The catalyst for this blog was my shoot last week with Allea and the improvement I noticed from even a year ago. A couple of these images were my best ever.
Due to our schedules, we did the shoot outdoors (her preference) in the late morning sun (nobody’s preference) in the “wild” area of a local Regional Park. I used only the Nikon D3 and an on-board SB 800. I brought a couple of reflectors, but with no hands left to hold them, we mostly did without.
In the open sun, I put the sun to her back and filled with the SB 800. Seriously, the flashes these days are scary good. A few test pics were necessary to dial in the flash, but that was it. (Well, there was PhotoShop work, but that’s for another post.) Here’s the best …
Allea as cowgirl
We also shot some under the cover of trees and brush. As you may know – or will come to realize as you look at ruined images – hot spots from filtered sunlight are killers. Our eyes seem to compensate for them, I guess, because they’re always way worse in the photos. We set up a reflector and an umbrella to try to block the hot spots, but mostly we moved to minimize them. Again, D3 and SB 800. The flash filled in the small hot spots very well. Here’s the best of that bunch …
Allea in Green Shirt
There was one other set that I thought came out technically well, but just didn’t turn out as I’d have wished. I got so caught up in setting up the shot and getting the focus right (shot was wide open) that I failed to really watch the model. I love the color and the shallow DoF. Had she had some sort of smile, wink, etc., this would be a much better shot …
Allea in green scarf
Looking back, I’m surprised the shoot came out as well as it did. In those conditions it might not have. I’m slowly getting it. I’m also continually surprised at how much – despite the cliches – the equipment does make a difference … The spot-on AF of the D3; the metering of the SB 800 …
BTW, here’s Allea on the web: http://www.modelmayhem.com/775271
I’ll talk about the PS work in a later post. In the meantime, any questions or comments? Fire away …
