Creative Lighting Portraiture

A photographer is traditionally taught to expose their subject and the backgound correctly so that the entire image has no over or underexposed areas. When they join their local photography club their images are generally judged according to these technical aspects and should areas be not correctly exposed, their images are marked down. Yes, these images are nice but the creativity is sometimes stifled. 

I have been recently teaching photographers to break out of this mold and to be creative with their images. This includes using only the natural available light and lo and behold, to also shoot into the light. This technique will most definitely render their images technically incorrect in club terms but oh wow, the results can be very different and creative. The subject is wrapped with light, often causing a haze and some very warm colours. 

Exposure is achieved  by exposing for the subjects and then the backgrounds would in most cases be overexposed. Wide apertures are used to cause the light to be more washy as well as by making the backgrounds out of focus causing the subject to really stand out. The trick is also not to shoot directly into the sun as this will cause lens flare and too much of a contrast. Post processing will also enhance the look and by carefully selecting white balance controls, the colours can be creatively enhanced.

The first workshop was held in KZN and we had the beautiful Roxy and Cassel modeling for us.

Some images from this workshop.

The Beautiful Roxy

The Lovely Cassel

A few weeks later I held a similar workshop in Gauteng. With the crime being more prevailent in Gauteng, I was a bit wary to hold the workshop in some open field. I subsequently obtained permission from Huddle Park Golf Course and we were allowed to shoot on an unused area of the course. The entire course is fenced and has security guards so off we went and were able to shoot in reasonable safety.

For this workshop the Beautiful red haired Tanya and the couple Ro-byn and John were happy to pose for the group. I must also make mention of the fact that John is amongst the tallest men I have ever met, measuring in at 6ft9 and Ro-byn is just about 5ft. :)

Tanya

The very much in love Ro-byn and John

An afternoon in the Studio

As some of you might know I do actually have a studio and being a full time commercial photographer I get to photograph all sorts in the studio. This ranges from products to people and now and again some beautiful models. 

A friend of mine sometimes hires the studio and so it was today and he had employed a lovely model for the day. Well, needless to say I snuck a few shots in (with their permission) and I quite liked the results.

I used the Sony A99 (which is an awesome machine with great tonal ranges) and the Carl Zeiss 85mm F1.4 lens. This in my mind is about the best camera/lens combination that I have ever come across for use in the studio.

The first shot was shot with an idea in mind.. (No, she didn't use that brush for her make up but I was going to use it to give her some colour!)

Voila!..... My end result! A little image editing and the image told it's story.

The lighting setup was changed and a fan switched on to blow her hair, a blue gel on a rim light and some nice effects were to be had.

The close up really brought the best of her features out!

Vintage Flair Beauty & Hair Salon

I was recently asked to shoot some images for Vintage Flair Beauty & Hair Salon (VIntage Flair) for their website. We shot it at the salon and the ladies gave us some stunning models to shoot...

We did different edits for different effects so the images don't look the same.

I turned this one into a Movie Poster for fun. Jenna looked stunning with this vintage look.

 

The beautiful Fallen posed for us for the country look.