Seclusion
Aug, 2017Views
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Contest Finalist in Portraits And Depth Marketplace Project
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
"Seclusion" was part of a model shoot that took place in a parking lot outside of Universal Unitarian church. I had seen the spot on the way home way day, a very woodsy location surrounding the church's parking lot and thought to myself, "this would be a lovely spot for a photoshoot!" It's all in the angle and lighting. You can get stunning photos in the most pedantic of places.Time
It might not seem like it, but his photo was taken in the middle of the day. That's usually a terrible time to shoot, because the sun is overhead. However, sometimes you haven't got too many options! If a client wants a noon photoshoot, you figure out how to make it work. In my case, we found some shade under a thick patch of trees.Lighting
Because we were shooting in the middle of the day, and we had sunlight above us for most of the shoot, with the intermittent cloud cover, I used open shade. Open shade is when you have your subject in the shade but facing towards the light source. This prevents the lighting from being too harsh, or too dark. Think of it like putting an umbrella over your subject; it doesn't eliminate the light completely, it just diffuses it.Equipment
For this shot, I used my Nikon D810 with my 85mm f/1.8 lens. This has got to me my favorite set up! It is incredibly versatile and lends itself to a multitude of applications. As it isn't a zoom, you do have to move a lot fo get different ranges and depths of field, but that's what keeps a photographer busy! The other item I used in this shoot was my gold reflector. It's a very big one, that has blown away numerous times in the wind! But it helps to add a soft warm glow to the face of the subject. If you put your subject in the shade and use the reflector to direct some sunlight, it creates a lovely ambient effect.Inspiration
I've seen a lot of photos that cover part of the face, or one of the eyes, but he subject holding something. In the fall, it's typically a leaf. I wanted to do something a little different. I had my model stand behind the foliage, and as I was setting up the shot, I noticed that part of her face was obscured by the leaf. At first I was going to have her scoot over, but then I thought of all those "one-eye" shots like I mentioned before, and decided to just go with it. It added a sense of mystery to the shot. It was atypical and different. Usually, we don't want to obscure the face, especially the eyes, as that is the focal point of the photo. But sometimes you have to break the rules to make something stand out.Editing
I usually do a little post-processing in Photoshop. For this shot, however, I didn't have to do much. Most of the lighting was taken care of in camera by having her stand in the open shade. I did mute the colors slightly to give it a more organic and mysterious look by adjusting the saturation and playing with selective color sliders. It ends up looking like a film shot from the 70's, which is what most of the shoot was geared toward.In my camera bag
I'm a minimalist photographer, and I like to travel light. I bring my Nikon D810, 85mm f/1.8, and if I need it, a flash and reflector. I like to be unencumbered, but able to keep my bag on me. It makes it much easier to move around and get the perfect shot!Feedback
Have a plan when you head out to shoot, but be ready to adapt that plan to what is going on around you. I didn't anticipate having a face obscured by a leaf, but it ended up being one of the best shots of the day. Certainly the most interesting one that tells a story. You have to look at the image and study it, it's not all out there in the open for you. Don't be afraid to bend and break the rules of composition. Experiment. Try something different. Try a different angle. The worst that can happen is that you delete it later. But you never know, it might speak to you differently when you get it loaded onto your computer for post-processing!
