kylerluffy

Umbrelle

Another photo from another rainy day.

Another photo from another rainy day.
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Canon EOS 10D

settings

Aperture f/1.8 ISO 400 Shutter 1/180

upload_date

Nov, 2014

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken on location in the downtown area of my city. Being a student, a lot of my photos have been taken in the city surrounding my school, and this was a very natural environment for me to shoot in.

Time

This was definitely a memorable shoot - being that it was the first time I'd ever shot in rain, and because it was my first encounter with a typical Washington gray sky during a shoot. Despite the fact that this was shot in the late morning, the solid cloud cover ended up providing great fill lighting!

Lighting

I was planning to use an octobox for fill lighting in a darker area of the location, but the solid gray clouds in the sky were so bright and filled so much light without adding color, I decided not to. The gray wash gave a very chromatic tone to the photo overall and I highly recommend working with natural cloudy skies to achieve a similar emotional tone.

Equipment

This was shot on a Canon EOS 10D, with f/1.8, ISO 400 and 1/180 shutter speed. No additional equipment was used.

Inspiration

The subject in the image is a close friend of mine, who was taking a course with me during the time we shot this. The inspiration for this image came from the struggles with mental health that a lot of students around us were dealing with. This day, we had been discussing depression and the way we experienced it differently as individuals, and I remember her saying this: "Sometimes, I'm doing just fine. Other times, it's like my life is just washed with grays and silvers and whites, and everything just feels too bright and washed out." When I caught this shot, just looking at it in raw I knew I wanted to take something from our conversation and capture the emotion she spoke of.

Editing

I did a lot of color correction, and there was quite a bit of processing done with this image. I really wanted a luminescent, almost silver-wash over the whole image, and specifically the subject. I wanted smooth gray light over the photo, and to do that, I had to play a lot with contrast, color correction, and luminosity.

In my camera bag

My bag will almost always have my Canon Rebel T5 body, EF-S 18-55mm lens, and my EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, along with my chargers, tripod or monopod, and rain cover (just in case!).

Feedback

My biggest advice here is to work with both your subject and your environment. In fall or winter in the state of Washington, you have very little hope of having any warm natural light. I was worried, initially, about how the gray clouds would affect the image but it worked well in my favor. You can't be afraid of rain or clouds; when you see them as a tool to use creatively, you'll find that it brings out another layer of emotion and tone that you can't get any other way. When it comes to your subject, if you know them personally, their story or their natural personality may also bring another layer to your images. In this case, I was shooting a close friend whose own feelings impacted and really shaped this whole photo. If I'm shooting a stranger or client, I like to get to know them a little bit when I first start shooting them, or ask if there's something they really want to come through in the images. People often have something personal that they imagine being a part of the pictures but may not want to share it if they feel you're very closed off or impersonal.

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kylerluffy

kylerluffy

Umbrelle

Another photo from another rainy day.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow kylerluffy

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