Hello everyone.
Last Sunday was one of the few Sundays this year that I did not had a client photo shoot on my calendar or a seminar to teach at, so I thought I’d get in the car with a few friends and go have some fun by setting up a personal session just for the kicks of it.
So we gathered up, we picked up our gear and we headed up to a remote empty beach in order to try a few ideas of mine. Once we got there ( and only then of course! ) I remembered that I had left the bag with all the props behind! Bummer but I guessed we would just have to improvise. And so we did.
As a result we returned with around 10-12 good keepers, one of which is the photo above. Since this photo has gotten a lot of traction and I am frequently asked how it was taken I thought I had to make a portrait / flash tutorial about the details behind the photo. So here we go.
Gear
The gear I used is the following:
- Nikon D7000
- Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro
- Nissin di622 Mark II
- Pixel Soldier Wireless Triggers
- Bowens Light Stand
- Shoot Through Umbrella
- Rocks and Sand as Sandbag
The Setup
I set my camera to Manual mode, lowered the ISO to 100, set the aperture to 2.8 and dialed a shutter speed of 200 in order to underexpose the setting sun scene and create a dark dramatic background. I also set the white balance to cloudy in order to warm up the colors. Since the sky was not dark enough for my taste I stopped down the aperture and did a few more test shots until I reach an aperture of f5 which gave me the desired results.
Once I had my background right I placed next to the girl the light stand as seen at the diagram below, having the shoot through umbrella facing at her at an angle and pointing down as well since I raised the umbrella / flash well above her.
I then took a few more test shots and adjusted the flash to the desired power level.
Once I had the technical stuff locked I started directing the girl on how to pose and place herself in relation to me and the flash.
At the beginning I wasn’t getting anything interesting but suddenly something happened and she looked away for a while. Then I took 4 shots without a wanring and voila! There was my keeper 
Moral: always keep an eye for interesting moments, even when you are not actually shooting. This might give you a natural looking true” moment” which will last a fraction of a second, but you must be prepared to capture it.
Post Process
Actually I had little to do back in Photoshop. All I did was some minor retouching and that’s it. The color’s you see are straight from the camera. Hard to believe? I know. Same here.
Well, that’s all for now. If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will answer them asap.
Now I have to get back into preparing for tomorrow’s photo shoot with two amazing models and one talented makeup artist, and after that get some rest because on Sunday I have to go to Thessaloniki for the last photography seminar ( which sold out.. again !) that I will be teaching in for this season
Thanks for dropping by today and make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Google+
Kind Regards
S.
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