Katelyn and Stewart
Apr, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image was taken at the girl's home in a wooded area close to their house. It was early September so the golden tones were just starting to appear in the foliage. This particular spot was in a small clearing, but she was in the shade. As was I.Time
The session was booked for 2:00 in the afternoon, knowing I was taking photos of a 5 year old and a puppy, I had planned for a lot of playtime and goofing off. I know it's best to wait for the "Golden Hour" but hey, she was 5. And a 5 year old can get pretty cranky at 7 or 8 at night. Plus, this was her best time of day according to her mom. By the time this image was captured it was 3:00 in the afternoon.Lighting
I had just seen some of Lisa Holloway's work and fell in love with her style. I was wanting to take some of her techniques and apply it to my own work. I was specifically looking for light diffusing through the trees. Only drawback was I didn't have any light coming from behind me to help with illuminating her face. I had my speedlight and umbrella in my car, but there it stayed. I didn't want the equipment interfering with the natural flow of the session.Equipment
This was shot with my Nikon D700 with a 70-200 f/2.8 lens (Focal length for this shot was 170mm). Settings were: ISO 320, f/3.2, 1/1000s. Manual exposure, auto white balance. Hand held, no other equipment.Inspiration
This photo session was about capturing the relationship between a little girl and her puppy. Just watching the two interact was so amazing. She had that little dog under her thumb. He just wanted to please her and she was oozing with pride and love for that little guy. I wanted to capture the love she had for the puppy, and the joy the puppy was feeling to have such a wonderful master.Editing
There was a lot of post processing done on this image, the biggest change was the white balance. The shade was quite cool, so I needed to warm up the image. I do often use a Lastolite white balance tool, but because we were in and out of shade, and wondering around the farm yard I had set my white balance to auto. I knew there was going to be some post work, but I didn't want to sacrifice the spontaneity of the session. Yes, sometimes I can be a bit of a hack, but I can get so caught up in "doing it right" that it takes the fun of taking photographs. There was some cloning of her dress to reduce clipped highlights, and I cloned out some distracting grasses, seed pods and a small tree that was behind her head.In my camera bag
I use Nikon's D700 and D800E bodies. Lenses vary on what I am shooting, but they are all Nikon lenses. I always have my 24-120 f/4! I will also use my 105mm macro for portraiture, and of course my newest addition the 70-200 f/2.8. I don't leave home without a light stand, speedlights (SB600 and SB900)umbrella. I trigger my speed lights with FlashWave 2 transmitter and FlashWave Pro 2 receivers. My new favorite reflector, the Lastolite TriGrip sunlight/soft silver is always close by and I use the Lastolite Ezybalance 30cm 18% Grey/White for white balance.Feedback
First and foremost, be patient. You can try to pose these types of images, but spontaneity is the key. Let the subjects relax and interact naturally. You can't Photoshop connection. I find back lit images a challenge when using only natural light, you need to be aware of any clipped highlights, watch your exposure on your subject and make sure you don't clip the shadows all at the same time. This image was a little underexposed right out of camera. In hind sight, if I had used a reflector it would have made post processing a lot easier and quicker. I still wouldn't have brought out my umbrella even if I could do it over again because that would have been a distraction to the puppy and the little girl.
