Here are some images from a 'High School Senior Portrait' I did about 3 weeks ago. She will be moving to Alaska this summer to go to college, so we thought a desert theme would be fun.
These were taken out in the Arizona desert in late morning (bright) sunlight.
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.For light, I just used a translucent panel (Lastolite Tri-grip) to diffuse/soften the hard sunlight that was hitting her.
After I got back and uploaded/processed the images I could tell that one mistake I made was to not have a flick of light into the eyes to make them standout more and provide a highlight. She has beautiful light colored eyes that would have added more 'pop' to the picture.
My key learning there was that I could not see the LCD clear enough in the bright sun, so I wasn't able to see how the image looked clearly enough. I think I've solved that problem, I bought the Hoodman Screen Loupe, just got it so haven't been able to really try it out yet.
Clearly getting out earlier in the day would have been better for both the light and the comfort factor (it was getting kinda hot standing around in the sun).
Any suggestions/thoughts on what else I might have done?
Thanks, David
really love the last one, the gesture so natural.
ReplyDeletereally good job on the lighting as well, clean, simple, effective.
Perhaps some bounce fill been nice but you only have so many
hands.
What a pretty young woman!! Very nice shots of her - excellent control of difficult lighting. She and her parents must love them.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain re the flick of light to really put life into the eyes. I did an impromtu photo shoot in a tiny Paris apartment last night using one light and an umbrella and didn't think of the "flick" until I looked at the photos afterward. Hard way to learn.
Virginia
Nice shots - my favorites are 1 & 3 - hindsight is always 20/20 isn't it?
ReplyDeleteWhat may have been cool to try would have been a wide shot of her sitting on the ground looking up at a cactus, maybe with real long shadows... nice job! Fred
hey i've got a great solution to that 'flick of light' problem. actually i have three.
ReplyDeletemy fav: a ring flash as FILL. i mean, just a touch of light. like, 2 stops below the key. brightens the eyes and it's like the world's best unsharp mask. try it once and you'll see. you could get the ring-light adapter for your speedlight...
or: either a pen light/ittybitty flashlight (the LED ones are great but you gotta strap a warming gel on in) or a small mirror/shiny board, long and skinny, and just bounce a touch of light right in there. frank ockenfels 3 swears by the "shiny board in the eyes."