Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/11/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]langhanslanghans@compwrx.com (langhans)11/2/029:14 AM >I am glad to hear from a professional. Your portraits are very nice, but to >me they look very formal. Very controlled. You speak clearly to what may be the downside of professionalism. Too much knowledge? Too much control? Thought provoking for me. >were mostly studio, but do you have any suggestions for shooting outside? First choice outside - Find the beautiful light. Second choice - create the beautiful light. Both reflectors and diffusors work well to control and create beautiful pools of light. However they also mean more equipment, more "control (in the form that you mentioned above)" and with wind can mean hauling sand bags for stands, etc. My outdoor portrait lighting kit: 1 4x4 foot diffusor on a breakdown frame with two light stands, and a 3 foot dia pop open reflector on one light stand. Very light weight and portable. >am thinking a reflector, if I can get someone to help me out and hold it. I >am also going to look into a bounce diffuser screen to soften the lighting. >But with the light still in the vacinity of the camera (it is not on the >camera, but on a bracket that swings for horizontal/vertical) I suppose this >would still give flat lighting. As others have mentioned, you can control the ratio of the fill to a point where it does not give the "flat" look of taking over the natural light. >As far as backgrounds, I tried to get most of them out of focus by using I would ask, "Why did we come here?" both of yourself and the subject. What affinity to the environment does the subject or you, as photographer, have with the environemt? Some folks use the term "environmental portraiture". You have seen many fine examples of folks posting on the LUG, portraits where you feel the affinity of subject to where they are. I always attempt to portray people in places where they would naturally spend time, unless they're looking for the "formal" studio approach. I can't stomach the studios that have the scenes in their studios, or outdoor garden sets, with fake waterfalls, and all the seniors have one of 6 backgrounds which have nothing to do with their real life. I wonder if you considered photographing your subject at a window (generally beautiful light) in her own home, at her favorite restaurant, around her favourite sport, something that would suggest more about her and her life. The very flatly lit portrait of the young man, on my site, was photographed just after sunset, with 80mm summilux wide open, on Delta 3200, as he drove his mom slowly around the lake in his new water ski boat. The look on his face held that "moment" and speaks about his total pleasure, piece of mind, and pride after a day of exhausting skiing, hair wet, shirtless. I don't mean to say that the photo tells that story. However the photo does capture, I believe, a state of being, which does not come about easily except when entering, and as a photographer, disappearing into people's realities. The moment I clicked the shutter I knew I had something special. And when the photo was presented to his mother, she burst into tears of joy. - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html