New portrait shoot

I recently undertook a portrait shoot as a part of a free giveaway I held on my Facebook page. This one was a little different in that my model wanted to hold the shoot at a library or bookstore as they are an aspiring author and wanted to be surrounded by books. Fortunately, the local bookstore I approached as the venue was very amenable and agreed to us holding the shoot on their premises.

I'm still pretty new to the whole portrait shoot, especially on location and it certainly ramped up my nerves some. Plus it meant that not only did I need to be aware of all technical issues with my camera and lens choice, I had to keep my lighting in check, stay aware of my model for poses; I also had to be very aware of the store's customers and try to not get in their way or have them get in my way. Unfortunately, as I found out, something had to give and I didn't do such as good a job as I could on directing my model - or providing good feedback and encouragement. With so much going on, I got too engrossed in the other tasks and was not the most communicative. Luckily for me, Debra (my model) was very helpful in filling in the gaps. It didn't hurt that we have known each other for a few years, so we had some common ground to build on.

All things considered, the shoot turned out pretty good. I have done some basic editing and provided proofs for Debra to make her final selection from. Once this is completed, I'll provide her with the agreed on number of digital files and also have one printed out for framing - in line with my basic photo package deal.

Here is one of the photos I took on the day, processed in TopazLabs BW Effects, that was actually taken after the shoot was winding down. I like it because it is much more relaxed and natural. though one thing you might not realize is that it was a "reject" image due to my flash not firing; meaning the overhead fluorescent lighting threw the colors off. Converting to B/W enabled me to save the shot; plus I do like the look of a good B/W image.

I have to admit, I'm toying with the idea of making some B/W HDR images just to see how they turn out. Yeah, I know I'm being weird, but art is all about experimenting and I view photography as a form of art that lends itself to experimentation.

Trying out some new software - first impressions

I recently get a new piece of editing software and have been taking a brief look into it's features on some of my previous portrait photos.

The software in question is PortraitProStudio and it is certainly very powerful in its editing features. So much so, I've found that I am having to dial down the settings to a more subtle level, as it is very easy to push things a little too far and enter the realm of "over processed".

Once I have found a good level of editing I certainly feel this will speed up my portrait editing and allow me to quickly dial the level of editing up or down to suit the subject and look I am after.

In all I have to say this is a very interesting and powerful software package, one that is currently on sale (half price). Well worth checking out if you do a lot of portrait and beauty work.

More portrait work (self portraits)

Regular readers will remember my last post mentioned that I was going to be testing out zoom settings on my SB-900 flash to better illuminate my beauty dish. I can report back that my tests were very successful and that setting it to a zoom setting of 200mm does the trick and gives great light - and fills the dish nicely. And as I do not currently have a model to use for these shots, I have been using myself as both the photographer and the model.

Being a bit of an introvert is not the best thing for a portrait photographer as people are my subject matter and it certainly makes it "interesting" in approaching potential models; and also something I need to really deal with/overcome in the year(s) to come. I also plan on creating a studio space for myself in the coming year so I have a "home base" for shoots. Not every (potential) client has a location to use or wants to shoot outdoors, so a studio space would be very preferable.

I'm still working on defining my personal style; but I'm not sweating it as I know this will come with time. Weather it will be a lighting style, a colour style, high key, low key...maybe I never will have a distinctive style that identifies my work. Not all photographers have an instantly recognizable style.

The latest self portrait shoot eventually ended up with me converting to Black & White, by trying out some of the presets I have in Lightroom. I ended up using one from a collection from Lindsay Adler I purchased as part of a bigger package deal a few months ago. I might have to try it out on some more portraits as I like the look it produces.

Still find self portraits a bit of a challenge to get the focus and framing good. Although I did bend the rules a little on this one as I used my 12-24mm zoom lens @24mm, to give an effective full-frame equivalent of 36mm. This is about as wide as is advised for a portrait at this close a range as distortion can occur; although keeping away from the edges of the frame will reduce this problem.

Quick update

I wanted to get in a quick, little update before the end of the day and the start of another week. Not that I've had much time with my camera, I have at least been keeping busy with photography related things - namely research and practicing.

The research part has been in the form of some new books (Joe McNally and Erik Valind) and a new video (Lindsey Adler); while the practice part has been in fine tuning the use of my new beauty dish.

The big thing I wanted to test out was the best zoom setting for my SB-900 flash to properly illuminate the dish. I had been leaving my zoom setting at the 24mm I was using for my softbox (to fill the box). Although I found an interesting bit of info on how Joe McNally uses SB-900's and SB-910's with the same softbox; he uses the diffuser dome which sets the zoom to 14mm. May have to try that out the next time I break out the softbox.

Okay, back to the beauty dish. I had noticed when I tried some self-portraits that the reflection in the catchlights seemed a little "off" and also that I wasn't seeing the crispness I was expecting in the light quality. I think having the head zoomed out to 24mm was not directing the light into the reflector plate enough and that instead it was spreading beyond the plate, softening the light. So today I decided to test my theory and took some test shots with the flash head zoomed to 200mm. Now, there's the crispness I was looking for! The light quality is so much improved now and much more how I was expecting it to be.

All I need to do now is find a willing/suitable model and take some real-world portraits or head shots.