HOW TO: GET GREAT PORTRAITS in IMPOSSIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES
Source: perfectdigitalphotography.com
Topic: Digital Photography
Sort Desciption: 6 PERFECT DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Once I have found the right place to photograph and positioned the subject in the required lighting pattern, I take the picture. I use Canons incredible EOS-1D MarkII digital ...
Content Inside:
HOW TO: GET GREAT PORTRAITS
in IMPOSSIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES
By Andrew Clark, President, Colorado Professional
Wedding Photographers Association
Ever had nothing but your digital camera and fi ve minutes
to photograph some critical portraits at noon on a bright
summers day? As a wedding photojournalist, I am
constantly dealing with an infi nite array of "impossible
circumstances" when, for whatever reason, things arent
nearly as easy as they are in the studio…
I am going to demonstrate, in less than fi ve minutes
with just a digital camera, how a 70-200mm 2.8 lens
(no strobe, no light meter, no refl ectors, no assistants)
and a little careful posing, you can produce dramatic and
fl attering portraits in seemingly impossible circumstances
like harsh, midday sun.
First I fi nd somewhere in the shade that has a light
source, like a doorway, an over-hanging tree, or, as I found
here, a colonnade of pillars with a series of openings where
the light comes through and bounces off light-colored
concrete panels. I position the subject so there is no direct
sunlight striking her. The contrast ratio in midday sun is too
high to prevent blowing out highlights without using fi ll
fl ash—and we are not using strobe here—so I look for the
beautiful soft light that comes off the brightly illuminated
concrete. This is now my main source of light. The fi ll light is
a combination of ambient light bouncing off the ground and
the light coming through the openings between the pillars.
In the picture above, you can see how I have positioned
the subject completely in the shade, closer to the concrete
panel on the right of the picture than to the bright opening
on the left of the picture. This ensures that the bright, soft
light from the large panel of concrete on the right wraps
around her face and produces a fl attering, shadowless
glow on the skin. The light from the opening on the left
produces a soft rim highlight ...
impossible circumstances,
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