Photo shoot from the past

Last year (it sounds like some time in the distant past already) I actually did a number of photo shoots for different people and occasions, but didn't really get a chance to post any images from those shoots.  However, I thought I would set that right, since this blog should ideally reflect all my exercises in photography at any point in time.  And they say that it's better late than never, isn't it!  So, the images are better late, because it gives me a chance to go back and see what I have really done by way of portraiture and how my skills and style have evolved.

I'd also like to mention that I now have a photography page on Facebook.  It would be wonderful if you stopped by and "Like"-ed the page, since I know you stop by here often because you like me! Jokes apart, it would mean a lot if you dropped by and said "hello" on FB.

Here are some images from a few of the photo sessions:

B&W Project 5 - Week 2

Recent photo shoot with a gorgeous young lady!

Day 282 - Frozen to the Bones

I went out with a friend to do some outdoor portraits as he's a very athletic guy who loves winter sports.  We wanted to capture his outdoorsy nature, but how much can you smile or click in frigid temperatures and knee-deep snow?  Going out in the middle of the afternoon with the sun right overhead didn't help matters one bit.  But we still got a few fun shots.

And this last shot is to only demonstrate how much snow we battled on location.  I wish I could also convey the extreme cold in some way, but alas, you might as well just take my word for it!

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.  

Day 247 - Getting to Know Gary Fong

.. not really the photographer/inventor, but the invention he calls the Lightsphere Universal.  You might remember that I had mentioned it in a recent post and I had barely been able to try it for want of a model.  Today, I managed to coax my son to sit for me for just ten minutes, and after a little bit of haggling and hassling, he agreed!  My lucky day!  Actually, he's agreed to sit for me now and then, but only for ten minutes each time.  I can't complain - he's a teenager after all, and has had a mind of his own since he was less than 6 months old!

Anyway, I started with the translucent photojournalist (that's what the diffuser is called).  When I had ordered this product I had noted that it came with a tutorial DVD, but when I rummaged through the box yesterday, I hadn't found it.  Upon mailing Midwest, they sincerely apologized and let me know that Gary Fong had pulled it out of the kit!  Darn!  However, when you have Youtube, there's not much cause for worry.  So I spent a few minutes watching videos on how to use it.

I did this really late in the evening, after dinner, so I didn't really spend a lot of time taking notes on the flash settings and the position of the dome, so I'm unable to post them today.  I was experimenting with the light by stopping down the power level of the flash, changing the zoom level, or changing the angle of the flash.  I will have to do a thorough study of the settings again soon to familiarize myself with the flash and diffuser duo.

Here are the results from this evening:

I tried flashing the background with a blue-gelled flash, but I obviously wasn't able to use that correctly.  While the first shot has a more or less even background, the last one is the least attractive.  I'll definitely have to work on that.  

Day 183 - Portrait session with a friend

I was looking for some practise with portraiture, and a friend offered to sit for me as he needed some photos done as well.

I am completely green at this and besides a couple of lessons on lighting a subject for portraiture, I have not done any serious portraiture at all.  And those sessions were really on how to use reflectors as a supplemental light source.  My dilemma this morning was how I could actually use a reflector, as I had no second person to help.  I had to rely on my pop-up flash for fill-light, as my YN460 is extremely unreliable.  And since we went out around 10:00 am, we didn't have a lot of time to waste experimenting with an unreliable flash.

My challenges today were mainly two - composing a shot properly with a human being as a subject, and of course the light.  I was happy with the locations I chose.  But at times the bitter cold winds made it difficult for my subject to keep his eyes open.  However, out of the 200 plus shots I took, I found that I could easily keep at least 30, if not a few more.

My next challenge, post-photoshoot, is the processing.  I hope that once I'm done with the processing, I can get some nice shots ready for delivery to my friend.

I would love to hear your comments on these shots on how I could have composed or lit them better, or if I can process them differently to improve the image.

Day 150 - Indoor portrait experiments

Another photo club meeting activity.  We had to stay indoors because of not-so-nice weather, so decided to use light from different sources to see how the photos turned out.  I have to admit that flash photography is probably not my forte, although I definitely mean to conquer that challenge.  I still prefer the use of ambient light and I hope for my own sake that I learn to use the flash.  Otherwise, winter is going to be a long and boring season with not much to keep me company.

Here are a few before and after shots. I used my on-camera flash at -2 stops to add a little fill light on one, and used a white foam board as a reflector on another.  I was using my 90 mm lens as well, hoping that the f2.8 would help with the low light inside the room we chose to experiment in.

The left frame is with the reflector and the right one is with on-camera flash.

This one was my favourite using just ambient light.  

The photos below are from the photo shoot we did recently with Jim Royal (in the first two pictures below). He was our instructor on how to use reflectors in portraiture.  The location in the first image was a covered area with light shafts coming in through the openings.  We used a silver reflector to catch the sunlight and then used a foam board to catch the reflection bouncing off the silver one to direct it to the face.  This helped soften the strong reflection of the silver one and created a beautiful smooth light.  

The one below was taken with the subject standing with the sun to the right of the camera, and a reflector to the left of the camera.  I didn't really like the yellowish cast which I found too strong, and therefore decided to change this to B&W.  I think I like this much better.

This one was with the subject facing away from the sun, with a reflector held just below the face, outside of camera frame.

Day 81 - Portraits

These are portraits I did a few days ago, but I finally remembered to ask for permission to post them.  Many thanks to you, Jim, for the guidance and excellent tips.

This is my second time trying portraits, but admittedly the first time that I did them with any amount of seriousness as far as lighting was concerned. But it was mostly some random clicking done only to see the light we could get by using ambient light and a reflector.

I have applied very minimal PP to the first frame, and tried my hand at removing a few blemishes on the second one.  I hope they still look natural.  I'd love to know which one you liked.