I wanted to talk a bit about Portrait Lighting today. I would like to illustrate this with a few images from a senior photo session I did last week. When shooting outside, I like to look for open shade which is very complimentary for portraits. What’s open shade?

Indirect light. It usually can be found, just like it’s name says, in shaded areas where the sun isn’t directly hitting. Behind a building, under a tree, you get the idea. Just look with your photo eyes and not your natural eyes and you will start to recognize tons of areas to make great portraits.

Back to our first example.

I placed my subject in next to an old brick church in downtown Fullerton. The direction of the light is from camera left. See the shaded area on the subject’s face? I also composed the image with the subject’s eyes in the upper right area of convergence. Let’s look at another image….

Here my subject is leaning against a white wall with the light coming again from camera left. I was teasing him about his hairstyle and how it resembled pop star, “Justin Bieber.” It seems that most high school age boys hate that comparison, but would love the attention that he gets from girls of all ages!

I like the relaxed look on his face and his body language. BTW, I was told by my subjects father, that he hates having his photo taken. Well, that’s always a great challenge for me. We talked about college, music, Justin Bieber and in hardly anytime, my subject was relaxed and very at ease with having his photo taken.

Patience and feeling confident about your photography goes a long way in comforting a hesitant subject.

Finally, I wanted to leave our little post today with an image that is composed with careful planning. I love the relaxed look and the smile that reveals who my subject is. His guard is down and he is just looking very natural. The black and white strips away any distractions and allows the viewer to just see the personality of the subject in this image.

In review, look for open shade, that indirect light that is so flattering for your portraits and you will find your images getting stronger. Portrait lighting doesn’t have to be sophisticated, you just have to “see” it before you shoot it.

Enjoy!

I was honored to meet and photograph Coach Wooden back in t 2003 after the Angels won the World Series. He was a big baseball fan and had even thrown out the first pitch at one of the home games during the series. One of the writers at the Register set up a meeting with Mike Scioscia at Coach’s condo in LA. Meeting Coach Wooden was a dream assignment! At the time, I believe he was 93. His mind was sharp and he was a gracious host. I felt like I was about 12 years old getting to meet a legend!

The writer even brought his rabbi! So, the manager of the World Champion MLB team, a seasoned sports writer and his rabbi and a veteran photojournalist are all crammed into an Encino condominium all acting like a bunch of giddy school boys because we are in the presence of the JOHN WOODEN!

The walls are lined with every award known to mankind. There are little knick-knacks covering every open space in the living room. Things that have been accumulated from a very long and full life. Their are photos of his many grandchildren, too. There are no handlers are bodyguards, just the four of us.

He tells the reporter and Coach Scioscia about his love for baseball and how excited he is for the Angels. After about 30 minutes the interview ends and I begin setting up my lights for the photo session. I bring a basketball for Coach to use in the photo, so I asked him to sign it with really large lettering. He smiles and says, “You’re going to keep this right.?” I said, “You got me, Coach.” (I sent the ball to his biggest fan, my father-in-law, for safe keeping)

After the photo session, I realize that I am all alone with the Legend and it feels like I’m hanging out with my grandfather! He asks if I would like to see something and invites me into his office.

There are even more paintings and awards and baseballs crammed into his little office than you can imagine. He hands me his Pryamid of Success flyer and tells me that this is a blueprint for life. He tells me about his wife, Nell, and how he misses her.

A lifetime of achievements and all that really matters is his family. More wisdom from the Wizard of Westwood.
May he rest in peace!

Last time we looked at some portrait basics. I would like to go a little bit more in depth today at photography portrait tips. To let you into my thought process during a portrait session.

In our first photo our model is leaning against a wall in downtown Orange. It was a senior photo session, so I want my subject to have a variety of situations and outfits. The most important thing I want is for the subject to feel at ease. Keep your subject focused on you and the atmosphere that you are creating. That way they aren’t intimidated by onlookers etc.

Still looking at our first image, I used a long lens and a small f/stop to create a shallow depth of field. That way the subject pops out of the canvas and really captures the viewer’s eye. I’ve placed our subject’s head in the upper right area of convergence to lead our viewer’s eye right to her face.

The photos are shown in a chronological order to show our subject’s level of comfort at being in front of the camera.

In the second image, We have the same outfit, but my assistant suggested a pose from a popular singer’s CD. I always try to include input from my subjects. It’s just one more thing to put our subject at ease.

Her head is in the upper left area of convergence and I had her put her knees together for modesty and the lines that her legs and arms would make. Her pose is casual and playful and it matches her smile. The light is coming from higher up and from camera left. Let’s move to the next image.

A new outfit and location is part of our third photo.

A nice shaft of light coming from camera left set the stage for this 3/4 portrait. The light is strong, but pleasing and does not cast any harsh shadows. It’s dramatic light, so I didn’t ask my subject to smile. Instead she opted for a more calm and serious look. In our next and fourth image, I wanted to demonstrate that when you find good light, work it!

Don’t forget to try out different layouts, both vertical and horizontal. Sometimes you can be pleasantly surprised at how different your images can look just by changing the orientation of your camera. My subject is using her arm as a design element to lead the viewer’s eye right to her face.

The fifth image is where our subject really started to feel at ease. She put her jacket back on and I moved closer to capture her facial expressions. Her eyes are in the areas of convergence and that is what the viewer is lead to.

My last image really captured her personality and her ability to dance. I always ask about hobbies that my subject’s might pursue and might be an expert in. My subject had danced for years so I asked her to move around. Bu this time of the shoot she didn’t have any hesitation and didn’t mind the occasional passerby. It was fabulous! Her body is in the right vertical third with her head in the upper convergence area. The viewer’s eye will be lead to our subject making a much stronger composition.

So to review:

Help your subject to feel at ease. Be open to input from your subject and helpers. Look to match your subject’s mood with the surroundings and lighting. Try different orientations when you find good light. Once your subject starts feeling at ease really push for great facial expressions and poses. Finally, ask your subject about areas that they might have expertise. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Hello from the soggy O.C., where it is pouring! But fear not, I was able to make a very nice portrait while staying dry and comfortable inside my house. Today I’d like to show you a segment about portrait photography and lighting.

Manipulating the available light is something that every photographer from beginning to advanced needs to have in their bag of tricks.

In the first image above is a portrait of my daughter, Tara.

I placed her in next to a bank of three windows in our living room that faces north. Very soft even lighting exists here, since the light is not directly striking my subject and due to the sheer curtains, the light is very diffused and soft.

Unfortunately, there is too much shadow on her left side of her face or camera right. A quick a simple way to fix this is with a reflector. Now you can run down to your nearest camera store where they will be happy to sell you a fancy-schmansy reflector for a bunch of money. But wait!

I have a quick and inexpensive solution that is almost always available.

Anything white will do. I grabbed an old poster out of the garage and placed it on top of the piano bench that my daughter is resting her arms on. Look carefully at the reflection in her eyes and you will see it in the lower half of her iris.

Since we didn’t have another assistant available and my labs aren’t very good at standing still, I just had my daughter use her left arm to bend the poster board up towards her face which nicely redirected some of the light from the window back into her face.Loo

See the huge difference it makes? You need to practice how close you need to bring your reflector in to work effectively, but in no time at all you should get the hang of this. Almost anything will work. Try a piece of paper, a napkin anything that will reflect the light from one direction back into your subject will work.

Practice makes perfect and is a lot less expensive than a store-bought reflector. Enjoy!

A lot of cameras were given and received as Christmas presents. Here’s an entry about children’s photography. Too many times in my earlier days, I tried to make the perfect portrait of my children. It usually ended with me being frustrated and my kids crying and a lot of bad photos.

Forget about the perfect smile and the kids looking directly at the camera. What works and is the best way to make photos is to just have fun during the portrait session.

Whatever the kids do is cute.  That’s the key. If they cry or run away or smile it will be fine.

In a nutshell that is the key or secret. Too many sessions are ruined by overzealous parents trying to make children do what they want.

You cannot reason with a tired or hungry three-year-old! However long they give you, consider it a gift.

The gallery photos that I have included are from a recent session for a 16 month old and his mom. I made sure that the timing of the session was after his nap and that he had eaten. Then we went to a local park and let him run around.

I utilized a lot of compositional techniques as he ran around and waited for various lighting situations to maximize my opportunities for the most good photos. Practice photographing a small child with your main subject in the areas of convergence. Don’t expect great results on your first session, but practice to achieve greater and greater results.

Enjoy and success!

Today I would like to share more about photographic composition and how it affects our viewers.

Our subject is Victor Pang a Pacific Islander who speaks out about cancer to his fellow islanders. Support groups and helping those who are currently battling cancer or those who might be survivors is one of his many passions. I was asked to photograph Mr. Pang for CURE magazine. I decided a portrait near the water would make sense and put him in an environment that he loves.

He brought his paddle, authentic hat and a flowered shirt and the rest was up to me. Let’s talk about the composition of this photo.

I wanted to show Victor near the water, so we walked right under the pier as close to water without getting wet. The pier acted like a giant screen blocking out the light, but not the ambient light that was nicely diffused due to the clouds.

I decided to place my subject’s head in the upper right area of convergence of the top horizontal and the right vertical thirds of the image. The paddle, I carefully made sure that it didn’t blend into the darkeness of the underside of the pier. So, I had it surrounded by the clouds, that way it was sure to stand out in the frame. The horizon is on a standard 1/3rd sky and 2/3rds land ration. I wanted to emphasize the water and the land, thus, the 2/3rds devoted to that.

Finally, I wanted to show the vanishing point of the pier, I placed that in the convergence of the upper left corner. The lighting was achieved with one off-camera Canon 580EXII at 1/2 power which gave me a ratio of about 1 1/2 stops over the ambient, or so. That’s another post in the future. All in all, I was very pleased that a simple portrait could be so visually effective.

You can see some of my other poses that were part of my creative process, but in the end, the first frame is the one that I like the best.

Simple composition can lead your viewer’s eyes exactly to the places that you desire to highlight. Thanks for looking and enjoy!

Here’s a portrait photography tip, get closer!

Getting closer is something that most photographers can do to better their images. Usually, most photographers want to include all of their subject in the frame.

Unfortunately, this keeps us from getting close-up and personal. It’s okay to crop off the top of your subject’s head. We all know it is there, so all lot of the time we don’t need to show it!

One more of our portrait photography tips, shoot your subject through something for visual complexity. It makes your photos a lot more interesting and it gives the viewer something to look at.

In the photo above, there were some beautiful wysteria plants that were blooming and I wanted to somehow include them in the frame. I asked my subject to stand behind them and voila, an interesting portrait is born.

Here’s the photographic composition thinking as I made the pic.

I placed her eyes near the top right area of convergence so the eyes of the viewer would be drawn to them and the blooms of the flowers are in different areas of focus to create visual complexity. Enjoy!