Recently got a Christmas card from friends/clients. It included the above photo. In large lettering, "Happy Everything". Man does that fit. They are so fun and easy to work with.
So we took these with combinations of natural light filtered through bed sheets to the left, bare strobes into the ceiling, bare strobes directly aimed at the subject, and my new favorite light modifier, the small softbox that I use with my battery strobes.
Here is an example of the natural light from the window to the left. The sun was hitting it directly so we hung bed sheets to diffuse it. I also bounced a strobe into the white ceiling to the right.
Here's a fun one.
For more of an edge, here I blasted bare strobes from each side.
Here's the love.
And more of the love.
And I'll finish with some of the expressions of the rock-n-roller above.
Be blessed. More photo shoots to come . . .
Labels:
balancing ambient,
black and white,
cross light,
flash bounce,
hard light,
multiple lights,
natural light,
portraits
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Spent some time with my buddy Bryan Boliver and his wife. He is a singer/songwriter and we took some photos to feed his websites for a while. We used a few different lighting styles. In the lead photo above you see side lighting with bare strobes. Very harsh shadows. I love the technique. Gives a good edge to the photo.
Here are some more.
Then we took some ambient light stuff as well since the sun was setting. Placed the sun behind him and exposed for his face and let the background blow out.
Also used an umbrella for key light with an accent light behind and opposite the key light for a more classic look.
Also modified that look a little by having the key light and the accent on the same side as the subject.
A great time with a great friend. Hope you like them buddy. Go check out his music at https://www.facebook.com/BryanBoliver
Be blessed!
Labels:
backlight,
balancing ambient,
black and white,
cross light,
multiple lights,
natural light,
portraits,
rim light
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We had thought about canceling this session. It rained off and on throughout the day. Thankfully we didn't. The rain let off and the sun shone behind a thin layer of clouds in the same way that an umbrella diffuses the light from a flash. So the light was soft and directional and by placing the subject a different angles to the sun you can achieve different effects.I always look for cool transitional areas. Areas that are in full sunlight but transition slowly to shade. This are in our downtown has some of those that I like. This is an overpass. The rocks make an interesting background. If you move the subject far from the opening you get flat light. As you move closer to the entrance, you start to get some direct sunlight that you can use as an accent light on the face or shoulder.
Here is one with the sun almost directly behind me. You can see that there is very little shadow on the face. The little bit of shadow that is there has a very soft transition showing what a great soft box the Lord provided with the clouds.
Here is one of my favorite walls.
This gate was a new find. I've probably walked by it a hundred times.
A yellow door. Wasn't sure about this one but I like the rustic look. Notice how he has the direct light giving a nice highlight on the right side. Again, you have control in a situation like this. If the highlight is too big or too bright, back the subject farther into the doorway.
Not much to say here. Adorable kids sitting on the curb.
I think these are my favorites of the bunch. The sun is behind them giving the great accent light on the hair and shoulders. The sky behind just blows out. GEEK TECH STUFF: If you're not interested skip this paragraph.This can be a challenging photographic situation. Most cameras set to automatic will try to meter this down to get details in the bright sky. And that will put the subject into almost complete silhouette. That's a cool look if that is what you are going for. If not, you have to do a little work to get details in the subject. If you have exposure compensation you can dial in some positive number. This acts like an offset. Whatever your meter thinks is the correct exposure, this positive number will be added to it. For instance, here I dialed in +2/3 or +1 depending on how much sun I had in the frame.If you have exposure lock on your camera you can point your camera toward something that you want to meter on, press and hold the exposure lock button, recompose the photo and press the shutter release. I used that technique here as well. I have not settled on my favorite way yet. In this case, I would point at the shadow in front of the subject or maybe his dark jeans, hold the auto exposure (AE) lock button, recompose and shoot.
Maybe these are my favorites. I can not make up my mind. I always like the silly faces. Wow, this is seriously the longest post I've ever made but hopefully on top of enjoying the photos you may have picked up a little something that you did not know before.
Be blessed!
Labels:
backlight,
cross light,
kids,
natural light,
one light,
rim light
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We took part in our first Pinewood Derby this weekend. A fun time. Also got to take portraits of the little guys and their awesome cars.
Brought my big strobes here. I used the blue pads at the end of the basketball court for a backdrop. That worked out well with the blue uniforms. An umbrella on one strobe is the key light and a bare strobe behind the subject for accent light.
Labels:
backlight,
cross light,
kids,
multiple lights,
portraits,
rim light,
scouts
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So here's what happens when you take your son to see his (and his Dad's) favorite hip-hop artist. We saw KJ-52 last weekend. And also a local artist 20th The Remix (who was awesome!). My oldest was pretty much on stage. KJ-52 was freestyling about him and took his hat off and pretended to give it to someone else. So since he was pretty much in the show, he has been pumped ever since. We had a dance party tonight in our house. Something we do pretty often. Turn off the lights, music on the computer, turn on the disco ball, AWESOME! I got inspired to do some of the photos with the edgy look that fits the music genre. Cross lighting with my two monolights with only their reflectors on.
This one is just cute.
When I see this one I think it's after he has just finished rockin' the spot in some stadium and is coming off the stage. He's tired and ready to get back to the tour bus and knock back a couple of apple juice boxes. No time for the paparazzi. "Get up off me!"
So KJ I hope you see this. Thanks for inspiring my seven year old. I am so thankful for all of the artists like you that God is using to be a positive influence. My son is supposed to be sleeping now but just came out and told us that he is writing a song called "God Rose On The Third Day". Surely there won't be any copyright issues right? :)
Labels:
black and white,
cross light,
kids,
multiple lights
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