of the subject at different heights.  The top one was the key light powered at 1/1, and the second one was the fill, powered down to 1/8, to fill in the shadows.  






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1 comment:

  1. Jim RoyalFebruary 14, 2011 at 10:17 AM

    Not bad at all. The poses are really nice. I think you are getting good practice working with people, and your subjects certainly look like they were having fun. The one of the little boy alone is great.

    Some comments:

    I think most of them are about half a stop underexposed — the one of the mother and daughter in particular.

    I think your umbrellas were a bit too far away from the subjects. The shadows are a little too well-defined, and the falloff is a bit too abrupt.

    Next time, try pushing one umbrella so close that it''s almost in the picture, and then use your second flash bare at low power for a rim light.

    ReplyDelete

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