Reply #2 - August 28, 2008, 12:21:54 PM
That is great natural light Benji. Is it this way under a bright sunny sky, or rather is it in the shade? Or do you need some clouds to give it this wonderful softness? Do you use anything to block the 'down' light to keep the eye sockets from being dark? Or a reflector to put a little light in them?
Oh, and one more question for you... is there any rules/guidelines for posin a man's body for a profile portrait? I will assume that his general position is the same, but should you [generally] shoot into his back or his chest? You could have a classic male pose either way, but is there a 'best' position for the camera?
Thanks,
Travis
Travis,
This image was made in the shade.
I usually work with one assistant so shooting in bright sunshine is out for me. To shoot in bright sunshine (10 AM to about 5PM) usually requires three or four people to hold up a large white bed sheet or something similar to soften the sunlight enough to use it for portraiture. Raw sunshine is WAAAAAYYYYY too bright and hard to use unmodified for good portraiture.
This particular shot was done in my 25 acre outdoor studio, where I have cut trees down, planted trees and pruned trees for the express purpose of creating near perfect natural lighting. I have done this so I can get the lighting I want without having to add any additional lighting.
The trees serve several purposes. Fisrt of all they provide a nice deep green background so the viewers attention will be on the subject not the background. Two, the overhead leafy branches block the unwanted overhead light, thereby preventing the dreaded
raccoon eyes so prevalent in outdoor imaging. Lastly they provide a light blocker (or gobo) to render a pleasing lighting ratio in the image. At some locations I must add a small silver reflector to raise the shadows up for proper printing.
Posing. The profile can be done as I did above, or it can be done with the chest facing the camera. You use the
exact same pose for the profile as you do the classical head and shoulders image, you just shoot from the opposite side.
Benji
Logged
The classic profile is broken, the furthest eye brow/partial socket has been exposed, in a classic profile, one does not see the opposite side.
