WHY H.S. SENIORS ARE SO FUN TO PHOTOGRAPH!

High School Seniors Photography is among the most creative types of photography. Why? Because we’re photographing an individual we don’t have to worry about group composition and the space it takes to place a group within an outdoor background or a studio set. We are free to creatively use the many small niches in the outdoor environment that we don’t normally use. In addition we can do more variety in poses, with more interesting standing poses, that don’t work for groups. Then there are the clothing changes, something we don’t have time for in group portraits, that can really add creative variety to a session. And since the clothes matter to teens these different outfits tell us something about them. After all isn’t that why we’re doing their portraits at this pivotal moment in their lives?

One of my favorite types of sessions is what we call the Dual Senior Session.  This is where we do both a studio and an outdoor session—usually on the same day. These sessions are far more challenging, but can reveal a lot more about them as well. And because the environment, the background, the depth and lighting is so radically different in our outdoor versus our studio sessions the teens often act differently—the whole look is fundamentally different.  

This young lady is a good example….

f11.0 @ 1/200 sec., ISO 200, Lens @ 110mm

The parents always want their kids to smile in portraits and we do our best to accommodate them, but sometimes the child won’t comply.  This gal had a definite, single minded, style she wanted to portray in the studio. We can relate to most parents. Our oldest son would rarely smile in front of the camera. I actually like this portrait of her—It has emotional content that is real. It tells me more about her than would a cheesy smile.

Then we went to a local park…

f4.5 @ 1/400 sec., ISO 800; Lens @ 123mm

 Now, she’s really cutting loose!  This was the smile she gave us; this is her persona. We were happy with the results and so were her parents.

Another reason we do a Dual Senior Session is when the clients need a formal studio session for the yearbook in addition to the usual outdoor session.

This young man was really easy to work with….

f11.0 @ 1/200 se., ISO 200; lens @ 165mm

I loaned him one of my tuxedos for his yearbook formal (we also provide the black drape for the gals). Then as part of our service we take care of getting their formal image to the yearbook staff at their High School.  

Then off to the park for casual portraits…

 f4.5 @ 1/200 sec., SIO 400; Lens @ 222mm

Both of these outdoor sessions were done in the fall—our favorite time of the year here in Idaho. These were done in early and late October where we go out about two hours before sunset.

My style is to only use outdoor locations that are lit by the setting sun—so that when I place my subjects the sun is setting behind them.  Then I knock it all out of focus with a relativity wide aperture and as much telephoto lens as I can bring to bear.  

That’s it for this week….as usual don’t hesitate to ask questions…happy to answer you….

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

PROFILE LIGHTING IN THE STUDIO

Because we have total control of lighting in the studio it is the best environment to create dramatic lighting. It’s all about direction of light and creating shadows. The fastest way to kill dramatic lighting is the use of a fill light.   That’s why I quit using any fill light in my studio over ten years ago. The most I use to soften shadows is a reflector—and even then I usually use a soft white; rarely do I use silver. 

One of the most dramatic lighting pattens used in the studio is Profile Lighting. In Profile Lighting even the reflector is not needed…

f13.0 @ 1/200 sec., ISO 200; Lens @ 105mm

Profile Lighting is a simple 3-Light setup:

• The Main Light is at 90° relative to camera with the subject looking towards the light.
• One grided background light (set @ f8.0)
• One Hair light (set @ f11.0)

It’s simple in the number of lights used, but as usual, the placement and intensity of each light is critical in a successful outcome.

Here’s the original color studio image…

Original Color Image

Nowhere near as dramatic as my final Black and White image this was just my raw material to start with. In our film days this would have been our stopping point!

Processing the file:

• I first opened it in NIK’s Silver Efex Pro 2, single image, Tone Mapping; Used Deep 2.
• B&W conversion in NIK’s Silver Efex Pro 2 using their Fine Art preset-modified to my taste.
• Noise reduction in NIK’s Define 2.

It’s remarkable how far we can take a digital file today to create our vision of a final image. However, it’s still important that we start with a good basic image; with highlights controlled and Light and Shadows where we want them.

As always, don’t hesitate to ask questions…’Til next week…

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

EDITING AN EQUINE-OWNER PORTRAIT FOR DRAMA

We knew that photographing this young lady for her high school senior photos with her old horse was very important to her because her mother had told us in advance the horse was not doing well and that this was likely a farewell photo session.  So, my goal was to capture as much interaction between her and her horse as I could—but as most professional photographers working with animals know it’s  often difficult and rarely turns out as planned. I was resigned to probably just getting a basic posed portrait—the usual two-up head shot of them looking at the camera.  When she was bringing her horse out of the corral so we could do portraits in the barn I started the session with some candids and not 20 images in I was amazed to get the image that I desperately wanted showing that connection between human and animal that had always eluded me!

This is the original image right out of the camera….

f5.6 @ 1/1250 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 180mm

Not expecting this moment as she paused in our walk to the barn, I was too far away, so I zoomed fast and got off one image before the moment was gone.  There is way too much information in the original image, especially for a PPA competition style image. The background is very busy and marred by the corral.  In addition all the legs being shown take us away from what really matters here.

A major crop was the answer….

Cropped in

I cropped-in using a horizontal format and placed her head in a dramatic “crash point”. I really like her hair framing the right-hand side of the image. But, I did not like the extremely bright color contrast between her and her horse. Aaah ha…Black and White conversion might do the trick!

NIK, Silver Efex, Conversion

The color problem was not just her bright shirt. Her hair and skin color separated them as well. The black and white version made their hair similar and united the two of them in tonal harmony. And very important in a competition image, as it is in art, simplifying a composition will often make it more powerful. 

We went on to get a lot of nice images of this young lady with and without her horse and even a nice solo portrait of the horse.  Sadly, shortly after we created these portraits they had to put her horse down. Rest in peace sweet one….

As always questions are welcome…

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

FINDING AND USING NATURAL LIGHT FOR DIMENSIONAL PORTRAITS

Like many professional photographers I prefer to use tried and true outdoor locations where I know I can get the best possible portraits of my clients every time. To do that I want to book my sessions at the time of day when I have the best light for both my subjects and backgrounds on each location. You see, in my style of portraiture, unlike many photographers, I build my portrait settings (wether it’s in the studio or outdoors) from the background forward.   I don’t like, dull, dead backgrounds—I want some visual interest and light in my backgrounds; I’m also a Bokeh lover!

My ideal location for portraits has the setting sun creating backlight in my background at a spot that also has open skylight striking my subject(s) from ONE side; on the other side I want trees or bushes creating shadows for the Subtractive Lighting I prefer for natural looking three dimensionality on my subjects.

So, when we booked this particular session at 6pm, on June 5th, at Kathryn Albertson Park (in Boise, ID) I knew it was going to be challenging. First, the sun sets at 9:25pm in early June here, so 6pm is a little early; I’d prefer 7:30pm as a start time.  Second, when we got there I noticed immediately that the sun was in the wrong spot to be of use in most of my favorite locations!

After trying one of our usual spots with some success my wife suggested we go deeper into the park—maybe try the big Sequoia tree display by the wedding gazebo. I was not thrilled with that spot because the light there was always blocked-up; just flat light. But at this time of day (6:30pm) and this month it was different….

f4.5 @ 1/250 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 170mm

I instantly saw we had a nice warm glow on the left hand side of the big log and when we placed this young lady in front of that background we got a nice kicker light on her face giving me the three dimensionality I wanted in this otherwise flat lighting location. Nice!

Here’s a backed-off view of the set-up….

 f4.5 @ 1/250 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 142mm

The lighting and the environment was so nice we put her brother into the scene as well.  As you can see the “kicker light” is being created by the logs on camera left acting as reflectors.  By now it’s about 7pm and I found a nice spot where the setting sun is creating my ideal lighting scenario….

f5.0 @ 1/160 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 200mm

We have a really nice background glow with backlight that’s also giving us some hair light. Just as important there’s a big patch of clear blue sky, on camera right, giving us soft directional light while on camera left a subtractive lighting effect, created by trees blocking the sky, is providing the shadows on their faces for a nice three dimensional lighting pattern.

It was challenging, but rewarding going out to my favorite park at the wrong time of day of a so-so month. I was forced to look for the light and found some nice new areas for portraits!  I like it that my wife pushes me out of my comfort zone and I find something great!

Until next week….

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

NATURAL LIGHT PORTRAITS USING NEGATIVE FILL

I think most photographers would agree that natural light is the best light for portraits outside. However, as a long time professional portrait artist it’s my job to find or create directional natural light to create the third dimension in our two-dimensional media. If there are no shadows on the subject then you don’t have directional light; you just have flat light. The worst version of this type of light is the effect of direct on-camera flash. 

So, because adding artificial light, in a scene where there is plenty of ambient light, will look harsh and unnatural I propose the use of Subtractive Lighting or what is sometimes called Negative Fill to create natural looking directional light. 

How to Create Negative Fill

There are two ways to subtract light from your subject when out doors:

1. You place your subject(s) close to natural (trees, bushes, rocks, etc.) or unnatural (buildings, walls) objects that will create a shadow side on the face. Of course it’s imperative that there be light (e.g. Lots of sky light) on the opposite side. 
2. You place a black, opaque Gobo (or flag) near the subject to create the shadows.

Here’s an example using the location’s natural light blockers…

f4.5 @ 1/400 sec., ISO 800; Lens @ 200mm

The keys to creating this look outside is proper placement of the subject and time of day. I placed the boy where there is a line of trees and rocks about ten feet away on camera left. On camera right there is a large patch of clear blue sky creating the key light. The time of day (about 1.5 hours before sunset) is creating that nice, bokeh filled, back light.

If you’re forced to use an open location with no natural light blockers using a black gobo on an individual works great. In the image below my wife, Kathi, is using a 42” Black Gobo to block side and top light at the same time creating a nice shadow side on his face. 

Hand Held Negative Fill

My Mentor Leon Kennamer

I learned the Subtractive Lighting Technique from the pioneer of its use in still photography Leon Kennamer. He was one of the PPA (Professional Photographers of America) Masters that I studied with in week long courses at the Brooks Institute of Photography some 30 years ago. He taught me the use of the hand-held gobos, but he also taught us about finding the light. His words are always with me when I’m scouting locations. He said that, “THE LIGHT IS AT THE EDGE OF THE FORREST.” That means if you drag your subject(s) INTO the forrest you’ll lose all light direction (called blocked-up light) because you’ve created negative fill everywhere. You must step back out of the forrest until you have that patch of blue sky on one side and the forrest on the other.

Again using natural light blockers on location…

 f4.5 @ 1/320 sec., SIO 800; Lens @ 155mm

So, I’ve adapted Leon Kennamer’s technique using natural light blocking features because when doing group portraits it is not possible to use hand held Gobos on groups of people. In the image above, taken about an hour before sunset, I’ve placed him where a line of trees, on camera left, are blocking all the sky light from that side. The sun is setting behind him and there’s a large patch of blue sky on the right. The key here is to watch where the subject’s nose if pointing; too far towards the tree line and you can lose the light in the eye on the shadow side. This image shows how directional natural light can become with careful subject placement. It’s no different in principle than classic studio lighting.

Have questions or comments don’t hesitate to leave them. 

You can also watch a short 8 minute video about Subtractive Lighting on my YouTube Channel, Light At The Edge Photography, along with other helpful videos:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UevJkSVJy4o

’Till next week…

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training Site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client Site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

NATURAL LIGHT EQUESTRIAN PORTRAITS IN THE BARN

When we do portraits of horses and their owners we often start them in a barn or out building.

This serves two purposes:

1. If we’re starting photography at a less than ideal time of day when the light is flat, and thus directionless, we use “barn light” to create dramatic portraits.
2. These interior portraits give our clients additional choices with a really different look than the outside portraits; and that usually gives us higher sales!

For some reason I rarely see other photographers use barns properly for equestrian portraits with their owners. These photographers often put the horse and owner IN the barn’s doorway using it as a framing device. Then with their subjects facing the outside or inside of the barn all they get is Flat Light!

My basic rule:

• For interior barn portraits the barn is Not the Subject the barn is the Light Source! 
• And just like studio or window light portraits I do not photograph my Light Source; why? Including the light source in your portrait will only create a large, over exposed, distraction that you never want in a low-key portrait.

The open door of a barn creates a light that is just like a large window, which is probably the Best light for portraits. And just like the light from a window barn door light is softer near the opening and harder as you move your subjects deeper into he barn—provided there are no other light sources in your barn.

I usually place my subjects from 1/4 to 1/3 of the way into the barn—depending on what I find as a background for my subjects…

f8.0 @ 1/250 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 50mm - You don't usually see me at 50mm, but this was a really small space!

I’m extremely picky about my portrait backgrounds and will only allow tools or tack on the background walls if they’re not too distracting. I prefer the simplicity of nice bare barn wood like the above portrait of this hight school senior with her old horse.

NOTE: Just like the I do window light I do not allow the use of barn door light if there is Direct Sunlight flooding the opening. I only want Sky Light on my subjects!

Don’t hesitate to ask if you have questions….’Til next week…

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

THEMED PORTRAITS OF TWEENS AND TEENS

When doing portraits of Tweens, Teens and high School Seniors, here at The Storytellers, in Meridian Idaho my absolute favorite type of session is the themed or personal storytelling variety. When I say that I’m not just talking about the jock with a football or basketball—we do that of course—but, I’ve found that there’s a greater creative challenge with teens that are involved in music—or any of the arts—animal husbandry (4H Clubs), any equestrian pursuits, sports like archery and shooting, hunting, motor sports (drag racing, motocross, etc.) winter sports (skiing, snowboard, snowmobile), and the non-motorized sports like skateboarding, BMX or Triathlon.

I’m sure I left something out, but you get the idea. Photographing people who are really passionate about these activities, as they do them, can create a connection between us that makes it easier for them to be more at ease when we finally do their more formal (looking at the camera) portraits.

Conversely the portrait session of a tween or teen that I dread the most is when the parent tells me that they don’t do anything! Often this really means that their teen worn’t perform the activity in front of my camera—which is ironic these days when they share everything on social media!

So, when we got the call to schedule this tween’s portrait session and Mom told us that her 16 yer old daughter was really into all things Harry Potter, my dread factor went up a bit. Hoping for the best, Kathi told the mom to bring everything they had in the Harry Potter theme.

As always, we started with the props…

f11.0 @ 1/150 sec., ISO 200; Lens @ 82mm

After I saw her collection of magic wands, I put up my “magical” background to get her in the mood to cast some spells! My dread factor quickly disappeared when I saw this young lady casting her spells with such grace and poise.

She did a clothing change while we changed the background for the Harry Potter books image. I loved her collection of dog-eared Harry Potter books! We did this in a variety of ways, but I liked her actually reading the book—more as a candid image.

Here’s my studio set-up with this background…

Caption: Photogenic PowerLight on the Main Light: Photoflex, 7-Foot, Octo-Dome; Other Lights: Norman Pack using a Larson 24” strip light (hair light) and one Norman head on background. Reflector Photoflex, 42”, White/Gold; white side to the subject.

Then the portrait that moms want…

f11.0 @ 1/160 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 170mm

Looking at the camera and smiling came easily for this young lady.  Then we went for something more thoughtful….

 f11.0 @ 1/160 sec., ISO 200; Lens @ 150mm

I usually do something in Black and White and I like this composition with its “negative space” to the left. I also like to do portraits of people both smiling and not smiling to see which they are more relaxed with.

Often the non-smiling portrait gives me bigger eyes—which I prefer in a portrait—because many people’s eyes narrow as they smile.

That’s it for this week….happy to answer questions…’Til next time!

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

A MASTER PHOTOGRAPHER’S VIEW ON LIGHT; Part 2

As photographers we use our camera to create images that transform three-dimensional objects, in the real world, into a two-dimensional facsimile that we then output to yet another two-dimensional medium—the print, a computer monitor, cell phone, or the like.  It’s out job to recreate the illusion of three-dimensionality in these two-dimensional media, before the image is captured, with the use of dimensional lighting. That is lighting that is Directional—and that means any one direction other than from camera position. It’s that simple.

In Part 1 I mentioned the great classic painters who perfected the art of realistically portraying the world in three-dimensions; and the modern cinematographers who studied those classic painters. I encourage you to check out my list of truly great cinematographers—study their films!

STUDIO LIGHTING—PORTRAITS:

Oddly some of the worst lighting I see these days is by studio photographers.  It’s ironic because studio portrait photography hit its zenith in technique and gained world wide fame in the 20th century from the masters I studied like Yosef Karsh, Aronold Newman, and George Hurrell.  Don’t photographers today study these masters?

What I see way too much are portraits using flat lighting—as though the photographer was going to photograph a postage stamp collection. Flat Lighting is fine if your subject has only two-dimensions.  Otherwise, there’s no excuse for flat lighting in the studio!

It’s in the studio where we have TOTAL CONTROL of both light and camera placement.  In the studio we are God—saying, “Let there be Light” exactly where we want it!

It’s all about direction….

F11.0 @ 1/200 sec., ISO 200

Depending on how many subjects are in the front of my camera my main light is placed at 7, 8, or 9 o’clock when on the left or the reverse 5, 4, or 3 o’clock when on the right.

For this little girl’s portrait I had my main light close to the 9 o’clock position with a soft white reflector at the 3 o’clock. No other fill was used.

NOTE:  The key to directional lighting is to not ruin it with fill light.  I never us a fill light in my studio--not even with groups!

Here’s my basic studio set-up….

That main light, on wheels, is a 7-foot OctoDome by Photoflex; nothing “wraps” better than a large soft box.

And a ballerina on that background….

f11.0 @ 1.200 sec., ISO 200

For her portrait I had the main light at 9 o’clock with it feathered away from the background. No reflector or other fill was used. The “hair light” was left on to light her raised foot.

Showing how a large main light will “wrap” on a group….

This portrait was a Professional Photographers of America International Print Competition Loan Collection Winner in 2014.

In this portrait I placed my main light on the left at about the 7 o’clock position—just out of my camera’s view. I did use a soft white reflector on the right at the 3 o’clock position.

Another Leonardo da Vinci quote:

“The Artist who can make his subject appear to be in the relivo (made to appear to have elevation, with depth and dimension) is he who should receive the greatest praise.”

So, go forth fellow photogs. and work on your “relivo”!  ’Til next week….

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

CAPTURING PERSONALITY IN SENIOR PORTRAITS

Getting a High School senior to open-up and show different sides of their personality in a two hour portrait session can be challenge. So, to relax them we always suggest they bring things that mean something to them, like a musical instrument or their sports gear (football, tennis racket, volleyball, etc.) to take their focus off these strangers with a camera. We’ve found over the years that when any of our portrait subjects hold something familiar they immediately appear more comfortable in front of our camera.

This is usually easier with girls because they are more apt to bring many changes of clothes and accessories; playing dress-up always brings out their personality! Because they only bring their favorite clothes and accessories they’re happily looking forward to the portrait experience and that attitude shows in the images we create together.

f4.0 @ 1/320 sec., ISO 800; Lens @ 200mm

Two more things we do that makes our seniors more comfortable during a session:

1. I’m not in-their-face with the camera.  I’m backed-off using my 70-200mm lens—usually at 200mm—that way I’m not inside their personal space. They don’t even know when I’m taking pictures—that makes great candids possible.
2. My wife Kathi is the one who is personally interacting with them in setting up their pose, arranging arms, hands, legs, adjusting stray hair, fixing clothing problems—what ever is necessary to make them look great.  Besides the more things Kathi fixes up front the less she will be asked to do later in retouching or artwork. 

In the following image, without changing the basic pose, we caught a really nice thoughtful look just by asking her to look away from the camera, without smiling, sans glasses.

f4.0 @ 1/320 sec., ISO 800; Lens @ 200mm

In addition we like to convert some of the color images to monochrome giving her and the parents different looks to choose from in their premier. 

NOTE: Whenever we do portraits of anyone who wears glasses we suggest images with and without them wearing the glasses for two reasons.  1) It shows two different looks, but most importantly, 2) if you should get glass glare it gives us images of her eyes to do some cloning to correct the problem if necessary. In this session she chose to not wear her glasses in most of her portraits.

This young lady brought several changes of clothes, part of her hat collection and her guitar—we all had a lot of fun!

Here she changes her top and brought out the hats…

f4.0 @ 1/160 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 200mm

Another advantage of using my lens at 200mm is the marvelous effect, created by that focal length with a wide aperture, on the background. The soft bokeh effect is really beautiful and it separates your subject from the background.

Again, I like the portraits without the smile—I think the neutral expression leads you to her eyes and tells you more about her.  However, she does have a nice smile…

f4.0 @ 1.160 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 200mm

Another outfit and hat combo…

f4.0 @ 1/100 sec., ISO 400; lens @ 145mm

Then we changed the pose with her looking right to the camera…

 f4.0 @ 1/100 sec., ISO 400; lens @ 145mm

TECHNICAL NOTES:

Like most of our outdoor sessions this was done about 2 hours before sunset with most of the images here done between 1-hour to 20 minutes before sunset. Even though this session was done in August I made the backgrounds look like fall by using the setting sun as backlight with the open sky as my main light.

As usual, should you have questions don’t hesitate to ask…’Til next week…

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

MORE NATURAL LIGHT SENIOR PORTRAITS IN THE PARK

We love getting our high school seniors outside for their portraits. It’s been a long, hard record breaking, winter here in Idaho, so I was happy to see that by the end of April one of our favorite parks—Merrill Park in Eagle, Idaho—was back to life!  We take a lot of our Eagle High School Seniors to Merrill Park because it has a surprising number of good areas for portraits for such a small park and I love the split rail fences that surround this park. 

So, with our sunset at 8:40pm we had mom and her daughter meet us a the park at 6:30pm—our usual two hours before sunset start time. As is my style when doing pure natural light portraits I keep the setting sun behind my subject to create a nice glow in the background for subject separation and visual interest. The only light I let strike may subject is natural sky light—the sky is my soft box! 

And our cute young lady of this session….

f4.5 @ 1/320 sec., ISO 400; lens @ 182mm

This image was one of the favorites from her session.  It illustrates why I use the most telephoto I can along with a modestly wide aperture. With my lens at or near 200mm I can get a nice soft background even with the f4.5 aperture while still getting nice depth-of-field on my subject. This image was in the last set-up of her session—one hour before sunset.

Earlier in the session…

f4.5 @ 1/400sec., ISO 400; lens @ 200mm

With the sun higher—two hours before sunset—we put her in the shade of the monolithic rocks that march across the back of the park. That kept the harsh sunlight at bay giving her nice, soft, sky light as her main light. 

Then at my favorite split rail fence….

 f4.5 @ 1/320 sec., ISO 400; lens @ 200mm

We started here about an hour and a half before sunset doing several poses. As you can see with proper placement of your subject, using only a large patch of blue sky as the main light, there’s NO need for ANY reflectors and certainly no reason to wreck this beautiful light with the superfluous addition of flash (YUCK!).

Let me know if you have any questions…’Til next week….

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training Site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client Site:  http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

PORTRAITS USING SUBTRACTIVE NATURAL LIGHT

The problem I most often encounter with natural light outdoors is that there’s simply too much light! It’s bouncing all over the place, creating multiple sources, making the light on my subjects FLAT. My goal is to create dramatic, directional, lighting especially when I do portrait of individuals.

The following video is one of my on-location training videos, from my teaching site LightAtTheEdge.com (you can find a direct link at the end of this post), illustrating how I create three-dimensional lighting using ONLY a Gobo (black flag) to shape pure natural light.

In the world of cinematography we called this (using a black flag or Gobo to subtract light) Negative Fill and it works fine for individuals, but if photographing a group I use a large natural gobo on my location. I look for rows of trees or large bushes; downtown I’ll use buildings. In a home setting I may use a porch—just as long as I have some open sky opposite these Gobos.

I think the reason so few still photographers use this technique is that they’re too busy copying each other’s bad habits—like using flash and/or reflectors outside even when there’s perfectly good natural light in evidence!  So, open your mind and eyes to all the great natural light out there.

Don’t just be a strobist—be a portrait artist!

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

PORTRAITS OF HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS WITH WHAT THEY’RE JAZZED ABOUT!

My favorite hight school seniors to photograph are those that are involved in sports or the arts or something where we can introduce, as props, things they can interact with that tell the viewer what they’re passionate about. We’ve also noticed when doing people’s portraits that they are more relaxed when holding something familiar.  Personal objects tend to have a calming effect making them less aware of the camera.

So, when I found out that this young man from Eagle High School (Eagle, Idaho) was a musician and played saxophones in several bands, including their Jazz band, I asked his mother to please bring his instruments to the session!  This was special to me because I played the Alto Saxophone way, way, back in Junior High School and have always loved its sensual sound. 

His mom wanted portraits of him in his tux, so we started in the studio with his Alto sax…

f13.0 @ 1/200 sec., ISO 200

After we did the usual yearbook portraits I changed-up the lighting for this very dramatic lighting of him playing his sax.  I placed my 7-foot main, soft box, 90 degrees to the left of camera and removed my usual white reflector from camera right—if you want drama in the studio remove ALL FILL! The only other lights are the background and hair lights.  

Next we moved outside to a local park with him more casually dressed and toteing his baritone saxophone….

f5.0 @ 1/500 sec., ISO 400; lens @ 200mm

I like the big baritone because it does not get lost in a full figure pose—it has substantial presence!

So, I had to do a close-up to highlight it’s marvelous detail…

 f5.0 @ 1/500 sec., ISO 400; lens @ 200mm

He really liked this particular image! Mom wanted some close-ups without the saxophone so we moved to a spot with a nice backlit background.  By now he was very relaxed with us so we had him sit on a low, split rail, fence while mom coaxed a smile out of him.

Our favorite was this nice neutral look showing his quiet intensity…

f4.5 @ 1/500 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 200mm

By using f4.5 @ 200mm I always get a nice painterly look in my backgrounds and good Bokeh from the backlight’s specular high lights.

That’s it for this week…have any questions or comments feel free…’Til next week…

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site:  http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

CROPPING FOR DRAMATIC IMPACT IN PHOTOGRAPHY

I do most of my portrait sessions with my 70-200mm f2.8 lens. I tend to keep as close to 200mm as I can wether I’m doing a group or an individual. If I’m only photographing an individual portrait session—especially a child—I’ll add my 1.4x extender for a telephoto compression boost.  

You see it’s not just about the telephoto compression effect, knocking the background out of focus or bokeh in the background—Things that I really do Love!—It’s about dramatic impact.  It’s about storytelling (that’s why we renamed our studio The Storytellers seven years ago.) Many times—especially with individuals—the tighter the crop the more dramatic the storytelling. 

Case in point in this session of a high school senior and her horse, I did not have enough lens at the moment of capture….

f5.6 @ 1/1250 sec., ISO 400; lens at 180mm

This marvelous moment came and went in a couple of seconds. Fortunately, I was watching their interaction through my camera’s viewfinder and I was zooming in and caught the moment as I was walking towards them. So, this post capture crop was necessary to create the drama using the composition you see.  In addition, the conversion to B&W (using Silver Efex Pro-2) helped to simplify the scene by eliminating her blue shirt.

Here’s the full-frame original color version…

Original Full Color Version

I think the crop is a huge improvement over the original, but it’s not without cost.  I believe that the single biggest disadvantage we face today with our professional digital cameras versus our medium format film cameras is our loss of image quality when we do serious cropping.

In the above images my file size went from 28mb in the full-frame version to 5mb in the cropped version! So, by my math, to end up with a file size of 28mb AFTER that much cropping I would need a starting file size of 156mb!

It was much easier in our medium format film days when we could crop and use 1/4 of a negative and still produce a great wall print.

Happy Cropping! ’Til next week…

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

SENIOR PORTRAITS WITH HORSES; PART 2

Last week I shared the pictorial—more backed-off—images from one of our senior sessions. It’s important when doing a senior session to do enough variety to not only highlight the senior’s character and interests, but to give the parents more things to choose from and ultimately purchase!

The following images are the more formal, close-up, portraits that we do on every portrait session.  We learned a long time ago that if you try to be that “pictorial artist” and only do the backed-off, full figures, showing lots of environment images in a portrait session, the clients would invariably want us to crop way-in to make “real” portraits out of them. And the subjects better be looking AT the camera and SMILING too, if you want to make a big sale!

To that end this image was a big hit…

f5.0 @ 400 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 200mm

Even the horse is looking at the camera and “smiling”!

This was a required portrait to show her substantial involvement in the F.F.A. (Future Farmers of America), which is big here in Idaho. So, we did several set-ups with her in the blue FFA jacket. Technically this portrait was done using my favorite lighting technique outdoors.  I simply moved them back into the shade of the barn so that the open sky is the key light on them—lowering the ratio—creating a nice soft light.  Meanwhile, we have a nice background of fall colors due to the timing of the session using the setting sun.  Nice separation is created by using an aperture of f5.0, with good bokeh, mostly due to my focal length of 200mm.

Changing clothes, and horses, I went for a completely different look since it’s now only an hour before actual sunset and the light is warming up…

f4.5 @ 1/2500 sec., ISO 400, Lens @ 200mm

I don’t usually put my portrait subjects in direct sunlight; the most notable exception is sunset at the beach—not so much now that we are here in Idaho! In this case I had a young lady with perfect skin and I wanted DRAMATIC lighting so why not?

Finally to show-off another of her interests she literally changed hats and got out her guitar.  Mom suggested she hop on the hood of their old pick-up truck and we resumed in the right of the setting sun.

 f5.0 @ 1/1600 sec., ISO 400; lens @ 168mm

I’m back on my ladder for these since I did not want to shoot UP her nose (or her dress!); this kept my camera at her eye level.  In addition the black and White adds a different look to the session.

As usual, should you have questions don’t hesitate to ask, comments are also welcome. ’Til next week…

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com