Remedy is soon to be moving to Chicago for college, and what better way to mark the occasion than a photoshoot all around Chicago. We had the awesome and talented Lisa Jablonski come in to do hair and make-up, Remedy brought a handfull of outfits, and we had a blast driving around Chicago taking pictures.
So my fancy fiance and her best friend decided to start a fashion blog, as a way to keep in touch while living two thousand miles away from each other. Mia, her fashionista partner in crime, recently came out to visit us in good old Chicago, and I got roped-in recruited to take some photos of the two of them. You can see the blog post here. You should check out their blog while you’re at it, it’s schmancy. Anyhoo, here are a few of MY favorites from the shoot, all of Mia, because Tia gets too much face time on this blog.
Mia is not amused
We’re going to the zoo tomorrow, and you can bet there will be more pictures. Stay tuned as our story develops.
I want to preface this by stating that this is not journalism in it’s strictest sense. Journalism carries with it a very strict code of ethics, a code I will never violate (whilst in the pursuit of journalism). I have serious issues with people who manipulate the truth and then pass it off as fact, even if only to change the connotation of an image. Some of what you see here may do that. I will say that I did not manipulate the scenes I photographed in any way (except possibly the last shot, get to that later). I did not pose people, or interact with them, though they were perfectly aware that I was there with a camera. What I did do is manipulate these in post, by giving them a dirty, gritty feel. I did this because I like the way it looks, and I feel it adds a little drama to what was otherwise a rather calm affair. I like drama in my images. I don’t like drama in journalism when it’s faked by the photographer. The people there were not this dirty, they were not shouting, they were mostly just being people, and in my opinion being as intelligent about this whole mess as they could. They talked with anyone who had questions, including themselves, with the apparent goal being to educate others on the issues at hand, or to discuss possible methods to solve said issues. While I’ll be thrilled if people like any of these images, I would prefer that any sharing come with a link to this post, so that there is no chance of them accidentally being used in an attempt to tell the “truth.” There is no truth in these, and that is not their purpose.
Whew. Okay, enough of that. On to the images.
National Nurses United was out and about, owing to the fact that some of their nurses were arrested last Saturday. Occupychi.org has more details, if you’re curious, as well as all kinds of information about Occupy Chicago.
This little guy was following his owner around, just dragging his leash around behind him. Shortly after this the owner saw me taking pictures, and grabbed a hold of him.
This is the only image where I interacted with the subjects first, by stopping to talk to them for a bit, and asking what happened. The fellow on the right had hurt his leg jumping from a train. The guy patching him up learned how to medic in the Army. The other gentleman didn’t say much, but did provide musical accompaniment on his guitar.
I have a few more that I like, but to save on loading time, I’m putting the whole mess in a gallery below. Thumbnails open up in a lightbox right here on this very page, and allow you to easily scroll through the whole set. If you’re interested in buying a print, click on the permalink on the top of this post, and you see all the images suddenly have links underneath them to ease you on your way. If you’d like to licence any of these…well…we may need to have a talk first. See disclaimer up top.
This is just a quick followup to my previous post. I shot these about two months ago, but they’re a perfect example of hard lights on a bright day. The difference in this case is the model was standing in the shade, so it was a little easier to out-nuke the sun. The first three are all a single bare flash, the last is fired through a white shoot-through reflector, for a softer edge. I matched the posing of the model with the mood of the light — hard lights are pretty badass IMO, whereas soft lights are, well, soft. Anyhoo, what do you think? Soft or hard?
For a while after I first got into lighting, it was all about soft light, the softer the better. We’re talking massive softboxes as close to the subject as I could get them. It’s a beautiful way to light, but more and more I find I want my images to have some grit, some character. Enter hard lights.
I try not to call her "Hard Lights" to her face
The problem with using hard light is, well, it’s hard. By hard I don’t necessarily mean harsh; I mean the transition from light to shadow is very quick, or non-existent. This can give you problems if you want any detail in those shadows, because they’re going to be pretty much black, unless you use some kind of fill. Enter the sun.
The sun can be a harsh mistress, it’s true, but if you know what you’re about you can make some really stellar images in even the harshest light of the day.
Pardon me a moment while a go into a little in-depth aside about lighting. I think the biggest mistake people make about lighting a subject is to think that it is about removing shadows. It’s actually the opposite, it’s about creating them, but putting them exactly where you want them and being in full control. That’s why on-camera flash looks terrible, it destroys all those shadows that give your subject it’s depth and three-dimensionality.
So how do you create shadows in harsh sunlight? Easy. You overpower the sun. Believe it or not, but usually you can do this with a single bare hot shoe flash, so long as it is in close enough and on full power. Easier still, stick a couple of flashes side-by-side, and get the choice between more light, or a lower power setting for a faster recycle time. Worried about casting multiple shadows? Stick the lights behind a small umbrella and now they’re one source, or else gaffer tape them together so they’re so close they might as well be one big super flash.
Stick the sun behind your subject, and maybe slightly to the side. Depending on the angle, this can give you a nice rim light, and you wont have to worry about the sun being in the persons face (squinty eyes generally don’t leave people looking their best). Stick your flash on the other side of your subject, facing back towards the sun, put it up nice and high, and point it down right into their face. This is a very good opportunity to not be a total dick. Do not tell them to look at the flash. That’s bad juju. Or, if you really want them looking into the light, have them wear glasses. Mirrored shades tend to look completely bad ass when shooting in harsh sun.
As for exposure, you have two choices: a neutral density filter and a wider aperture, or a really stopped down aperture. The only thing to consider with this choice is how much depth of field do you want? Once that’s decided, underexpose the background a tad. That’ll leave your sky a nice rich blue, and really put some drama into everything, especially clouds if there are any.
Sound like a lot? Sound intimidating? Try it, I dare you. I guarantee you fifteen minutes of futzing around with camera and flash settings, and you’ll end up taking one of the coolest photos of your life.
