{"id":19339,"date":"2014-02-14T01:35:42","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T05:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=19339"},"modified":"2017-08-12T09:53:21","modified_gmt":"2017-08-12T13:53:21","slug":"available-light-portraits-composition-light-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/available-light-portraits-composition-light-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Available light portraits – Composition, light and style"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Available light portraits – Composition and light<\/h1>\n

Over time I noticed that my style in photographing portraits have gravitated to a specific look where everything is quite simplified – the lighting, the background and the framing of the shot. Whether I use the available light, or video light, or off-camera flash, or even on-camera bounce flash<\/a>, there’s a certain uncomplicated look. I’d like to think of it as elegant unfussy simplicity.<\/p>\n

Analyzing this, it is easy to see there’s a specific method here. It’s a method which helps especially when under pressure. Here, even allowing extra time for the crazy peak-time traffic here in New Jersey, I was still running late for the photo session with Christy. When I arrived, falling back into a familiar rhythm of shooting portraits, allowed me to get images that work, very quickly.<\/p>\n

The essential idea is that the light<\/strong> has to be good, and\u00a0the background<\/strong> has to be complimentary. Then it is a matter of posing our subject, and composing the frame. Invariably then, the starting point is finding that intersect between good light and a good background. And if \u00a0you don’t have great available light, then you need to create it with additional lighting.<\/p>\n

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Here’s the pull-back shot of exactly where I photographed Christy – it’s just a grassy stretch next to the side of the road. Nothing much there.The image at the top was shot at 180mm, which is towards the longer end of my 70-200mm f\/2.8 zoom.\u00a0This is an essential lens for me – fast telephoto zoom with stabilization. It allows me to shoot in low light with relatively less chance of camera shake. The shallow depth-of-field also adds its own characteristic to the image.<\/p>\n

More importantly here, the longer focal length allows me to pick out the specific background that I want. I can choose my background, and even a small sideways movement of a few inches can change the background of the portrait. Shooting from lower down, I moved my own position to frame Christy against the brighter background, and with that natural vignette there of the out-of-focus trees. All of this isn’t random, but specific decisions.<\/p>\n

camera settings for the image at the top:
\n1\/160 @ f\/2.8 @ 1250 ISO \u2026 available light only<\/p>\n

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Canon EF 70-200mm f\/2.8L IS II<\/a>\u00a0 (Amazon<\/em>)\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
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Nikon 70-200mm f2.8G VR II<\/a>\u00a0 (Amazon<\/em>)\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
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The starting point – with the sun setting over the horizon, there was a golden glow to the light. I asked Christy to turn her back to that, hoping for some of that rim-light to perhaps work its magic. But it wasn’t strong enough for the effect I wanted – the light was already fading. Also, shooting in this direction didn’t look like it would lead to much in terms of an interesting background.<\/p>\n

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Then, turning around, I saw the patch of brighter sky between the trees, and knew this would make a great natural frame. It even worked for the full-length images.<\/p>\n

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Photo gear (or equivalents) used in this photo session<\/h2>\n