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Portrait photography for me is all about celebrating the subject by isolating what makes them unique. This involves distilling the visual message (or theme) to the two core components, context and shooting style. The old composition saying ‘what does not add, takes away’ is elegant in its simplicity, but one should be wary of its limitations.
Every visual element or technique both adds and takes away to some degree. They key to a clear message is to pick the ones that add much, much more than they take away. Elements in a message can range from ‘absolutely necessary’ to ‘nice to have’. In this shooting example we have our talent Hillary, she’s a 5’5” model, actress and performer. She’s also a very capable basketball player and was once an MVP for her league. I wanted to celebrate that about her. Let’s break down the shoot. |
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Location
Why a studio? It’s a basketball shot, why not a court? I never immediately jump to the obvious. As an artist, I should not just see what’s in front of me but create what is not. A studio offers a number of advantages over a proper basketball court. Scheduling (no permits), space control, a change room for the talent, are just some of the few advantages of a studio. I know we don’t have a ring and backboard but we’ll get to that on the next section. Here’s how the place looked like. |
Visual elements
Determine and decide what element will add the most value to the shoot and only pick the absolute top ones. In this case the elements I picked were the jersey, shoes, a basketball, a hardwood floor and a line. The board and ring might have added to the shot, but imagine if we needed to frame a 10 foot high ring with a 5-1/2 foot model. I can tell this story without a board and ring. Identify if an element is necessary or nice to have, play around with ideas.
Determine and decide what element will add the most value to the shoot and only pick the absolute top ones. In this case the elements I picked were the jersey, shoes, a basketball, a hardwood floor and a line. The board and ring might have added to the shot, but imagine if we needed to frame a 10 foot high ring with a 5-1/2 foot model. I can tell this story without a board and ring. Identify if an element is necessary or nice to have, play around with ideas.
Technique
Now the fun stuff…. As I mentioned earlier, we need to isolate the subject, in this shoot I did this in a number of ways.
Pose and demeanor, the talent needs to look like they know what they’re doing and look impressive doing it. Why, this allows you to connect with an audience that do know basketball, and impress the audience that does not. How she holds the ball, her eyes projecting competence and confidence, posture, etc. all of these add to separating her from the usual crowd.
Visual contrast, I picked a black background and her black jersey with white text because I wanted separation, and that she be the brightest object in the frame.
Now the fun stuff…. As I mentioned earlier, we need to isolate the subject, in this shoot I did this in a number of ways.
Pose and demeanor, the talent needs to look like they know what they’re doing and look impressive doing it. Why, this allows you to connect with an audience that do know basketball, and impress the audience that does not. How she holds the ball, her eyes projecting competence and confidence, posture, etc. all of these add to separating her from the usual crowd.
Visual contrast, I picked a black background and her black jersey with white text because I wanted separation, and that she be the brightest object in the frame.
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Lighting, for me the choice was simple, rim and fill. One thing to I always consider when setting up is minimizing, if not eliminating changes. You want to properly set it, forget about it, and keep shooting. All your energy and attention should be focused on working with the talent.
Here’s the setup I chose, three light sources (please pardon my handwriting). |
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The key light was through a bounce umbrella high up. Why an umbrella? Coverage in this case is more important than control. Also, given that we expected a lot of moving around, an umbrella is more directionally (not a real word) forgiving. Here’s a shot with just the key light. Notice that the light is nice and soft but the shadows blend with the background, lacking separation.
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Separation from the background comes from two gridded octaboxes from behind and to the side of the subject, these would create the nice soft rim light. Why gridded octaboxes, soft light, excellent directional control and minimal spill. Here’s a picture with just the rim lights, notice the gradient transition from very bright to dark, a bare bulb or snoot with have a harder much edge and will not wrap around.
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Camera settings are F2.8, ISO 200, 130mm, 1/250s. Lights come from hot shoe flashes and controlled through a radio trigger. I rarely use studio strobes because of portability and setup/tear down speed, I’m lazy that way.
Summary
Setup and tear down was 20 minutes, 10 minutes actual shooting time and 10 minutes goofing off and laughing and connecting with the talent (connecting is very very very important, I cannot stress this enough). All said and done, the shoot lasted well under an hour.
If you don’t agree with what was mentioned, forget all of this and make your art in the way that feels right to you. Always remember that as photographers, we don’t take pictures, we make them.
You can view the full shoot on our site http://www.creativelightimaging.com/hustle.html
Summary
Setup and tear down was 20 minutes, 10 minutes actual shooting time and 10 minutes goofing off and laughing and connecting with the talent (connecting is very very very important, I cannot stress this enough). All said and done, the shoot lasted well under an hour.
If you don’t agree with what was mentioned, forget all of this and make your art in the way that feels right to you. Always remember that as photographers, we don’t take pictures, we make them.
You can view the full shoot on our site http://www.creativelightimaging.com/hustle.html