Ernesto Sue Photography

Today we are going to talk all about why Lighting Styles and Lighting Patterns Are Important To Portrait Photographers.

What Are Lighting Styles?

To begin, we need to identify the 4 type of light sources, which are:

Natural Light

Ambient Light

Continuous Light

Artificial light aka flash

We use these 4 light sources to identify the different lighting patterns and to help us create multiple lighting styles. In this article we are only going to be talking about 4 lighting patterns and 2 lighting styles.

Lighting Patterns:

Split Lighting

Loop Lighting

Rembrandt Lighting

Butterfly Lighting

Lighting Styles:

Broad Lighting

Short Lighting

Each one of these lighting patterns and styles helps to shape your subject's face. Some lighting techniques can flatten a subject's features and others can add depth and dimension.

Lets go over each of the lighting styles:

Split Lighting:

This is when the light is only showing on one side of the subject's face and other side is in shadow. In other words, the light is evenly split down the middle of the subject's face. You would typically use this type of lighting style for men and actors to add of bit of drama or mystery. This type of lighting style in a portrait setting is not typically used on women, as it's not very flattering on them. However, if it's your intention to add drama or mystery to your image then it's certainly fine. Split lighting is achieved by positioning the light approximately 90 degrees on the left or right side of the subject until one side of the face is in shadow.

Loop Lighting:

This is probably the most commonly used lighting styles, I know it is for me. This style suits most subjects which is why I love to use it. To create loop lighting, the main light has to be position right or left of the subject and slightly above the subject's eye line. However be careful not to push it too far as you will lose the catch lights in the subject's eyes. Loop lighting is identified and made by creating a small shadow of the subject's nose on their cheek.

Rembrandt Lighting:

This is yet another famous lighting style that is used by many photographers, including myself. As with loop lighting, this style suits most subjects. To create Rembrandt lighting, the main light has to be position camera left or right 45 degrees above the subject. You position the light until you notice the shadow of the subject's nose connects with the subject's cheeks. This connection forms a triangle which is known as Rembrandt lighting. This lighting style was made famous by Rembrandt the painter who often used this style of lighting in his paintings.

Butterfly Lighting:

This lighting style is another common one but is generally created using artificial light and a reflector. With butterfly lighting, it creates a little shadow that appears in a shape of a butterfly under the subject's nose. This lighting style can be flattering to subjects with a slender face or with beautiful cheekbones or even older folks as it hides the wrinkles a little. To create butterfly lighting you have to position the light directly behind the camera and slightly above the subject's eye level or head.

Broad Lighting:

I am not a big fan of broad lighting, as it tends to make the subject's face appear fuller. That said, if you want to make someone's face appear fuller then this is the lighting style that you need to use. To create broad lighting simply position the subject's face to the camera in the same direction of the main light. So for example if the main light is coming in from camera left then instead of asking the subject to turn their body to camera left, you ask them to turn their body to camera right. In doing so, you will be capturing the image on the broadside of the subject's face as that's where the light and the camera is position.

Short Lighting:

This lighting style creates shadows on the side of the face closest to the camera. Short lighting is another commonly used lighting style that I personally love to use. This style is opposite of broad lighting and in my opinion very close to loop lighting. To create short lighting, simply position the subject's face to the camera in the opposite direction of the main light. So for example, if the main light is coming in from camera left, ask the subject to turn their face to camera left, which would create a shadow towards the camera on the subject's face.

Why should you be aware of the various lighting styles?

It's important as a portrait photographer that you recognize each lighting style. You don't have to love each one, heck you don't even have to remember the names, but you should be able to recognize the styles. When I first got into photography I had no idea that lighting styles existed. All I knew is that I wanted to create portraits and I knew the one light source which is the sun can help do that. Because I never knew about lighting styles it really took me a very long time to come into a style that I liked. I did a lot of trial and errors until I learned about lighting styles. I then started to experiment and realized that the lighting styles I have been gravitating to were mostly loop lighting, Rembrandt lighting, and short lighting. Once I understood this I was able to quickly determine what I need to do when a subject was in front of me.

In conclusion Lighting styles are nothing sexy, but there are fundamentally important. Do you need to follow the rules of each of these lightly styles? Absolutely not. You can break the rules and do your own thing, but in order to break the rules, you have to first know the rules. I hope this article was not your introduction to lighting styles but if it was. I highly encourage you to google and get more information as this article is only scratching the surface of what you should know.

Special thank you to Katherin Prada for being my amazing model for this photoshoot.

If you would like to attend one of my workshops, please join our meetup group and check for the next available workshop.  If you don't see any upcoming workshops just contact me directly and we can put something on the calendar.

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I am going explain what I have learned thus far in using color gels and hopefully my journey as of right now during my learning process can help you. Second we will jump into the details of the photoshoot.

I have been using color gels in my work on and off over the years and during that time I managed to achieve some success with it and lot of failures. The failures were very frustrating because I didn't understand the problem and therefore couldn't resolve it. In this video I will highlight those problems and the solutions I have found.

Gels love shadows. When using gels if you don't isolate the gel to the shadow area of your image you may as well just don't use gels because you will fail as I did. Which brings me to light contamination. If your gel light and the none gel light cross then the none gel light will win. What this means is white light will always wash out the color gel so it's critical that both are isolated in order to see the results of the gel.

How is this applicable to an actual person? As I stated before gels love shadows which means if you want to use gels on a person you will need to ensure the gelled light is lighting the shadow area of the subject. The white light needs to only be exposed on the area of the subject where the gel light is not focused on. In the photoshoot you will see later in the image below and the BTS video you will notice I failed on my last setup because I didn't realize the strobe had some white light being mixed in with my gel which render the gelled light useless.

When working with gels it is critical you understand complementary colors. When I started using gels I just used any random colors because I thought it was cool to me. No thought was put into what colors actually complemented each other. Therefore the resulting image was a mess and it really had no harmony because the colors were competing with each other which simply became a distraction. What has helped in the pass and to this today is using a color wheel to assist me which provided me with what the complementary colors should be so I don't have to guess. It also can provide the triad colors, meaning if you wanted to have 3 complementary colors it will show you that as well. The color wheel I use currently is on the Adobe website which you can find here. This is a tremendous resource and I hope Adobe never takes it down.

One other item that impacts gels is light intensity. Typically when you put anything in front of your light you will loose some power. With gels you tend to loose perhaps 1 or 1/2 stop depending on how dark the gel is. So what you will have to do is increase the power of your light to compensate which makes sense. However, what you need to be aware of is if you increase the power too much you can tend to loose the color saturation with your gels and it could also create an unwanted hotspot in the center. Yellow gels are very light so the amount of light that you will loose when using this type of gel is very little therefore you would only need to increase your lights 1/2 a power or less. With deeper colors such a dark blue you will may need to increase your lights 1 power or more depending on the look you are going for. So keep in mind, gels impact the power of the light and the light intensity impact the color saturation.

So let's talk about the gear used for this photoshoot.

One Godox ad600 two Godox ad200.

One silver umbrella with the ad200.

One softbox with the ad600 which was not gelled for the first setup.

One Reflector dish with a grid and the ad200

One fan.

5 in 1 reflector to act as the flag.

One sandbag.

One Fog machine.

My studio space is extremely small so light Control with or without gel is always a struggle for me. That said, working with gels you need an extra level of control because you don't want to have light contamination. Ideally the best way I could have done this photoshoot was griding both reflector plates on the Godox ad200 which were behind the subject but I didn't have two grids. So I use a grid on one of the two Godox AD200 light and I used an umbrella on the other. However I still needed to control the light from the umbrella so it didn't bounce on the subject's face from the wall, so I used my 5 in 1 reflector to block the light. Both the Godox ad200 were gelled one with blue and the other orange. The main light was the Godox ad600 and that light wasn't gelled. It also only had the inside baffle because I wanted to produce a bit of a harsh light. Ideally a beauty dish would have been great for the main light but I didn't have one with a Bowens mount. Every light had there specific zones on the subject that they were targeted to ensure they were no light contamination.

Special thank you to Ashley Brooke Denton for being my amazing model for this photoshoot.

If you would like to attend one of my workshops, please join our meetup group and check for the next available workshop.  If you don't see any upcoming workshops just contact me directly and we can put something on the calendar.

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Creating images in studio is probably the most difficult photography process for me. I find it extremely difficult from a creative standpoint to just start the photography process. That said, when I do start creative process I manage to emerge with images I absolutely enjoy and this shoot was certainly no exception.

Porsha the subject for this shoot I meet a few weeks ago at photography event hosted by Tim Bower. I didn’t go to the event to do photography although that is what the event was about, I went there to meet and network with local artist. They were some amazing models and photographers at the event which I really enjoyed. After the event I reached out to Porsha to determine if she would be interested in doing a shoot with me and she said yes, which was great. However, I didn’t get a chance to follow up until a few weeks later.

In planning for this photoshoot I sent Porsha a few inspirational images from her Instagram profile. Lately I found it is easier to simply send subjects their own images especially if I don’t have a team that I will be working with and if I think the look they have on their profile would actually work for the shoot I had in mind. I found images on her profile to illustrate the look for hair and makeup which I sent to her. The fact that she is a makeup artist made this process very easy. The color palette was chosen based on the looks I saw on her that really allowed her skin tone to pop. For the wardrobe I told her I wanted something chill but at the same time sexy. All these ideas she loved and from there it was just a matter of setting a date and time for the shoot.

In executing for this shoot I had some initial ideas of what I wanted to do from a lighting perspective but that all changed when I actually saw the results. I won’t go too much into detail about the lighting setup as that was done in the video below, so please check that out. What I would say is that with lighting I find that I color attracts my eye especially when I doing personal work. I believe this attraction comes from cinematic lighting I see multiple times in movies, so whenever I am working with artificial light indoors color is almost always a critical component.

In conclusion, this shoot was a great of fun and Porsha made the process extremely easy. She brought some good music for us to vibe to and I especially loved the Erika Badu song selections some of which I have never heard before. Please be sure to checkout the behind the scenes video which goes into a lot more detail about the lighting.

If you would like to attend one of my workshops, please join our meetup group and check for the next available workshop.  If you don't see any upcoming workshops just contact me directly and we can put something on the calendar.

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Introduction:

Today we are going to talk all about My Pursuit Of Perfection.

Perfection:

My journey in portrait photography has always been in the pursuit of perfection.

Perfecting my light

Perfecting my posing

Perfecting my composition

Perfecting my post-production

In my pursuit of mastering these 4 areas of my photography, I believe I have lost the meaning of what portrait photography means to me.

In my view, portraits are not about perfection, they are the complete opposite of perfection.

Portrait photography is about capturing the personality of the subject.

Capturing the essence of what your subject is feeling at the time they are in front of your camera.

As a portrait photographer, it is my job to pull out from my subjects the mood and feeling by using the tools in my toolkit.

Lighting

Posing

Camera positioning

Composition

ETC.

Do I need to be perfect with these tools, yes, to an extent but I don't need to be a perfectionist.

In reviewing my images in 2017 I felt a little disconnected from my work.

It's OK to do a self-assessment of your work and be overly critical of it.

The moment you believe your work has gotten to the point where you feel like you have lost your way, it's when you stop and make adjustments.

When I look at my work or if anyone looks at my work, I don't want them to first access the technical nature of how it was captured.

I want them to be captivated by the imagery and have them implant or attach their own story to that image.

I felt my work has lost that.

Planning For The Photoshoot:

It's January of 2018 and I am picking up my camera for the second time this year to create a portrait.

On this photo session, I have very clear goals on what I want to capture.

My subject for today is Hannah, she's a model who I connected with on IG.

In planning for this shoot from a hair and makeup perspective I wanted something clean and too distracting.

From a wardrobe perspective, when I was studying her IG I fell in love with her style. So when she asked for inspiration I sent her own images to her.

In addition, I give her 4 words to help come with a look for this shoot elegant, editorial, fashion & edgy.

Now I realize those words all mean different things and represent different looks but to be very honest, I knew she could rock any of those looks based on my review of her IG.

Photoshoot Setup:

Lighting, I knew I wanted to use a very large light source to create a very soft natural beautiful light source.

I also knew I wanted to shoot these portraits at a very shallow depth of field to create a nice painterly image.

Given I knew I was going to be outside, I wanted to use a powerful light source so I brought my Godox AD600 to be my main light.

In addition, I brought my Godox AD200 which act as fill or hair light, but I actually didn't use it. What I actually used was the sun to act as my hair light throughout the entire photoshoot.

I also knew that the lights had to have high-speed sync enabled because I may be shooting at a very high shutter speed.

I generally don't play any music on my photoshoot sessions, but I knew it was incredibly important that music be part of this portrait session.

The type of music I wanted playing on the set is not turnt up music, but music that will move my subject emotionally.

My hope is that I get a true emotional reaction, a memory, something that causes her to truly show who she is in that moment.

In Summary:

My goal on this photoshoot was to capture a true portrait of the woman I saw on IG and not the model.

My goal was to also try to give up some control over to my subjects and allow them to be a little more of themselves.

And finally, my goal was to add imperfection to my photography toolkit.

Not every image has to be perfect, but they must have a message, they must have a meaning for me.

When I look back at my work I feel I have lost a little of that warmth, that emotional connection to my images and my goal for 2018 is to get that fire back.

The pursuit of perfection can never be obtained and there's nothing wrong in pursuing it but don't let that journey make you lose your passion like it did for me.

If you would like to attend one of my workshops, please join our meetup group and check for the next available workshop.  If you don't see any upcoming workshops just contact me directly and we can put something on the calendar.

If you like what you see, please share with your friends and family.  Also, please click the heart button and/or post some feedback below.

It seems like every year during the holiday season I tend to cool down creatively. Perhaps it’s the fact during this time things are slow or because it’s winter and I don’t enjoy the cold weather. Whatever the reason here I am struggling creatively every year at the same time.

So it’s Thanksgiving here in the US this week and traditionally we tend to host family and friends during this season. During this time I tend to use it as an opportunity to test out new lighting setups just to see if I can pull it off and my family members tend to be a sport about helping me out while I test these lighting setups.

This year my primary subject was Duane Herbert also known as DJKOLDFUZION who has DJ’ed all across the world. One of the most exciting places he has DJ was in South Korean which I have personally never been. Duane was looking for some images to update his portfolio going into the new year to assist him with promoting his DJ brand and I was looking to test my lighting so it was a perfect opportunity and a win/win situation for both of us.

So let’s talk about the lighting setup. Going into this shoot I knew I wanted colored gels because I love color. I think my love of color with lights comes from the fact that when I watch movies I tend to enjoy the cinematic lighting displayed in movies and the rich color they tend to display. Once I knew that color was a must the next thing I needed to address was to ensure the colors were complementary so I landed on blue and yellow.

Lights, so I opted to go with a 3 light setup. Typically I don’t know how many lights I want in a photoshoot until I start then I figure out what lights I need and go from there. However, for this shoot I knew exactly how many lights I needed. For the main light I used a Godox AD600 with the reflector and a grid. The grid helped to narrow the bean of light so that it only focused on Duane’s face. I then had two Godox AD200 lights in the background with no modifiers, both lights were gelled one had a yellow gel and the other a blue.

Pulling off this type of lighting involved some trial and error but ultimately once I dialed in the power to where it should be I then added fog which helped to carry and pull out the colors even more. I would say without the fog the lights wouldn’t have been the same and I wouldn’t have achieved the cinematic lighting..

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The answer is in the video below.

What is flow posing:

Flow posing is the process of getting a series of poses in a matter of minutes. For example getting 20 plus poses in about 5 minutes.

This involves giving your clients rapid instructions and possibly forcing them physically into the pose.

Professional models have a great ability to pull off flow posing effortlessly because the understand their body, facial expressions and have years of experience.

As photographers, we love working with experienced models because we don't have to do very much with posing.

However when you are working with an inexperienced subject, well there's some work to do.

What are some benefits to flow posing?

You get a quick series of images/poses in a very short period of time. 

You look like a superstar commanding the seen with a series of orders.

But you can also look like a crazy person if you are not organized and you don't know what you want.

Time is money -- Knowing exactly what you want allows the shoot to go quickly. So flow posing would be great for photographers who shoot a lot of subjects on a daily basis and need to get them in and out quickly.

What are some issues with flow posing?

Depending on the subject you are working with if they don't take instruction well then it will be a disaster.

If you as the photographer who can't provide proper instructions it will be a disaster.

If your subjects don't like to be touched it will be a disaster.

Getting great poses but no real expressions.

So how do I use flow posing without these shortcomings?

If I can't verbally give the proper instructions or the subject cannot follow my instructions I get them to mirror what I am doing.

For subjects that just don't understand my directions and I need to physically get them positioned...I first asked for permission to touch and then I position them accordingly.

Getting great expressions is key to this process because without expression the pose is stiff.

Sometimes providing vague instructions can help and here's what I mean.

Get the client posed exactly how you want them and say something like I want you to connect with the wind. Feel the warmth of the sun.

Look, I have no idea what that meant and they probably don't either, so they will interpret that into whatever they think it meant. First I will get maybe a confused expression and then something real.

If you are confident in what you are saying they will think it's normal photography jargon.

The expression is key, I can't say it enough...get that right and your pose will be complete.

Quick tips to flow posing:

Slow down - I know it's counter-intuitive but it is the most effective way.

Yes, I know you will not get 20 images in 5 mins but you will get better images and a happier client.

Go with the flow - As it implies, have a flow, transition your subjects from one pose to the next with small movements. Don't attempt big posing changes as your subjects will get very frustrated. For example:

Asking your subject to move their hands from their hips and to cross it, this would be considered a small movement.

Having them gently taking their gaze from the camera to their shoulders is a small movement.

A large movement would be asking your subject to quickly move from a standing pose to a sitting pose and expect everything to fall into place.

Asking your subject to break their foundation is a large movement.

These big movements break up the flow and create frustration not only for you but for your client.

For example, having their feet apart and then asking them to cross it, is a big move.

In conclusion, having to think about small movements and not large movements can save and give you so many options that it will allow you to easily go with the flow.

If you would like to attend one of my workshops, please join our meetup group and check for the next available workshop.  If you don't see any upcoming workshops just contact me directly and we can put something on the calendar.

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Most of what I have to say you will find in the video below.  I am being very lazy with this BLOG because it's the night before I need to leave for WPPI and I have so much to get done.  Please enjoy  the video and let me know what you think about it.

Why is it so difficult to pose hands:

Posing Hands for most photographers including me is by far the most challenging task.

When I work with my subjects the most common question I get and I am sure you all get it as well and that is "what do you want me to do with my hands?"

And my general response, for the most part, just leaves it there, don't worry I will take care of it.

The reason I say that is because at the time I really don't know what I want to do with their hands.

Posing for me starts with the foundation, which I will explain in more detail in another BLOG but basically, I want to come up with the core pose first and then build on top of that.

The reason posing hands was challenging for me is because I was trying to pose the hands first and not getting my foundation right.

Basically, I was putting the cart before the horse.

So let's go through some of my elegant hand posing examples:

Palm example:

Palm to face not so good. It looks like you are smooching the face.

Bending the fingers ever so generally, creates a beautiful gap, exposing the jawline.

Backhands to the camera example:

Having a female backhand/fist facing the camera is too much of a distraction especially with a crop to the face.

Having the subject turn there hands so the narrower part is facing the camera is much more elegant.

Back of the hand/fist facing the camera is appropriate for a man as it projects strength.

Hand under the chin example: 

Hand holding up the face, it gives the impression the subject is bored or the head is so heavy that they need to hold it up.

By having the subject place their index finger generally under the chin so it connects ever so slightly creates a beautiful elegant image.

Bending the joints:

This is a small thing but it makes the world of difference.

For example, if your subject had their hands straight up and it was close to their face.

If their hands were straight, the image would look weird, but if they simply bend the joint it makes the world of difference.

No pockets example:

Most folks face this problem, the subject has no pockets what can you do with the hands.

Put the hands on the hips, ensuring the joints are bent.

One hand on the hips the other could be bent 90 degrees in the air with joints bent.

Crossing the subject's arms.

One hand in their hair the other could be on the hip.

Form shapes with their hands, by creating a triangle for their face.

Lean them against a wall and now you are open to even more hand positioning or you repeat everything we just did.

In conclusion:

Posing hands is not so much about posing them, it's more about ensuring it's in harmony with the core of your pose and messaging.

If I tell you that everyone should pose their hands in a certain way and you followed my instructions.

Here's what will happen, you will begin to see images with elegant hands but with the wrong message which is a distraction.

Basically, there's no hard or fast rule, they are guidelines but you as the photographer must have the courage to know when you see a disconnect that you must get in there and fix it.

If you remember anything from this BLOG, just remember posing hands has to live in harmony with your core pose.

If you would like to attend one of my workshops, please join our meetup group and check for the next available workshop.  If you don't see any upcoming workshops just contact me directly and we can put something on the calendar.

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E'toshia McFarland is a licensed esthetician and Makeup Artist based out of Colombia, South Carolina.  Her primary goal on this photo session was to upgrade her headshots for her business and social media profile.

Going into this session the objective was to capture a decent a headshot.  However, once the goal was accomplished I wanted to push my creative muscle to create a variety of looks the client didn't originally imagine but would walk away loving more than what the original concept.  That said, even though I knew I wanted to get a variety of looks it was imperative that I first accomplished the primary goal which was to capture a decent headshot that the client would be happy with.  Once that headshot was secured then I knew I could proceed with additional looks.

On the first setup, I used a very large window as my main and only light source for the subject.  I sat the subject on the edge of a chair and had the shoulders of the subject positioned away from the camera which created nice elegant lines.  I then had the subject position her face towards the light and her eyes to the camera.  This simple setup created a variety of images in this first setup and it helped to secure what the primary objective of this session.

Once I secured the headshot I then moved onto the second setup to create a nice high key image using the Aputure 120d light with the 35" Light Dome as my background and the Godox AD200 in a softbox as my main light.  Conceptually this was a great idea but my execution created a bit of a challenge.  The Aputure 120d light was so bright that it not only made it hard for me to see my subject but it also presented a challenge for the camera to focus.  After I took several images that were out of focus, I was able to capture one image that was tack sharp and then I quickly scrapped this setup.  That image happens to be the cover for this blog.

In the final setup, I wanted to get a little dramatic by introducing color gels and additional lights.  In this setup, I used 3 lights.  Two Godox AD200 as the rim lights and those lights were gelled.  I then used the Godox AD600 pointing away from the subject against the wall to act as the fill light.  The primary subject in this setup was a headpiece E'toshia wears to aid her in examing her client's skin.  I wanted to present the headpiece, not in a sterile way which is how it would be used but more polished and heavily stylized, hence the reason for the gels.  The images from this setup turned out to be my favorite from the entire set and apparently the client's as well because she is using one of the images from this setup as her profile picture on Facebook and her website.

In conclusion, if a client comes to you for one specific task, be sure that you deliver on that task, but give yourself enough time to experiment with different looks.  If the client happens to not like your creative vision on their original task then that is fine because you still have the original look that you nailed to fall back on.  That said, if they happen to love your creative vision over what they originally brought to the table then you have accomplished your job as a photographer.  Clients come to us, not for all the camera gear we have but they come to us because we are creative, so create for them and don't be an operator on a request line taking orders. 

If you would like to attend one of my workshops, please join our meetup group and check for the next available workshop.  If you don't see any upcoming workshops just contact me directly and we can put something on the calendar.

If you like what you see, please share with your friends and family.  Also, please click the heart button and/or post some feedback below.

How does one translate an idea on paper into an actual product, well in my case a photograph? The answer is pretty simple, get an amazing team that can help you bring that idea to life.

The idea was to take a flower and use it as an eyepiece, which on the surface sounds pretty simple, but the execution was the challenge. I reached out to Andrayah Parker owner of Geometry Hair and Makeup Studio to help bring this concept to life. Once I explained the initial concept she was immediately on board, even though she has never done anything like this before. What I love about Andrayah is that she never backs down from a challenge, what she will do is practice until she gets it right and that is exactly what she did. On the day of the shoot, I was very happy to see how she took what was an idea on paper and brought it to life, she is amazingly talented.

Now that the main focal point was addressed we needed to get a model who can make a bold statement by owning this flower and not letting it own her. That model was Sarah Maria. This is not my first time working with Sarah and I knew she had this amazing ability to become this chameleon and morph into whatever it is we toss at her. Once Sarah gets in front of the camera I think she has great ability to intrinsically know what I want by providing the exact expressions and feeling I wanted her to emote. During the shoot, I felt bad because I find myself shooting and not saying a word which as a photographer I should never do but I feel like if I said something that I have simply ruin the vibe.

The gear I choose for this shoot was the Sony A9 with the 70-200 2.8 GM lens, the Godox AD600 with a reflector as the main light and the Godox AD200 with a reflector as the background light. This was my second time using the Sony A9, this camera is very powerful, it has many features which I really enjoyed and it made the process of capturing an image effortless and fun. I will have my complete review of this camera very soon.

I really want thank the entire team that helped to make this vision possible. In addition, I also want to thank Demondrie Rodgers for assisting on this shoot. Also, I want to thank Wayne Wonder for capturing the amazing behind the scenes video footage.

In conclusion, the look I was going for was something very classic and old Hollywood.  I knew I wanted the image to be in black and white, so I captured it in that fashion.  I also wanted the image/pose to be very soft so in my production process I made my decision based on these factors.

If you would like to attend one of my workshops, please join our meetup group and check for the next available workshop.  If you don't see any upcoming workshops just contact me directly and we can put something on the calendar.

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Creating portraits at night for me requires 3 tools fast glass, a camera that can handle low light situations and of course light.  Now I appreciate every photographer toolkit for night portraits may be a little different but these are my primary tools and how I approach this situation.

Fast glass, now having this tool is not an absolute requirement but it certainly does help to make the task of creating portraits at night easier.  Having a lens that can give you the ability to create images at F1.2, F1.4 or F2.8 would allow your camera sensor to receive a great deal of light which would help you to keep your ISO low and have a faster shutter.  A low ISO, especially on a camera that cannot handle low light, would help to reduce noise.  In addition, having the ability to have a faster shutter would reduce the possibility of introducing motion blur in your images.  Ideally, you would want your camera settings to be around F1.4, F1.2 or F2.8, Shutter at 1/125 and ISO 800.  These settings allow you to capture a very clean image with very little to no noise or motion blur.  Now, of course, every situation is different so these settings may differ across the board, getting your aperture to the lowest it can go is critical and in my case, that was at F1.4 and then I dialed in the other settings such ISO & Shutter accordingly.  Do you absolutely need fast glass to create portraits at night? no, but if you don't be sure to pay very close attention to if you are introducing noise and motion blur into your images.

Another component to capturing images at night is the camera because without this tool you wouldn't be able to capture the image.  Now as critical as the camera is to your toolkit, it's not the most important in my opinion and I will get into why that is when I talk about light.  So what should you pay attention to when you are working with your camera?  As I mentioned before, it's crucial especially for night photography that you get a camera that can handle low light situations.  For the below shoot I was using the Sony A9, which can handle low light situations really well.  If your camera introduces a significant amount of noise at ISO 1000 then you should consider getting a different camera or getting a faster lens.  Now even if you have the best low light camera you would still notice noise in the shadow areas when you push the ISO.  Another critical setting that you should be aware of on your camera is RAW.  With RAW files, it captures a greater deal of information which would grant you more latitude in post-production and it allows you to recover highlights and shadow.  JPEG files don't grant you that latitude so if you overexpose or underexposed your image you would not have any flexibility in post to recover any shadow or highlight details in your image.  Before you take any images check that your camera is set to capture images in the RAW.

Now as I alluded to earlier there is something else that's more critical than the previous tools and you guess it and that is light.  Light is by far the most powerful tool in your toolkit when it comes to creating images, but it's even more vital at night.  With the absents of light all you have is darkness and with light, you can begin to paint and develop your image into something very interesting.  If you are working in a city thankfully you will have an abundance of ambient light to work with.  However, not all light is good light with respect to how it falls on your subject.  As the photographer, you have the ability to utilize any source of ambient light to help illuminate your subject.  If however, the ambient light quality is not the best for your subject then you have to create the light.  When creating light you have two options, you can use a constant light source which in my case I utilized the IceLight or you can use speedlights not strobes.  In my case, I used the Godox AD200 which was the best option I had as they are low power devices.  Strobes produce too much power for night portraits and if your camera has the settings that I outlined above then strobes would simply overpower your subject which creates an overexposed image. 

Knowing all this, you still have to balance your ambient light with your artificial light, which is very simple.  First get the proper exposure for the background / ambient light.  Second, you either introduce a constant light source or a Speedlight which you would need to increase or decrease the power of the light so that it balances with the ambient light.  Taking these two steps is all I did to capture the below images.

In conclusion, having fast glass, a camera that can handle low light and a beautiful source of quality light are all the tools, in my opinion, you need to create amazing portraits at night.

I really want to give a big thank you to the entire team.  Also, I really want to give my wife Nicole Sue a big thank you for driving 30 minutes and bringing me the Sony A9 battery which I forgot.  If it wasn't for her this shoot would not be at all possible. 

Team:

Videographer - Wayne Wonder

Model - Katherin Prada

Assistant - Chris Lewis

Assistant - Shanta Cheyenne

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For me, coming up with a photography concept at the very last moment --- in this case, the night before, was very challenging.  Typically, I like to have a few days to prepare for a photoshoot which gives me some time to order my thoughts and allow me to have a very clear vision of the end product.  In addition, trying to ensure everyone's schedule lines up becomes very tricky, if not impossible for a last minute photo shoot.

Originally we had the photo session scheduled for Saturday and we had the concept all laid out; however, what I didn't plan on was the weather.  After checking the forecast, it quickly became apparent that our concept for this photo session was not going to become a reality because it was forecasted to rain.  In an effort to salvage the photo session, as I didn't want to scrap the entire weekend without a photo shoot, I contacted Katherin Prada the model for the shoot and asked her if she had availability on Sunday to which she said, yes.  

With the model secured, I still had to come up with a new concept for the photo session and get a hair/makeup artist.  I did a few searches on Google and then I shared the images with the Katherin for her to review and confirm she was OK with the new concept.  I reached out to Andrayah Parker owner of Geometry Hair + Makeup Studio to determine if she had any availability to assist with hair and makeup, which was a very long shot, but to my surprise and relief, she was able to fit us into her packed schedule.

On the day of the photo shoot, everyone showed up on time and was ready to work.  While the model was being prepped, I set up my home-studio with the backdrop and the lights.  For this photo shoot, the following equipment was used: Canon 5D Mark III, Godox AD600BM gelled with A Silver Umbrella, and two strip boxes with two Godox AD200 gelled.

The execution of this photo shoot for me was very challenging because typically going into a photo session I have a very clear idea about what I want to accomplish and in this session, I didn't, so I found myself struggling to come up with ideas on model positioning and composition.  Eventually, I found my balance and I was able to start pushing out images that as a team we were all happy with.  Although I was going through this process, the team had no idea as I wanted to ensure we were all focused on one common goal which was to produce amazing images.

In conclusion, I really want to give a big thank you to the entire team for coming together at the very last moment to make this photo shoot a reality.  Also, I really want to give Tim Bowser a big thank you for allowing me to borrow his strip boxes for this photo shoot.

Team:

Videographer - Wayne Wonder

Model - Katherin

HMU - Andrayah Parker

Assistant - Demondrie Rodgers

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On August 18th, 2017, I reached out to Maria on Instagram hoping that she would reply to my message.  I basically complemented her about her portfolio, provided my portfolio and then I went in for the ask, which was "if you are interested in doing a TFP session please let me know and we can put something on the calendar."  Reaching out to a complete stranger could be a little bit daunting but I find being professional, being clear about intentions and being respectful gets me results.

Once Maria accepted my proposal I then had to provide her with a concept for the shoot, get a makeup artist and hair stylist.  Coming up with a concept could be very challenging at times but with Google image search it makes the process for me very easy.  For example, I can do a search for "Fashion Editorial" and I will get a variety of looks that I can share with the team.  I find that providing visuals of the look/theme helps to put everyone on the same page and express what I cannot do with words.  The next step was finding a makeup artist and hair stylist, which could be a hassle because what I find difficult is scheduling as these are working professionals and weekends are generally their busiest times.  But luckily Andrayah who does both hair and makeup was available.

On the day of the shoot, it was my first time meeting Maria and she was a buddle of joy which was perfect because on a photo session you want everyone to be easy going.  One of the questions Maria asked me on the shoot was why did I pick her and I told her it was because of a BTS image I saw of her on Instagram.  Even though it wasn't a fully produced production image, it stopped me in my tracks, I found her face very unique which can lend itself to a variety of looks.  Working with Maria was so easy, she was open to the directions I was providing and she never at any time complained even though some of the poses were difficult as she indicated in the video.

The location we choose to do the photo session was ideal but the time of day was not.  The light quality was horrible but I quickly adapted and modified the game plan by manipulated the natural light as best I could to get a great image.  I then moved onto using strobes not because the natural light was bad but because I wanted to get some details in the sky which I knew wouldn't happen with just using the natural light.  After the first setup, we all decided to grab some lunch and then after that, we hit the streets to get some additional images, where we closed the session.  With respect to gear, I used my Canon 5D Mark III with all 3 of my lens 70-200 2.8, 24-70 2.8 & 85 1.2.  For the lighting, as I mention I used natural light and I used the Godox AD600BM Bowens Mount 600Ws with the Elinchrom Rotalux 99cm Deep Octagonal Softbox.

I really want to give a big thanks to Maria, Jordan (support system aka Sister to Maria), Andrayah (hair and makeup artist), Ben (assistant) and Wayne (videographer) who made this shoot very easy and a lot of fun.

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One of the biggest questions I always get on my workshops is how to balance artificial light with natural light.  The reason this question always comes up is because when photographers first start using artificial light, they don't get a great balance of natural and artificial light.  The biggest mistakes I see is they tend to kill all the natural light, which tend to give the image that "flash" look.  So how do you avoid your image from getting that "flash" look and having it nicely balanced with the ambient/natural light?

So the key to getting a properly exposed image is first getting the ambient light under control.  The reason you want to start with the ambient and not your flash is because you cannot control the ambient light, so it's better to quickly get that under control with your camera settings.  Here are my 3 steps to getting a properly exposed image using flash.

First thing I do is choose my ISO.  Now keep in mind if you increase your ISO it will also increase the amount of ambient light as well as the amount of artificial light hitting your camera sensor.  The more you decrease the ISO the less ambient light will hit your camera sensor and the harder your flash would have to work. When working indoors your ISO can be anywhere in the neighborhood of 800 or more, which means your artificial light may require less power.  So for example, if you are outside and you are shooting at ISO 100 your flash power may need to be at full power because more power is required from the flash to help fill in the shadows on your subject.

Next, I decide on what aperture I would like to use.  Generally, I like to select a wide aperture such as 2.8.  The wider the aperture the more ambient light you would get on your camera sensor which means your flash would not have to work as hard. The aperture also controls the power levels on your flash. 

Lastly, I then focus on the shutter.  This setting controls only the ambient light hitting your sensor, it has very little impact on the artificial light.  Once I lock in my ISO and Aperture, I use my shutter to help dial in my proper exposure.  If I am outside and I choose an ISO of 100 and an aperture of 2.8 that means there's a lot of ambient light hitting the sensor.  The shutter would then help to reduce the amount of ambient light hitting the sensor, which means my shutter could land anywhere in the neighborhood of 1/1600 or more.  That said, another issue when working with flash and the shutter is something known as the camera sync speed, which is a limitation all cameras have.  The camera I use is the Canon 5D Mark III and the shutter sync speed on that camera is 1/200.  If I am using a flash and I am shooting at 1/1600 and my flash doesn't have HSS (High Speed Sync) enabled then my image would get a black bar either on the lower or upper portion of the image.  If your flash does have HSS enabled then you can shoot beyond your camera sync speed.  If your flash doesn't have HSS then you would have to lock in your shutter at your camera sync speed, which in my case is 1/200 and then I would have to use my aperture to decrease the amount of ambient light hitting my sensor, so that means instead of shooting at an aperture of 2.8, I may end up shooting at aperture f10 or more.  If that happens that means I would need more power from the flash.

So how do you bring all this together? Well, it's very simple. The first thing you want to do when you arrive at your scene is to get your ambient light under control using ISO, Aperture, and Shutter.  Next, you introduce your flash, the only thing that you would be manually changing on the flash is the power output.  What I like to do, given that I shoot on manual, is put my flash on 1/2 power and take a test image to determine if the power output my flash is too powerful or if more power is required, but I am not changing the settings on my camera.  The only time I would change my settings on my camera is if I need more power from the flash.  If my flash is at full power I would change either my ISO or Aperture just to give the light a little more power.  However, by changing the ISO or Aperture that means the ambient light would be changing as well.  As I adjust the flash power, I would take a test shot and look at the image to determine if the flash/artificial is balancing with the ambient.  Now, this technique is subjective because every photographer would see something different.  Some photographers would want a dramatic image or something a little bit more true to life, meaning less drama aka fewer shadows.

In conclusion, understanding how your ISO, Aperture, and Shutter works with your ambient and flash is very important to balancing your natural/ambient with your artificial light.  I hope this was helpful and please check out the video tutorial below for more details, Wayne Wonder the videographer did a fantatic job putting this together. I want to give a big thank you to Orlando Parker for modeling for this tutorial.  Orlando is an up and coming music artist, please check out his FB page for all his international adventures.

If you would like to attend one of my workshops, please join our meetup group and check for the next available workshop.  If you don't see any upcoming workshops just contact me directly and we can put something on the calendar.

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