Blue Times
Apr, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photograph was taken in my living room turned studio in my house located in Sydney Australia. I have been doing photography about a year now doing some basic classes and watching hundreds of hours of tutorials on YouTube. The model is my lovely wife whose support in my journey has been amazing, she is not one for being photographed but she will never say no to me when I am trying new techniques.Time
We did the shoot on a sunny Saturday morning at around 10:00am. As I don't have a studio it usually takes me one to two hours to setup my backdrop and lights.Lighting
This shoot was my first one using an umbrella softbox, the ironic thing about this photo is that my key light on the left miss fired leaving only my fill light creating this moody feel. All my lighting equipment has been purchased from Ebay, this includes my Yongnuo 560 IV Speedlights, Yongnuo 560-tx trigger system, stands, shoot through umbrellas and my Godox Umbrella Softbox. I feel that it is a great way to get equipment to test without breaking the bank.Equipment
This was shot using: Camera : Nikon D7200 Lens : Nikkor 18 - 140 (Kit Lens) While Muslin Backdrop 2 x Yongnuo 560 IV Speedlights Yongnuo 560-tx Trigger Godox Umbrella Softbox White Shoot-through Umbrella.Inspiration
I was studying some videos on light drop off where a white seamless background can be made grey or even black if you use a softbox close to your model and have the background in the distance.Editing
I did use Adobe Lightroom to done some post on the raw image, I adjusted the Clarity, Exposure and Contrast. Doing portraits I tend not to go overboard with post processing as I it sometimes takes away from the natural beauty of the model.In my camera bag
My Nikkor 18-140 is almost always on my camera, I find it a nice workhorse lens. I also carry my Nikkor 50mm 1.8 prime but I tend to use my Nikkor 40mm Micro more these days. It is has a bit wider field of view and the because it focuses at almost any distance I find it a good versatile prime. I also try and carry a hot shoe flash or my Tokina 80 - 200 2.8. Most of my equipment is either secondhand or purchased from Ebay, since I am still finding my way around photography I feel you can gain experience with multiple tools / equipment this way without breaking the bank.Feedback
Have your model close to a soft light source and the background in the distance. Use multiple lights but set them up one at a time, know exactly what each of your lights are hitting. Use a high aperture (This used f/14) to eliminate ambient light, this allows for greater control of what you are lighting. Most importantly take so many photos that you drain your batteries and get some light miss fires every now and again
