Lesson Learned

About half of the time I arrive for a business headshot, the contact person I am to meet has not arrived, will not arrive, or is running behind. I am, then, at the mercy of the staff on site. They don't know me, understand the space I need or the time required to setup for a portrait. I am always treated with courteous and respect but mostly set aside and told to have a seat in a waiting room or wait in a main lobby. My client arrives and is ready to shoot but I have no location yet, as I have been patiently waiting in a small room somewhere. What makes it harder is the fact that these locations, more often than not, have been fairly secure with badges needed for doors and such. Not an ideal place to explore without credentials or an escort. However, from now on I will push harder to do just that. I both hate and love having to scramble at the last minute to find that perfect spot with no time to test to see if the images will work or not. I guess that's the gig! I wouldn't want to be doing anything else! Lit with a Einstein 640 Camera right and reflector camera left. Hair light courtesy of the ambient outside. http://flic.kr/p/m75pJo

Bright smile

Lit with Einstein 640 with a blue gel through an umbrella camera right. The blue gel was used to warm up the cloudy and blue temperature outdoors behind the subject. Reflect low and camera left to fill in the shadows. http://flic.kr/p/k2nCxU

Mind your surroundings

-The more you take portraits, especially locations portraits, the more you learn to really see your potential background and potential light. You also discovery the capabilities and unfortunately, at times, the limitations of your equipment. Location work, more often than not, forces you to push your camera to it's limits. I just finished editing 60 headshot images for my client and I'm proud to say I didn't exceed any limitations of my equipment, only expectations of my photographs. Photographed with a single Einstein 640 through an umbrella with a warming cto (Color Temperature Orange) gel. http://flic.kr/p/i2NNPG

Beautiful Bokeh

Just finished editing another set of headshots for Group Health. I twas fairly dark outside today I needed to bump my iso up to ISO400 in order to balance the ambient outside. This also meant that there was a fair amount of ambient light coming from light fixtures nearby. It was critical that I white balanced correctly so as to keep the tones natural looking and consistent with other images I've done in different conditions. The building behind is outside while we are in and on the other side of the street which creates the nice bokeh (blurriness) in this image. Tis the season for headshots. Got yours? http://flic.kr/p/hFUNQv

She's a natural

I love the feel to this image taken a couple weeks back at Group Health in Olympia. The sun was just setting behind us and to the left. I used a cto(color transfer orange) gel on my main light to help balance the warm tones of the sun. The sun was only hitting the background to the right and, of course, outside. These shots are difficult to maintain as I had quite a few employees to get through and golden hour lasts, well, for an hour or less! I just kept adjusting my shutter speed as necessary which changes the ambient only and leaves the light from my strobe the same. Due to space restrictions I used only one key without a fill and a hair light camera left just behind the subject. http://flic.kr/p/hnj5Yx