Every time I try to shoot a portrait, you know, intentionally set out to get a decent portrait shot, they look terrible, yet if I just run into someone at, say....a gallery opening, I get stuff like this....
I really like this enough that I almost wanna submit it for the October Free Study.
I think the reason you (and I as well) can't do it on purpose, is not understanding lighting well enough, so we just stumble across such shots instead of being able to take create them at will. One of my own goals for the near future is to improve my lighting skills. I would like to be able to do some of the wonderful portraiture I see from others here and I know the lighting is one of my weak areas.
He "stumbled upon it" at an art gallery opening; he didn't light it himself, that's just the way the light *was*. Or so I take it from his original post... That's kind of the point; he's bemoaning that he doesn't know lighting well enough to replicate this effect with his own lights.
ya got that bear i just assumed he positioned her under 1 of the recessed lights in the ceiling intenionaly?
No.....that's the problem...
She was standing in a doorway lit by a feeble incandescant porch light with a grimy globe.
Should I go steal the porch light?.....8>)
And Robert, you're wrong.....it isn't that I don't know lighting well enough....I don't know it at all! LOL!!!
The thing is, I don't think about it....I just see someone I think will shoot well, and I go for it.
I guess I don't really think about thye ones that just didn't work out all that well....they fall out of my head, and ones like this young woman just really stand out.
I guess I should prolly do some actual homework.....or just never agree to do portrait work on purpose.......
jeb don't know if you have a flash or not but if you do get a stand and an umbrella for it and check out the strobist blog and practice some its fun and you'll learn a lot about light without spending a lot of money! b&hhere's a link to the stands i got and here's a link to strobist strobist
jeb don't know if you have a flash or not but if you do get a stand and an umbrella for it and check out the strobist blog and practice some its fun and you'll learn a lot about light without spending a lot of money! b&hhere's a link to the stands i got and here's a link to strobist strobist
I have a friend that has Bees, and he's really nice about dragging me along (Voice-activated light stand! LOL!!!), but I never seem to get this soft light with the studio setups.....not that I've worked with them a lot.
I guess I'm actually going to have to break down and learn how to use flash.
I have an SB-400 and I *hate* doing flash work 'cause I don't know what I'm doing.
Pioneering movie director Cecil B. DeMille is credited with the first use of the term:
DeMille explained in his autobiography that while shooting THE WARRENS OF VIRGINIA (1915), he borrowed some portable spotlights from the Mason Opera House in downtown Los Angeles and “began to make shadows where shadows would appear in nature.” When business partner Sam Goldwyn saw the film with only half an actor’s face illuminated, he feared the exhibitors would pay only half the price for the picture. After DeMille told him it was Rembrandt lighting, “Sam’s reply was jubilant with relief: for Rembrandt lighting the exhibitors would pay double!”
