Looking for photo opportunities

This is what we do as photographers – looking for photo opportunities and looking for angles and backgrounds which are not mundane. Even when not taking photographs, it is always a good exercise to look for what would have made a good photograph. It’s constant training for the mind. We stumbled upon this opportunity for this portrait of Jessica – the reception room for a wedding we were photographing had several large boxes of lights against the walls as a kind of light mural, with baubles inside that were lit up. And the back of each of these displays was a mirror … and if you stood close enough to photograph the reflection through the light spheres, and you carefully moved around to frame your subject, you could get captivating portraits like the one above. Magical!

An aperture of f/1.4 on the 85mm lens made sure that nothing else but Jessica’s eye closest to the camera, was in focus. Of course, I had to move as well to not get myself in the camera’s frame.

Finally, I used a Photoshop action to give the image more of a vintage look. The end result – simply beautiful.

Summary

This was another reminder to myself to keep looking for different angles. Look for layers. Look for depth. Look for visual surprises.

That’s something that constantly drives me – the thought that a much better photographer, a master at the craft, would be able to find meaningful or interesting photographs in situations where I am just not able to see it. That drives me to keep looking, and to keep exploring visually.

Camera settings & photo gear (or equivalents) used for this photo

• 1/60 (handheld) @ f/1.4 @ 3200 ISO

• Nikon D3S
• Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.4G  /  Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM
  or alternately, the Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.8G  /  Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM would work just as well.

Related links

• 85mm – the best lens to change your portrait photography
• An informal portrait with the 85mm lens  (Sarah)
• review: Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.8G lens
• review: Nikon 85mm f/1.4G
• Photographic composition: Working towards the final image  (Jessica Joy)