Steven - The Shakespearean Shot
A re-edit of my 2012 portrait of my husband Steven, often described as his 'Shakespearean Shot' by family and friends....
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A re-edit of my 2012 portrait of my husband Steven, often described as his 'Shakespearean Shot' by family and friends.
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May, 2015Views
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Awards
Action Award
Zenith Award
Top Shot Award 22
Legendary Award
Featured
Runner Up in Eyes Are Beautiful Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Eyes Are Beautiful Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Superior Skill
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Top Ranks
Top 20 rankTop 30 rank week 1
Top 20 rank
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Categories
nandicmb
November 25, 2015
Congratulations on your Runner Up win in Eyes Are Beautiful Photo Contest!
Premium
sarahbernard
December 15, 2015
This photo has such emotion. The eyes are captivating and so stunning! Wonderful work!
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image of Steven, my husband was actually taken in our backyard when we lived in Sierra Madre, just outside Los Angeles.Time
It always makes me smile when I look at this image and how dark it is and remember that it was actually taken in the early afternoon on a gloriously sunny day. We were sitting on our back deck area enjoying an sneaky beer before the boys came home from school and I actually had Stevens camera with me, because I was playing around and teasing him about being a Canon guy, to my Nikon girl. Steven sat opposite me and I just started snapping away, not really taking much notice of what I was doing. There was certainly no pre-planning involved..Lighting
Lighting on my original image was bright and over blown because it wasn't a planned shot. I was just shooting while enjoying some together time with my husband, but when I uploaded the images to my pc I realised that although the background was totally blown out and a mess on the one side, Steven's face was just wonderful and the shadow I was offered on his other side was fabulous and I knew I had to try and do something to save the shot. Taking the light away completely seemed the only logical thing to do. It was also something I had never tried before.Equipment
The camera used here was my husbands Canon EOS 50D with a Canon 70-200mm 2.8 lens. He has since sold this lens to allow me to buy more gear for my camera. There was no flash and no tripod used.Inspiration
My husband is the inspiration for this photograph. During the 5 and a half years we have now been together, he has never once complained about me taking photographs of him. He is a constant support and always has my back when it comes to my photography. On this day we were doing nothing special, we were just sitting passing the time together as we love to do and I was just taking photographs of him as we hung out together. He as always obliged and just sat for me, sometimes smiling, sometimes not. Always encouraging.Editing
Obviously there was a lot of post processing involved and to be quite honest I cannot remember exactly what I did and do not have a copy of the unflattened tiff file. My usual 'thing' with black and white is to almost over process in colour first and then make the switch to black and white as I find that this helps me to draw out a lot of character from my images. I can then play around with the black and white to give as much depth as I possibly can without going too far. I don't have a set method or routine that I use because every subject is different and every location is different and the last thing I want to be accused of is being run of the mill.In my camera bag
My bag has grown significantly bigger over the last year, but I would say that my absolute go to lens has to be my Nikon 24-70mm 2.8. I find that it is so versatile I can use it in almost any portrait situation. Also in my bag is a Nikon 70-200mm 2.8, Nikon 85mm 1.8, Nikon 24mm 1.4, Sigma 150-500mm APO.Feedback
The best advice I have ever been given with regard to portraiture came from Nick Kelsh, he said "take a photograph of someone you love, close up and in a natural light". I hold this thought in my head and in my heart with every shot I take and it seems to never let me down. Of course I may not actually love every person I have the pleasure of taking photographs of, but I love every aspect of what I do, and I believe that is the key....Love what you do and let that come through in your images. I truly believe that the moment we stop loving what we do, it shows in our work, so keep shooting and follow your heart as far as it will take you.
