Posts Tagged ‘natural light’
At her place
There’s nothing more stressful than shooting at a location I’ve never seen. Is there light, is it pretty, is it big enough, can I make it interesting? When placed in this situation my goal is to take whatever was handed to me and make a great photo. Some refer to these type of images as environmental portraits but that term strikes me as related to professionals at work. I wanted a little more creative freedom and was going for an editorial look. A few months ago I went to Devon’s place in Hollywood to shoot these portraits.
Shooting personal work keeps me sane
It’s been a busy couple of weeks. I’ve started to scratch out a couple blog posts over the past month but each time I start a job comes up and takes precedence. This week I vowed to shoot for me. Shooting personal work keeps me sane. When I end up working on shoots for other people for weeks at a time I can feel the itch to go out and shoot a concept I have control over. Family portraits, TV commercials, architecture, Galas, receptions and pretty much every other paid job means my client is running the show. I often have creative input on my jobs but photographing people giving speeches and shaking hands doesn’t give me the satisfaction of going out and making great photographs.
This week the stars lined up and I got to shoot with three of my favorite models. I enjoy working with them because I know we’ll get great results and I’ve developed friendships with them over the years.
Eva was in town visiting from Germany. We’ve tried getting together for a shoot every time she’s in LA, but it’s only worked out once since she moved away a few years ago. I met Eva in July 2004. To put the history into perspective; I got my first DSLR in August of 2003. I looked back at my archives and she was the 17th model I worked with. Needless to say in the summer of 2004 I was green. Despite being a novice we got some great shots that still stand today. Since 2004 we’ve worked together a handful of times and I’ve always been happy with the results.
This week I wanted to shoot and I knew if we got together the concept for the shoot would work itself out. We ended up with some great fashion images and my style of a beauty portrait. If you call it a head shot and I take offense. I tend to think most head shots aren’t true representations of the person. Head shots are sales tools, portraits are personal. I want my photos to be true to the subject.
Eva - Santa Monica Pier - July 2007
Eva - boxer - April 2005
Eva Portrait shoot August 2011
Eva - Portrait August 2011
I also got to work with Tiffany Selby this week. We met in April 2009 after spending months trying to get together to shoot. When the day finally came it proved to be challenging. We were scheduled to start with swimsuits on the beach and then head to my place to work on fashion and portraits. We were blessed with beautiful blue skies but the temps had dropped down into the 50s. We figured since we were there we’d give it a shoot. I got my first shot off at 8:20 AM and by 8:44 we had shot two looks and were packing up. One of those shots ended up as a centerfold in a magazine.
This week we made the same plans. Start on the beach and then head to my studio (read my garage) for fashion and portraits. After our shoot she did makeup for a friend’s niece, an aspiring model.
Tiffany - El Segundo April 2009
Tiffany - beauty portrait - April 2009
Tiffany - fashion look August 2011
Tiffany - fashion swimsuit look - August 2011
I also managed to shoot with Neyla. She is in town visiting from London and, like Eva, we’ve tried to get together when she’s in LA. This week our schedules matched. I met Neyla in April 2007; at the time her name was Stephanie but that’s her story. In 2007 I shot a friend of hers who referred me to Neyla. We had a great shoot and vowed to do it again. A few months later she saved my ass. I had scheduled a shoot in Pasadena and enlisted the help of a makeup artist and a wardrobe stylist. The model flaked. A complete no-show. I didn’t want our efforts to go to waste so I called Neyla early that morning and asked her help me out. She rallied and the results were amazing. Like Eva and Tiffany the images from that day still stand.
Neyla’s trying to get a new portfolio together and when she showed me her concepts they were in-line with what I wanted to shoot. We had a great time and came away with a lot of amazing photos.
Stephanie Fashion & Portrait Shoot - May 2007
Stephanie Fashion & Portrait Shoot - Pasadena May 2007
Neyla - beauty portrait - August 2011
Neyla fashion look - Studio lighting - August 2011
Relationships make for great photos. It’s one thing to meet a perfect stranger and work together as professionals with the same goal of great photos. But when there’s history and a relationship between the model and the photographer the level of comfort and trust help to make the images even better. Add the fact that all three of these women are great models and I had a great week.
The New Reality
Every photo my clients see gets edited in Photoshop. It could be as simple as an adjustment of the colors or contrast or a little dodging and burning but they all get a little love. The images in my portfolios and the final images I present to clients get a bit more love. This is the reality of professional photography. It’s not that what you see in magazines isn’t real, it’s that it’s a slightly improved reality. When I shoot head shots and portraits I like to tell my clients that I want the result of my retouching to look like they’ve just come off a week-long vacation and had the best night’s sleep in their life. I don’t set out trying to make a sixty year old look like she’s 40 (although one client had me take off a lot of years).
A few weeks ago I had a portrait session with Jessi. The following is the photo as it came out of the camera. It was one of my favorites. The exposure is good but the contrast and colors are a bit flat (due to my camera settings). I don’t let my camera add sharpness, contrast or saturation because I want that control when I edit. I think the photo is good but a bit boring.
Before – as shot – Canon 7D w 24-70F2.8 – F3.5 @ 1/200 ISO 640
My job as an editor is to create a new reality that is the best representation of the model without going overboard so that they look fake. I don’t want people to look at my images and notice that they have been retouched. Here’s the edited version. I bumped up the exposure, added contrast, reduced the color saturation, cleaned up the blemishes and loose hairs and sharpened the image.
Jessi after retouching
While I edited the image I recorded my work. The vid is three and a half minutes long but what you are seeing is being played out at about 2.5X normal speed.
Jessi picked the next image in the sequence as her favorite. I guess we have similar (great) taste.
Maternity portrait sessions with Courtney and Jen
My first maternity session was about five years ago with my wife’s friend. I shot it as a favor and as a test to see if I enjoyed the work and liked the results. I enjoyed the shoot and everyone was happy with the results. I’ve been offering maternity sessions ever since.
Maternity sessions are an interesting niche. Some people love ‘em, some don’t. A few years ago I wondered why the disparity in opinions. I talked to a handful of women and previous clients and asked their opinion. A couple former maternity clients fessed up to not loving the shots at the time of the shoot. They thought that they looked fat in the photos. We all know that isn’t the case but when faced with 50-100 images of our bodies most of us will focus on what we don’t like. The clients that were honest about their feelings of not loving them at the time also raved at how happy they were to have done it, how much they loved the photos once their child was born and how grateful they were to have documented such a momentous time in their life. That’s what we as professional photographers do; we make sure that those special moments and events in your life are documented in a way that is unique and special.
I really enjoy maternity sessions. The session is a collaboration that my clients are very much involved in. We look at examples of maternity photos and talk about the goals for the shoot. Are the photos for posterity, to hang on the wall, are we trying to create art? For most women, other than their wedding day, a photo session devoted entirely to them is new and exciting. For me it’s the same feeling and planning I devote to a fashion shoot. For come clients it’s as simple as a couple’s portrait shoot out on location. For other clients I set up a mini-studio at their home or have them in to my studio.
Over the past couple weeks I had the honor of shooting maternity portrait sessions with Jen and Courtney. I’ve known both for a couple years and worked with both Jen and Courtney before they got pregnant. My session with Jen was about trying to get something creative and beautiful as well as shooting relaxed, timeless portraits. Jen and Courtney were photographed in my studio.
based on the advertisements for Heidi Klum's maternity line for Pea in the Pod
My session with Courtney was different in that there was not any pre-planned ideas or goals. Courtney makes her living as a model and we both knew that we would come away with something fun.
As I mentioned for some clients it’s just about having a fun family or couple’s session to mark the occasion. To see more examples check out the maternity portfolio on my Wedding and Family Website.
New studio and athletic portraits with Rachel
Robin and I bought a house in November. As excited as I was to own our home I was more excited about being able to build and plan the new studio. Work plus new baby made it challenging to get the studio ready but last month I finally got to a place where I was ready to start booking shoots.
Rachel has the honor of being the first client in the new studio. I met and worked with Rachel in early 2010. Since then she’s been working her ass off to get in better shape. I’d say it worked.
It’s about the moment
Typically when I edit a wedding or family portrait session only the best images make the cut. My clients and I want to see smiling, happy faces. No one wants to see an awkward expression or a photo that would have been perfect if Dad hadn’t blinked.
The past six weeks have been full of family and children’s portrait sessions. The images that stand out aren’t the group shots that go on the wall, it’s the little found moments that show me, and my client, that what we were doing was fun.
I have never liked to have my photo taken and I take that feeling and try to make it enjoyable (or painless) for everyone involved. For the dad who hates to have his picture taken I move quickly. For the teenager who is too cool to be there, I show him that I can make him look good. For the mom who’s worried that her three year old won’t smile and look at the camera I show her that great photos can be had when they aren’t smiling or even looking at the camera.
The following two photos are of Mosantu and her mom Kate. Let’s just say that I was of no interest to Mosantu. She wanted to play in the ocean, not pose for pictures. She would get up and run for the water. By the time we were done, she was soaked and had a blast.
Tutu pulls a runner
Tutu and Kate
Shooting at a location having not scouted it first can make for a “challenging” photo shoot. In the case of the Armstrong’s, their backyard provided ample opportunities to get some unique shots.
Hayden, Parker and Carson
Getting a fun and endearing shot of a brother and sister can be tough depending on their relationship. Grace and Jackson made it easy. My mom would have killed for a shot of me and my sister like theirs.
Jackson and Grace
You can barely make out Jason and his grandma in this shot, yet it tells a story from that day.
Jason and his gradnma