Portrait photography: Shooting

Shoot One
'For the first shoot we went up a floor to one of the bedrooms. With ample light and the minimum amount of furniture in the room, positioning Jenna, myself, and Erin was very easy. However, the light was a little cold, so I decided to try and warm Jenna up a bit with the careful placement of our reflectors.

'Having seen the room already in the initial recce, I felt it was best to have Jenna sitting on the bed, facing its bottom end. At first we tried the idea of having Jenna sitting on the edge of the bed with her arms resting on the end bedposts. This worked well as I was able to position myself in such a way that one side of my subject's face was lit up by natural light.
'I'm not a massive fan of having hands in portrait shots, but by using the bed Jenna was able to do something with them. It can often be the case that an inexperienced model will have difficulty in knowing what to do with their hands in a shoot, but by using a prop and offering some guidance this can easily be resolved.'

Set Up
In this shoot, John decided to use two reflectors at the same time, one to bounce light into the shadows and one to direct some light upwards and into Jenna's face. Although in this particular example Erin was able to do a fantastic job in holding both the reflector and white card together, such a set-up can be made easier with the use of a stand and some clamps. Not only would this free up the hands of an assistant, it would provide a chance for you to involve more reflectors into your shoot, if needed.





Shoot Two
'The second shoot of the day took place on the landing upstairs. I'd noticed a generous amount of light was making its way into this area and there was an armchair placed ideally with its back towards the source. Because of this, Jenna is completely backlit, and as such, her face is in a lot of shadow. But by calculated placement of the reflectors, we will be able to bounce light back towards her.

'However, as soon as the shoot started,  and this was something that had been noticed on first inspection of the location we could see that a rather unsightly looking rooftop was visible outside the window behind Jenna. In order to eliminate this I overexposed the background to blow it out, and the settings of 1/25th sec at f/2.8 and an ISO of 400 made this possible.'

Set Up
By bringing two reflectors into play we were able to light up Jenna's face without losing the backlight. Again, Jenna held the white card in front of her to uplight her face, and Erin stood to the side in order to throw some warm light towards the side of Jenna's face. The chair was in the ideal position already so it was really just a case of popping Jenna in place and firing away, with John actually positioning himself more head-on to the light.

Shoot Three
'For the last shoot we used the lounge. The room is large and there was a huge bay window located behind and to the side of the subject, who had been positioned on a chaise longue. There was plenty of available light shining through the window but straightaway we were met with a problem.

'Outside the window, and just over the head of the model, there was a skip. To eliminate this problem we simply taped a sheet of tracing paper on the outside of the window. Not only did this block out the sight of the skip, but it still allowed the ambient light to shine through.

'I often find that hands can get in the way of a good shot, and so move them out of shot, leaving the portrait clear of any clutter.
'Moving away from the model I positioned myself low down and at a 90° angle to the direction in which the light was hitting my subject.

'Using the settings I've already highlighted to add sharpness to the salient features of Jenna, her eyes and face. I dialed in an aperture of f/2.8 and a shutter speed of 1/50th sec. I was still using an ISO setting of 400. These settings allowed me to use the available light, and with the introduction of a reflector, kindly held in place by Erin, I could then bounce light on to the side of the face that was in shadow.

'There is always the possibility that the light will change so alterations will often have to occur on the move. As the light got stronger, I asked Erin to move further away but on the same line as the direction of light. This meant that a less harsh light was being bounced into the shadows, which in turn helped towards the natural look I was after in the portrait. Always be aware of changes in light and adjust accordingly.'

Set Up
The white card faced the light source, bouncing it into the shadows on Jenna's face. John then selected a spot that was at about 90° to the direction of the light, and that allowed him to alter to high, middle and low shooting angles with ease.

CLEAR BACKGROUNDS
Look out for clutter in the background that will distract the viewer of your image. If there is any, just remove it.

Don't feel you have to stick to the furniture set-up as you find it. If the light is better in another part of the room, just move things around a bit. Take a grey card reading to get the colour balance just right.

HAND POSITIONS
If you do include a shot of the model's hands in your shoot, make sure that you have them positioned carefully, and not looking like an afterthought. If not done correctly, they will cause a distraction in the image. Also, remember that if you move the model to a different position during a shoot, always check the background again, because there might have been something in the first position that, after moving the model, suddenly becomes a visible distraction. You don’t always have to use reflectors. Merely using the light available can produce excellent results.

CHAT TO YOUR SUBJECT
Make your subject feel at ease by constantly chatting to them. This will help them relax and be more receptive to what you are asking them to do.

Take a break every now and again to see how your pictures are looking. Tiredness will be reflected in your images if your sessions are too long.

www.johnfreeman-photographer.com