jeffreyEqualityBrooks
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Snow Day in Chicagoland
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was a "snow day" in chicago. So my wife was working from home. Nearing her quitting time i asked her to come out side and let me take her pic. I was pretty nervous as the snow was really coming down and had never shot in a non-studio environment. I through umbrellas on a couple of light stands and ran cords down the driveway into the middle of the street. Between frustrated drivers passing i got this shot. This is likely the fastest i've ever worked on a setup as i was so freaked about getting gear wet.Time
This was shot in the "blue hour" right after sun set.Lighting
This was shot with two einsteins, i think that there was a beauty dish, and a simple gridded 7" reflector for the kicker. At that late in the the day i had her face toward the west to light her with as much natural light as i could. Of course in hindsight there are a several things i'd change but i still really like the shot. I did grade the background shadows green to play up the red in the scarf, lips, and hat.Equipment
I shot this on a 5d mk iii and with two buff einsteins, key was a BD and the kicker was a gridded 7". I believe i used that canon 100mm lens . My tripod was only used to put down and cover the cam while moving lights, and directing cars, with all the snow.Inspiration
I really love images with tons of planes, so the snow gave me that -- blurry white flakes immediate close, her with the red in the foreground, and blurred green/grey in the background, and all the while bloomed flakes setting that feeling of exaggerated depth .Editing
My post is pretty involved typically but its a little of a lot of things. I have a silly amount of layers when i'm done and have a pretty strict work flow and layer group structure. Stylistically i think on this one the biggest factor was the masked grading.In my camera bag
In my bag huh.... well depends on the shoot of course. As far as camera it's self i'm back to the 5d mkIII, i tried the Sony a7s for a while but its slow focus issues, tiny MP images, and lack of any fast glass.(at the time i was using it ) kinda soured me on it. Other gears you'd find in my bag; backup cards, shammys, cliff builder bars and batteries. For the 5d i typically have the my 100 macro on it, and carry the new 45mm tamron (worth looking at if you haven't) and the typical 70-200 II. I most the time have a lap top and a tether cable in there too. To me the important gear is the lights and modifiers. In my previous career i recorded bands full time; i learned pretty quick that every drum kit can sound great, with a great player (model), and a great room (lights), the kit itself (camera) was the least important part to get emotion in a song(pic) ...sorry for the labored analogy.Feedback
The biggest thing i forget at first when adding flash to an exterior shot is to think about how much you want the background to be lit. In the studio i find myself 99 percent of the time just racketing my shutter to the camera sync speed. But outside you want the ambient light and i almost always have to do the "oh yeah ... slow it down or get a ND out" - i shoot outside with strobes so infrequently. The other is buy a couple traffic cones if you look more official the motorist will gawk more but honk less.If you have an umbrella for the model she'll be happier and her makeup will last longer. Find out from some nature photographer what they use for gloves, because....damn. Know you are gonna piss people off, have thick skin, try to stay out of there way, be polite and just brush off the bitching of drivers- they are just trying to get home to their families In the end, "click the shutter" is the best advice i can give anyone. "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better." - samuel_beckett