Summer is always a slow season for portrait shooting, at least for me anyway. Last night the drought was ended as I shot three different subjects over the course of about three hours at the home studio. Each one was uniquely different and called for its own lighting and post production style.
To start off I had a portrait of a young girl to commemorate her first Holy Communion. For this I used my Alien Bees B800 with the large octo-box camera left as the main paired with a 43” white reflector disk for fill. This is a really good set up for a traditional portrait, nice soft light from the octo-box, soft fill from the reflector. I added a rim light, an SB-800 with a snoot, camera right just behind the subject and another SB-800 on the background. Both SB-800s were dialed down to about 1/32 power. Very minimal post processing, just a little WB adjustment and a little sharpening in Lightroom. The final prints will get a little more attention.
Next up, a sports portrait for a high school senior lacrosse player. This called for a more dramatic lighting set-up. For this I removed the octo-box from the AB-800 and attached the standard 7AB/R reflector and set it up on axis with my subject. SB-800s were used again as kickers left and right with snoots to avoid any spill. Post processing included the Topaz Adjust Photoshop plug in, plus retouching, masking and high pass filter in Photoshop.
Finnaly, a basic head shot for a model portfolio. For t his we left the studio and moved to the den which has french door style windows looking into the back yard. This was the simplest set up of the evening, just an SB-800 with a shoot through umbrella camera left for key. After a few shots a decided to add the reflector disk camera right. I used a longer lens for this one, an 80-200 f/2.8 and opened the aperture all the way in order to kill the depth of field. Minimal post processing in Lightroom, the final image will get a little more attention.
When this was all done I was pooped, but very satisfied. Not sure I could do this every day. Photography is hard work.
-- Steve
To start off I had a portrait of a young girl to commemorate her first Holy Communion. For this I used my Alien Bees B800 with the large octo-box camera left as the main paired with a 43” white reflector disk for fill. This is a really good set up for a traditional portrait, nice soft light from the octo-box, soft fill from the reflector. I added a rim light, an SB-800 with a snoot, camera right just behind the subject and another SB-800 on the background. Both SB-800s were dialed down to about 1/32 power. Very minimal post processing, just a little WB adjustment and a little sharpening in Lightroom. The final prints will get a little more attention.
Next up, a sports portrait for a high school senior lacrosse player. This called for a more dramatic lighting set-up. For this I removed the octo-box from the AB-800 and attached the standard 7AB/R reflector and set it up on axis with my subject. SB-800s were used again as kickers left and right with snoots to avoid any spill. Post processing included the Topaz Adjust Photoshop plug in, plus retouching, masking and high pass filter in Photoshop.
Finnaly, a basic head shot for a model portfolio. For t his we left the studio and moved to the den which has french door style windows looking into the back yard. This was the simplest set up of the evening, just an SB-800 with a shoot through umbrella camera left for key. After a few shots a decided to add the reflector disk camera right. I used a longer lens for this one, an 80-200 f/2.8 and opened the aperture all the way in order to kill the depth of field. Minimal post processing in Lightroom, the final image will get a little more attention.
When this was all done I was pooped, but very satisfied. Not sure I could do this every day. Photography is hard work.
-- Steve
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