Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/02/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I changed the subject line as we are no longer discussing Karst. This was help with informal portraits eh? Informal portraits can pay your way through school if you are good and actively market your ability. People use trees because: 1) Under trees there is nice soft open shade that is flattering to most people. 2)Trees frequently grow together in forests so that the background can be much darker than the foreground forcing the eye into the subject area. 3) Trees if large enough become a prop that the subject can lean against, hold so their hands aren't dangling around foolishly, or a background of interesting texture. 4) The Druids were right, there is something about trees that attracts humans. So the 50mm APO ASPH Summicron was too sharp. Now you understand why Summarit's still hold their value. You can compensate by shooting much later in the day(or much earlier) so that the light is low enough you can use F2.0 or so. Shooting with horizontal light also gives you the advantage of directional light outside much like window light. You can pose your subject in 3/4 light to get modeling just like the soft boxes do. See the Karst portraits or any good museums portrait gallery. If you are ever in Washington DC the National Gallery has hundreds on display at any given time. What others have said about seeing the light leads into the next list of suggestions. Once you have thought through what effect you want then you will know what to look for. Scout whatever area you live in(you will be out of Augusta in a few months) for possible portrait sites. Things to consider would be buildings that can serve as soft boxes. Large light buildings orientated so light bounces off them to fill your subject in open shade. The corollary is dark buildings that suck light out. Interesting locations where the subject is in open shade but the background is interesting. Walkways with repeating columns are good. Public places with large windows are good. The old Carnegie libraries are great. Many turn of the century buildings are great as architects needed to use available light to light their rooms. Hmmm, sounds like homework for me and next weeks PAW. Don Dory dorysrus@mindspring.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html