The Daily Photo series focuses on the two or three key creative choices, in terms of composition and processing, that go into creating an image. Specific technical details about the shot have been left out — you won’t hear me talking about tone curve adjustments and whatnot unless it was a key component of the end result.
A simple black and white shot of Jen, taken in the pool area at the AMLI building in downtown Austin (the taller one).
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/250
- Aperture: f/4
- ISO: 200
- Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
Composition and Processing
- I wanted to have Jen sitting, with the horizontal wood panels as a background. The lines were nice and clean, and the wood tone (and texture) made a nice contrast to Jen’s hair (darker) and clothing (lighter). In fact, to insure the background was exceptionally simple and non-distracting, I even removed the screw heads in each plank (in Photoshop, not during set up). And I cropped tight to remove border elements.
- One problem we ran into was the excessively hard light from the afternoon sun. I didn’t have a scrim big enough to diffuse the entire area in the photo, so we stacked a bunch of wicker furniture to block out the direct light (you can see some of it to the left of the original shot).
- There was a light breeze blowing, so I waited until just the right moment to catch the hair lifting away from her face.
Original:
February 19 2009 | Photography | No Comments »
The Daily Photo series focuses on the two or three key creative choices, in terms of composition and processing, that go into creating an image. Specific technical details about the shot have been left out — you won’t hear me talking about tone curve adjustments and whatnot unless it was a key component of the end result.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/250
- Aperture: f/2
- ISO: 50
- Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
- Lighting: Zeus head in beauty dish overhead camera right; another in large gridded softbox low, also camera right.
Composition and Processing
- I’m finding more use for ISO 50 these days than I would have expected. My default on both camera bodies is 200, but the combination of shallow DOF and limited space to move lights leaves only ISO as a viable option for exposure control (the Zeus lights were at their lowest power settings). I suppose I could should with a neutral density filter, but I suspect putting another piece of glass in front of the image would have more impact on image quality than changing to a low ISO (which theoretically should improve IQ, but I don’t notice any difference from 50 to 200).
- For this shot I wanted Jen leaning toward the camera, with expression and body language all attitude. The shallow depth of field helped reinforce the lean and drove more attention to the (in focus) face. The hand on the hip helped as well, making the posture more defensive.
- I wanted the hair to come forward in some way, if for no other reason to add a little more character to the shot. I was concerned about losing the eyes though, which had to be sharp. I was actually expecting to lose the left one (from the camera’s view) to some degree, while the right would be the main subject of attention. Instead, it turned out to be the opposite. Despite greater occlusion, the left caught the lights perfectly, helping it punch through the obstructing hair.
Original:
February 10 2009 | Photography | No Comments »
The Daily Photo series focuses on the two or three key creative choices, in terms of composition and processing, that go into creating an image. Specific technical details about the shot have been left out — you won’t hear me talking about tone curve adjustments and whatnot unless it was a key component of the end result.
Last month Janus Anderson and I shot with Jen, a local model working on her portfolio. I’ve shot with Jen before at a local photographer gathering, but I hadn’t been thrilled with the results. That wasn’t Jen’s fault, who is very easy to work with — it was just the nature of the shoot. This time around I thought I could do better.
- Shutter: 1/250
- Aperture: f/2.8
- ISO: 50
- Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
- Lighting: Zeus head in a beauty dish up high and to the right; large gridded softbox almost to the floor, also on the right; white reflector to the left.
Original:
Composition and Processing:
- This was one of the last shots taken after a couple hours of shooting. With the outfit Jen had on, I wanted something that was all black, with the hair and clothing blending into the background (this is similar to my approach with this shot of Brigitte, where the subject is defined by the visible portion of the skin, and everything else is negative space.) However, I was getting a bit lazy at this point in the day, so rather than switch lighting and pull out the paper more, I simply threw down a 4 x 8 foam core sheet and had her sit on that. I then made minor adjustments to the lights from previous setup and just went with that. In hindsight I should have pull the roll out, because there was some added photoshop cleanup later that was a nuisance.
- Model poses usually look a bit stiff and forced to me. Which isn’t to say they aren’t interesting, but I often tend toward more casual looks. For this shot I asked Jen to just relax as if she were hanging out, talking to someone, but to leave the arms on her right leg (comfortably). That brought her head and body forward a bit, and the only further direction needed was to raise the chin (all of which changed her expression from “staring” to “interested”).
January 06 2009 | Photography | No Comments »