Rolling Stones
Jul, 2015Views
167
Likes
Awards
Fall Award 2020
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Peer Award
Superior Skill
Magnificent Capture
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 20 rankCategories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
I was photographing baby Anne's 5th birthday in Auckland, New Zealand where I recognized Papa Takai as I approached a group of men discussing the merits of stringed musical instruments under an outdoor covered walkway. They were seated in a circle facing each other and I approached them quietly and slowly as not to upset nor disturb the situation. I leaned on the rails at the peripherals of the group of men and carefully injected myself into the discussion which rendered the men to be more comfortable with my presence.Time
It wasn't an ideal photographing situation, the sun was high and bright in the New Zealand summer and I was to constantly adjusting my exposure at the extreme changes. The situation required me to photograph indoors and outdoors throughout the day.Lighting
Papa Takai was seated under the covered walkway which drastically cut the exposure down a couple of stops to a more pleasing exposure. I was only required to find a perspective to omit the unwanted background and to bring him close in a tight frame. The lens compression isolated and blurred the background.Equipment
Always my trustee Canon 60D and Canon 75-300 kit lens and my Phottix Speedlite. I needed to be mobile and light for this shoot where I needed to move around to cover a large space with different ambiance.Inspiration
Papa Takai the reluctant model is somewhat a legend in his own rights. He is the "rolling stone gather no moss" person, said to have traveled extensively and live exclusively on his wits and musical talent. I wanted to capture that 'experience' 'wear and tear' and 'age' all lumped in a photograph. There are many stories of this man but most important of all was his natural musical talent. The question for me was how to capture those stories in one click of my shutter.Editing
It was somewhat a point and shoot situation and working on the ridges of a dime but I wanted to capture Papa Takai the legend and I believe I achieved it. I had carefully set my exposure and moved around to avoid the unwanted background and zoomed in tight to closely frame his face and separate the background. At the end of the day I did not need to do any post- processing.In my camera bag
Always with my trustee Canon 60D and Canon 5D Mark 3, a Canon Macro 100mm Prime EF series, a wide angle Tamron 10-24mm. A Viltrox Speedlite JY680 and a Yongnuo Speedlite YN569EXII. For portraits I use a series of backdrop on stands and the speed lites on light stands shooting into a couple of umberellas. I sometimes use my Tri-pod for night and slow shutter speed shootsFeedback
Take note of the lighting and be vary of the background. Use an open aperture for separation and lastly frame tightly to capture what is written across the face.
