Snow Blown
Dec, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at the Tracie Jean Photo Studios located in the arts/brewery district of Over The Rhine in downtown Cincinnati Ohio. The studio is 1800sq with large windows and hardwood floors providing plenty of natural light.Time
This photo was taken in around noon. With the sun high, it was important to shoot indoors to control the quality of light.Lighting
I wanted to shoot with a very shallow depth of field so the "snow" would be out of focus and add to the depth of the image. As a result of not needing to stop down, I decided to use only speed lights and specialty modifiers to light the scene. I used MagMod modifiers and a shoot through umbrella, with Olympus 2 Olympus FL50R's to wash the background with a soft blue light and 2 Olympus FL600, one for the umbrella and one for a blue hair light. I used the silver side of a bounce to fill in shadows to complete the icy look.Equipment
Because of the shallow depth of field I had to use a TITAN PROFESSIONAL ROLLING CAMERA STAND to keep the camera stationary. I used the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and relied heavily on it's amazingly fast autofocus to catch the eyes of my moving subject. The lens is the Olympus 75mm 1.8 prime.Inspiration
As a portrait photographer and Olympus Trailblazer, I'm always looking for new and interesting ways to bring the fantastical into reality. This was a series inspired by the movie Frozen. I wanted to offer my clients something special, an experience along with a photo session, to help build excitement in their children for photography. It worked. These girls came into the studio ready to pose!Editing
Post processing was very light with this image. We worked hard to do everything in camera so, in post, we were left with the typical bumps you would use when processing RAW images. The only addition in post was a slight blue haze to level the whites on the backdrop and the blue produced by the hair light.In my camera bag
I normally carry 2 camera bodies, Olympus OM-D E-M1 and Olympus OM-D E-M5 MKII, 2 Speed lights, Olympus FL600 and FL50R, a bounce, triggers, MePhoto Tripod and MagMod Grid, Sphere and Bounce.Feedback
When shooting in Studio I try to build a scene and use light as another subject. I start with the Background and paint it with modified light or meter to give it the proper exposure to suit my vision. I typically shoot between 1.4 - 2.8 in studio so I don't need to worry about powerful strobes to produce the quality of light I'm looking for. Speed Lights usually do the trick. For the key light, a simple umbrella and single speed flash set to 1/40 power is more than enough to bathe the subject in light at such low apertures. The Hair light with a blue gel and MagMod Grid had to pumped up a bit more than I usually set it so I could have some spill over onto her skin to give a more icy look. I like to shoot with the a fair amount of either modeling or ambient light to allow my camera the best opportunity to focus quickly which is paramount for this type of image. Where an older model may be able to stay relatively still while blowing the snow out of her hand, a 2 - 7 year old child can't quite stay in the same plane so autofocus must be fast and accurate; something I've come to absolutely love about my Olympus gear.
