photo session (available light) – Ekaterina
Ekaterina, (or Kate, if your tongue trips over her name), was the model at the top of my recent review of the Canon 8-15mm f/4L fisheye zoom lens. Since the fisheye makes everything bendy, and it must be the least flattering of lenses for portraits, I wanted to show a handful of images from the rest of the photo session with her. These should portray her graceful beauty much better.
The images here were all shot with available light only. The approach was exactly the same as described in the article, “using the available light” is not random. In that article I described how I photographed a bride using available light only, by positioning her such that the light just had to come in at a flattering angle. Predictably so. Similar here with these two photos of Ekaterina – I had her against the doorway which was deep enough under the canopy of the buildings. So the soft light was coming in mostly from 30-45 degrees from above – that natural softbox effect. Very flattering.
camera settings: 1/320 @ f3.2 @ 400 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H)
camera settings: 1/500 @ f3.2 @ 320 ISO
Nikon D3; Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H)
Working on the shadow side of a building with this bright yellow wall, I noticed there was this splash of glare from the sun being reflected off glass.
This created a natural spot-light effect which I then Ekaterina position her face towards. Here is the comparison image where I asked her to just look at the camera – no regard for the direction of light. It just creates a messy pattern of light. This just underlines the idea that “using the available light” isn’t random.
This idea ties in with two other related articles:
- direction of the light … any light (model – Shawna)
- available light vs fill-flash (Jessica & Michael)
- finding interesting available light
Back to the final image:
Being so intent on checking how the light fell on her face, I didn’t note the shadow that her shoulder was casting. I should’ve caught that at the time and asked her to gently roll her shoulder back until the shadow isn’t as distinct. The learning curve is never-ending.
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Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.
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Neil, when you post an awesome article like this, I instantly call my friend from Johannesburg and make him read it to me. Its almost like the real thing!
(I hope there is enough sarcasm coming through the net to not sound like a creepy stocker type) :D
Amazing natural light shots above! Very inspiring.
Comment by Shane — August 10, 2011 @ 10:18 pm
The devil is in the details, I am glad to see that even you don’t catch all the shadows as in the last picture that you noted the shadow on her shoulder. I thought it was only me.
BTW she is a beautiful model.
Comment by Bob Rossi — August 10, 2011 @ 10:56 pm
I can’t help but notice a white halo following the very top of the dress along the chest. Or, am I seeing something else?
Comment by parv — August 10, 2011 @ 11:17 pm
Comment by Neil vN — August 10, 2011 @ 11:59 pm
Neil – you’re always hanging around these gorgeous college girls. Does your wife ever give you grief like mine does? lol.
Comment by Jon Davila — August 11, 2011 @ 1:18 am
Also, the white halo seems typical to me of the line where a womans bathing suit would sit. Her upper chest would get very tan, and strapless dresses usually sit a lot lower than bathing suit tops and some tshirts. Hence, you’ll get a white halo kind of look sometimes because youve got the strapless dress drawing a small white line between the dress and the top of the chest where the sun has tanned more than the lower area.
Comment by Jon Davila — August 11, 2011 @ 1:35 am
This is especially justified because you can see the tanned “V” section in the center of her chest pointing down toward the center of the strapless dress, which indicates that the center was tanning at some point while the sides where not. Very typical of modern bra’s and swimsuit tops that ride high.
Comment by Jon Davila — August 11, 2011 @ 1:37 am
Comment by Neil vN — August 11, 2011 @ 6:13 am
Beautiful images, beautiful model!
Two days ago, on my birtday, I turned one year old here. This blog I found then was my gift. So happy anniversary to us! :-)
Comment by fotografii aniversari — August 11, 2011 @ 7:00 am
Hi Neil, thanks for this valuable article! It’s a coincidence as yesterday I did some disappointing natural light shots. Where that is concerned I am still at the bottom of the learning curve :-)
Comment by William — August 11, 2011 @ 9:02 am
Hi Neil,
Excellent photos and great posting. But where is this location? It’s gorgeous.
-Chris Gampat
Lead Writer
BHInsights.com
Comment by Chris Gampat — August 11, 2011 @ 10:45 am
Comment by Neil vN — August 11, 2011 @ 10:59 am
Great photos.
The first shots against the door look like they could have been taken somewhere in europe – they strike me as looking vary italian or even spanish. The shots against the yellow brick wall just look amazing.
Comment by Pete — August 11, 2011 @ 11:12 am
Nice shots Neil. This made my day, loving the one with yellow background, just damn sexy pose.
Comment by Derek — August 11, 2011 @ 11:36 am
Neil, the final photo is spectacular. It feels so dimensional. I wonder how the non processed photo looked like? (can you share it with us) I am just curious how much the post processing was done to get to that final phenomenal look. It is so sharp and vivid. ( love the red nails) I wonder, can this kind of quality be accomplished with d90 or it must be a full frame and one of those 1800$ lenses?
Comment by bart — August 11, 2011 @ 1:42 pm
What was the time of the shoot?
Comment by bart — August 11, 2011 @ 1:43 pm
Comment by Neil vN — August 11, 2011 @ 2:01 pm
Hello Neil, when I was reading the comments I thought I was reading a “taning salon advice blog” people talking about how a tan of a bikini create such and such lines… when people start seeing this things I like to check their work,and when you see their work,their pictures are bad in so many ways, and I wonder, how come they see minimal things in another photographers work and they can’t see it on their on pictures? LOL.
Like always Neil great work and great tutorials, thank you for taking the time, good luck.
Comment by Hanssel — August 11, 2011 @ 2:10 pm
Hello Neil,
As usual this is top of the notch and once more a full lesson. I notice that often your models do not look directly at the camera ..am I imagining such things so is this willfull? When I take pictures if the modele does not look into the camera i feel that there is less impact yet your photos always have a lot of force.
Comment by Alex-D — August 11, 2011 @ 3:54 pm
Comment by Neil vN — August 11, 2011 @ 4:25 pm
The link “post-processing for portraits” is not working, at least for me. It’s one of my favorite post. Thanks.
Comment by fotografii aniversari — August 11, 2011 @ 4:49 pm
Comment by Neil vN — August 11, 2011 @ 5:02 pm
Great work Neil!! As a fan of your work I was wondering if you sell prints? Thanks Jeff
Comment by Jeff — August 11, 2011 @ 7:11 pm
Neil,
Excelente post.. O resultado ficou maravilha.
Você aproveitou bem uma fonte de luz “gratuíta com criatividade”.
Parabéns!
Abraço,
Ricardo Carvalho – Fotografia de Casamento
Ilha Grande – Piauí- Brazil
Comment by Ricardo Carvalho — August 11, 2011 @ 9:24 pm
Dear Neil,
Thanks for your sharings, They are unbelievable:)) Your photos are very sharp and there is no grain. Do you use any noise reduction software and are you using tripod for this kind of works or just IS is enough?
Thanks,
Comment by ugur — April 13, 2012 @ 7:19 am
Comment by Neil vN — April 15, 2012 @ 3:25 am