Today’s photo was a difficult one for me. The second I saw this person, I knew exactly what I wanted—his face with the light hitting it ever so softly, his tall hat and a muted background. Yet, no matter how I framed the shot, I did not get what I wanted because the background had too much brightness in the top half of the frame. I started to resort to the ole: “I’ll fix in Photoshop.” But then, I decided to cut the top half of his hat.
I wished that I could have gotten the image I wanted, but sometimes it’s just not in the cards and you have to settle for what you can reasonably get.
I had Bob point the light slightly in front of the subject so that I would get a soft light on his face. I limited the depth of field by using an aperture of f/2.8.
Enjoy.
Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 at 75mm shot at ISO 200, f/2.8 and 1/180th of a second with a SB-800 flash in a softbox at camera right.
Post Processing:
Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, added clarity.
Another nice portrait for the 2009 RenFest collection! Good job working with the conditions presented to you!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Barry
It was a challenge that day to keep distracting colors and light out of the frame. It was so bright that day we spent much of our time shooting in open shade so we could control our background and the light.
ReplyDeleteI think the lighting on this man is exceptional. I also like the color of his outfit and the expression on his face. The lopped off hat does not bother me.
I do not always understand your technical information, but I do know that you made your subject separate from his background. I would never have guessed that you used flash on this man. It looks like it was naturally lit. Good work.
ReplyDeleteDebbie
The subject and the background seem to go perfectly together. You did well working with the conditions that faced you.
ReplyDeleteTed
I agree. Sometimes you take what you can get.
ReplyDeleteNice job of isolating the subject off a potentially distracting background. What about cropping a little on the right? Somehow I think this should be framed perfectly symmetrical.
ReplyDelete