Page 104 - Essence of Beauty April May 2021
P. 104
How I got the shot
any times, simplicity is key to success.
M limit the field of view as Grace was the subject and
Photography is no different. The current
there were lots of distracting people/architectural
photography culture tells us more (and items in the background that didn’t add value to the
bigger) is better, especially when it comes to image. An aperture of f2.8 was used to bring in the
lighting. If one light is good, two lights has to be most light the lens could offer and help blur out and
better, right? And why stop at two, three would distractions in the background. The ISO was set at
even be better. Obviously, this isn’t always the 400 as this helped bring up the ambient exposure up
case. as a completely black background wasn’t desired.
Finally, the shutter speed of 1/160th of a second was
A good example of this is this series of shots that also used.
were done with model Grace Otto at the
University of Arizona’s Student Union one Lighting: The ambient light was very flat and
afternoon. It had been set up for a late afternoon uninteresting, so a single speedlite was used to
shoot, but as things happened, we couldn’t start provide the lighting. The light was about four feet
shooting until the sun was about to set and only from her, set a few steps above her. A 32-inch
had about 30-45 minutes of light (instead of the softbox was used to soften the light and provide
planned hour and a half). good coverage of Grace.
When the shoot started we were already rushing This softbox can be setup and taken down in less
and setting up a complicated shot with multiple than a minute, which was also critical when time was
lights was not possible. Simplicity was key to the crucial. A larger softbox would have been much
success of this shoot. more difficult to set up and not provide the bit of
punch we wanted for these shots.
The concept for this shoot was also simple:
photograph the model in some vintage inspired A hair light may have made Grace pop out a bit
wardrobe with 1970s style more from the background, but the
hair and makeup. For this time to add this light to the shot
specific shot, Grace was wasn’t available.
standing on a large concrete
staircase in the courtyard of Grace was photographed in over
the student union. five locations in less than 45
minutes. There is no way this could
Setting / time of day: have been done with complicated
These pictures were taken in lighting setups. The bottom line is
the afternoon at about 5:30 sometimes simpler is better, you
pm at the Student Union at don’t need complicated lighting
the University of Arizona. setups or expensive gear to make
The sun was setting or had interesting shots!
already set and the model
was in the shade of the
structure.
Camera Settings: A 70-
200mm lens was used to help
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