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Oct, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo at the local agricultural center in Nashville, Tennessee. After taking some college classes in Photography, I was commissioned by a former workmate to shoot her family portraits.Time
It was late afternoon in the park toward the end of summer. There were multiple shoots going on around us trying to capture the last bit of daylight. It was miserably hot, hence why the boy took his shirt off.Lighting
We arrived at the park when the sun was shining bright and causing harsh shadows and some major squinting. We tried shooting in a gazebo and near some trees, but we really needed some cloud cover. It was near the moment of this photo when some clouds gave us the perfect amount of light. Unfortunately, the boy had just cut his leg on a rock, and we had to take a short timeout while he was crying. I nervously watched the cloud cover as I had a very short window before the sun blasted us again. The boy recovered quickly, as he suddenly jumped up and started running around giggling, and it was at this moment that I snapped this particular photo.Equipment
This was shot with a Canon Rebel XS (my starter DSLR that got me through college) and a Canon EF-S 55-250mm lens. There was no flash as I wanted to utilize this boy's gorgeous skin tones with natural light.Inspiration
When the bright sunlight was dimmed by sudden cloud coverage, I saw the boy's skin tones brighten up and almost glow in the light. He had been crying, so his cheeks were still slightly rose-colored, but he was so excited all of a sudden while he walked toward his mother, and I just had to snap this candid outtake from the shoot. It wasn't even planned to be part of the shoot, but it ended up being my favorite photo from that day.Editing
I used a bit of post-processing (in part because my camera's built-in meter was off by half a stop and underexposing) where I upped the brightness and contrast and brought out the color of the grass a little more.In my camera bag
I also shoot film and enjoy my time in the darkroom, but at the time of this shoot, I had my Canon Rebel XS, Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM lens, EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6, and the standard EF-S 18-55mm lens, along with a tripod and an external shutter release remote. Recently, I've been carrying this setup along with a Canon EOS T5i and a 35mm Maxxum Minolta film camera (for those nights in the darkroom). However, I am still gaining education in photography and plan to move up in the camera department as I do so.Feedback
Utilize natural light! And even on a harsh sunny day, those fleeting clouds can be a lifesaver. Always wait patiently for that perfect moment. And take a lot of outtakes between posed shots, because these can end up even better than what you had planned. My best shots almost always end up being those unplanned moments when the subject (in this case, the child) just acts natural and doesn't even know they are being shot.
