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Today I managed to get out and shoot some natural light portraits with a model named Charlotte. First up, so as to not shock you too much, these were taken on my newly aquired 5D Mark 2. After much deliberation I have decided that the Mark II is the right camera for me and am delighted to own one again. Enough about that.
Todays shoot was an absolute joy. The model, charlotte has been described as bohemian in the least and is as far removed from glamour as one could imagine. Her stark beauty is incredible and her wispy hair coupled with lovely blue eyes could only really offer me up decent images. By her own admittance, her skin is far from perfect, but as a photographer I think that kind of makes her look unique. She has a real Sissy Spacek feel and all of the Carrie jokes were despensed of rather quickly. My first shoot was in room with two large corner windows acting as soft boxes. I shot these at 50mm (the nifty fifty) a borrowed lens and had to get in tight and ideally an 85mm lens would have been ideal as this is my favourite portrait length by a long chalk. Still, the pictures look great. Usual routine applied, shooting slightly from above for flattering shapes and perspective. A reflector was used to add some fill. All of these images were processed in Canons wonderful DPP software and cut to size in CS4 - a potent combo if you ask me!
We then shot a few frames outside where I over exposed the highlights by a large amount, knowing that I could dial in the shadows later and give the images a nice pop without over egging the pudding. The wind helped create some drama with her hair here which was nice.
After this I then positioned the model in the apex of a room so that I had two windows at the front/side, with a door way behind her left shoulder and again over exposed a lot to loose the highlights, but create and ethereal glow for the image and light the hair/side of the head. I may re-edit this and add a diffuse glow for a test as I think the current images looks a tad harsh.
Once the natural work was 'wrapped' I then shot a couple of studio type frames and went for low key to add drama and bring out the lovely tone in the hair. Note on the sq. crop that I left the bra strap in. I like it, it works. It is not high fashion and is in keeping with the days shoot which was a complete success. Second shot has a snooted back drop which I lost as did not like it.
I enjoyed every second of todays photoshoot and reminds me that the photos we seek are everywhere around us - after all, natural light does not cost a penny!
As Ferris Buller once wisely said "If we don't stop and look around once in a while, we might miss it..."
Thanks for taking time out to read this, it means a lot. Hope someone can take something from this. I am starting to feel back on form after my early 2009 dip and look forward to many more shoots over the coming months. Another thing to note, I was out watching Damien Lovegrove work the other day and you know what? The one thing he said that really made me think about photography and subjective opinions is that if you like it, it works. Simple as that....
Todays shoot was an absolute joy. The model, charlotte has been described as bohemian in the least and is as far removed from glamour as one could imagine. Her stark beauty is incredible and her wispy hair coupled with lovely blue eyes could only really offer me up decent images. By her own admittance, her skin is far from perfect, but as a photographer I think that kind of makes her look unique. She has a real Sissy Spacek feel and all of the Carrie jokes were despensed of rather quickly. My first shoot was in room with two large corner windows acting as soft boxes. I shot these at 50mm (the nifty fifty) a borrowed lens and had to get in tight and ideally an 85mm lens would have been ideal as this is my favourite portrait length by a long chalk. Still, the pictures look great. Usual routine applied, shooting slightly from above for flattering shapes and perspective. A reflector was used to add some fill. All of these images were processed in Canons wonderful DPP software and cut to size in CS4 - a potent combo if you ask me!
We then shot a few frames outside where I over exposed the highlights by a large amount, knowing that I could dial in the shadows later and give the images a nice pop without over egging the pudding. The wind helped create some drama with her hair here which was nice.
After this I then positioned the model in the apex of a room so that I had two windows at the front/side, with a door way behind her left shoulder and again over exposed a lot to loose the highlights, but create and ethereal glow for the image and light the hair/side of the head. I may re-edit this and add a diffuse glow for a test as I think the current images looks a tad harsh.
Once the natural work was 'wrapped' I then shot a couple of studio type frames and went for low key to add drama and bring out the lovely tone in the hair. Note on the sq. crop that I left the bra strap in. I like it, it works. It is not high fashion and is in keeping with the days shoot which was a complete success. Second shot has a snooted back drop which I lost as did not like it.
I enjoyed every second of todays photoshoot and reminds me that the photos we seek are everywhere around us - after all, natural light does not cost a penny!
As Ferris Buller once wisely said "If we don't stop and look around once in a while, we might miss it..."
Thanks for taking time out to read this, it means a lot. Hope someone can take something from this. I am starting to feel back on form after my early 2009 dip and look forward to many more shoots over the coming months. Another thing to note, I was out watching Damien Lovegrove work the other day and you know what? The one thing he said that really made me think about photography and subjective opinions is that if you like it, it works. Simple as that....
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