Portraiture Point of View

I always like to try different point of view, even when shooting portraiture, during my first session with Jessica, I asked her to go under the staircase and looking up at me, it's a different point of view for portraiture but it worked very well.

I processed one in color and one in black and white.
I added a soft effect a hint of color and texture to the black and white, to add mystery.

Different point of view for portraiture

Adding softness, texture and a hint of color to black and white to add mystery

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My Friend Jessica

Canon 24-105 at 100mm, f4, 1/250sec, ISO 640, Natural Light

Since I arrived in  Mendoza  I have been searching for a model, I wanted someone I can direct easily,  someone that will will work with me during my creation process someone to be part of my team.

My friend Jessica was the perfect match, she is beautiful, smart, easy to direct and as crazy as I am.

We had the first session this past Thursday, an informal session just to get to know how to work with each other, Jessica only speak Spanish, not a problem at all.

This is some of the shots I took, next step will be to do some conceptual and fine art image.

 The gears I used for that session were, Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 24-105mm, Lensbaby soft focus, Canon flash.

Lensbaby Soft Focus, 1/400sec, ISO320, Natural Light

Flash Manual in a Beauty Dish, Canon 24-105 at 105mm,  f4.5, 1/160sec, ISO 200

Canon 24-105 at 80mm F4, 1/100 sec, ISO 160, Natural Light

Canon 24-105 at 105mm F4, 1/100 sec, ISO 160, Natural Light

Canon 24-105 at 105mm F4, 1/250 sec, ISO 160, Natural Light

Canon 24-105 at 60mm F4, 1/250 sec, ISO 640, Natural Light

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Formal Portrait Photography

Sometime we need to do formal portrait and leave the creativity in our bag. To do a great formal portrait I used my flash that I bounce to the wall, I try to find white wall for bouncing and background to eliminate color cast. Bouncing flash gun to wall and ceiling add light, a soft light very pleasing for portrait, also always make sure that your subject is perfect before starting, I mean, if it's a woman make sure that her make up look great, even if it's possible to do a lot of correction in Photoshop. I prefer to bounce to the wall when possible to add a bit of contrast.

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Challenging on location work, with two extremely busy subjects

This one wasn't part of the job but I kept it, I like how natural they were before posing, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 16-35 at 35mm, f11, 1/250 sec, ISO200

Working on location can be a real challenge especially when you got no flexibility at all, it happens to me many times, but one particular job prove to be more challenging.

I was hired to shoot, two priests at the new Catholic church in Okotoks Alberta, I had a restrict few hours to do so, not knowing if the principal subjects, will be available for more than few minutes.

I was lucky the weather was great that day, I wanted to do some outside shots, I got there few hours early, to find out that the church was rented by the school board for meetings, I spoke with the responsible and agree to use some part of the church for my own work.

I did a walk around inside and outside to determine the light and were to place my 2 subjects, labelling my chosen spot with tape, I knew that my shooting time was going to be restricted as these 2 priests were extremely busy, they were not my client, they were only the subject, not an easy situation as they didn’t care too much about the result.

Catholic priests don’t have it easy, they don’t decide on their schedule, they serve their community, and I wanted to do my best to make it easy and fast to let them go back to their busy agenda.

The first priest arrived on time and was very relax,

Father Steve posing in front of his church, low angle shot, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 24-105 at 47mm, f11, 1/125 sec, ISO 200

30 minutes later the second priest arrived, he had no time, he allow me 30 minutes to finish the shooting.  It was very challenging and stressful, I was glad that the weather was playing alone and that I had the time to get organize before the shooting started.

I was far enough that even with f2, I was able to get a clear image, this was the kind of image that was requested, Father Frank and Father Steve taking the perfect pose,  Canon 5D Markii, Canon 85 prime lens, f2, 1/125 sec, ISO 200

The result was ok, what I mean by that is that it pleased the client, this was exactly what the client asked for, when on a job this is the priority, if you are successful with the request that’s all that count, you have to put your preference on the side.  Even if I was restricted during this shooting some of the image that I took when they were relax and not posing were pretty good, and I am glad I accepted that challenge.

After the shooting session, mine to keep, Canon 5D Markii, Canon70-200 at 105mm, f3.2, 1/30 sec, ISO 200

F3.2 help to isolate the subject, I should of cranked the ISO to 400 to get a faster shooter speed, but I didn't had the time to change the setting and didn't want to miss the shot  , Canon 5D Markii, Canon70-200 at 105mm, f3.2, 1/30 sec, ISO 200

Relaxing and chatting after the photo session, before getting back to their busy schedules, Canon 5D Markii, Canon70-200 at 105mm, f3.2, 1/30 sec, ISO 200

Location shooting is never easy, especially when your are restricted by time, it’s really hard to predict what will happen, but I enjoy it, like these wedding photographer that I admire, shooting this kind of on location work is not easy but the experience is a real learning opportunity.

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