| The basics of
portrait photography could fill many large books. We have decided to concentrate
on one application with a few variations on the theme for this lesson.
For our backdrop, we draped
a black muslin drop cloth on a Boom attached to a Litestand. Next, we
set up a medium Photoflex MultiDome softbox as the main light source to
the right of our model (#1 below). We attached the softbox to a Quantum
Qflash strobe powered by a Quantum Turbo.
Because the softbox blocks
the Qflash’s sensor, we set the flash to manual and dialed in the power,
f/stop, and film speed settings by using the Mode, Set, and up/down buttons.
We wanted the background to be slightly soft (out of focus), so we determined
that the camera’s aperture should be set to f/8. To ensure that there
would be no motion blur, we set the shutter speed to 1/250 of a sec. This
first exposure shows the main light position and exposure. A one light
portrait can be dramatic in effect because of the contrast between light
and shadow (#2).
A longer lens does not distort
a model’s face the way a normal or wide angle lens can, so we used the
140mm lens on our Contax 645. One of the great things about the Contax
is that it comes with 90° prismfinder. The prismfinder allows you to look
directly at your subject while shooting. This is especially advantageous
for shooting portraits as the image is right side up, and the composition
of the photo is easy to see.
In order to fill in the shadow
on the left side of the face, we attached a Litedisc reflector to a Litedisc
holder to reflect light into the shadowed areas of our model. We used
a soft gold reflector surface, which "warmed up" the model’s face (#3).
The results show a more balanced
lighting scheme as the Litedisc helped to fill and warm up the shadows
(#4).
To enhance the color of the
model’s hair, we set up a gold MultiDisc reflector above her. This reflector
caught the light from our main light and bounced it onto the top of her
head. This allowed us to get more highlights from the hair and put some
light on the shoulders (#5 and #6).
Now we were ready to shoot
a variety of poses, but we wanted a little more depth to the image. Because
the background is black and not lit, it comes across as a little too flat.
So we set up another Quantum Qflash powered by a Turbo battery in a large
MultiDome and positioned it to light the background (#7).
By draping the muslin in folds,
we added texture to the image. We then turned the model so that the angle
of her body matched the angle of the backdrop. This created a harmonious
visual effect that draws the viewer’s eye up and across the image (#8).
Understanding and experimenting
with the different elements of your shot enables you to find the shot
you’re after.
This lesson will be posted
in the free public section of the Web Photo School at: www.webphotoschool.com
You will be able to enlarge the photos from thumbnails. If you would like
to continue your digital step by step education lessons on editing, printing,
and e-mailing your photos it will be on the private section of the Web
Photo School.
Technical Equipment
Cameras: Contax 645; Olympus 3040 digital (setup shots)
Lens: Contax 140mm f/2.8
Accessories: Contax Polaroid back; Lexar 64MB SmartMedia
card; Lexar SmartMedia card reader; studio quality tripod
Lighting: 2 Quantum Qflashes powered by Turbo batteries;
Quantum Radio Slave transmitter and receiver; all Photoflex medium MultiDome;
large MultiDome; 42" soft gold/white Litedisc; 32" MultiDisc with gold
surface; 2 Litedisc holders; 4, 2218 Litestands
Background: Photoflex Boom with Boom Stand; black muslin
drop cloth; off-white muslin drop cloth; A-clamps
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