After weeks of asking herself 'should I, or shouldn't I', Karen finally did it! She cut her hair. And what better way to show the world her new look than to have a photoshoot? Oh and for the record, I think she looks beautiful :)
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A headshot session is one of my favorite assignments to shoot as they provide a fantastic avenue for the photographer and the subject to really communicate. To most, these look like they were fairly easy to shoot but as they say, looks can be deceiving. With just a bare background, there is minimal margin for error as the focus clearly is on the subject. Therefore, establishing a great rapport with the person you are shooting is the key element in producing great looking images. Of course, how you light the scene is important as well as this sets the mood and the look. Personally, I believe simplicity is the key. I rarely use more than three lights when doing headshots but this depends on the requirements of the shoot. A lot of times, clients tend to request for that 'high-key' look which means I'll have to use extra lighting to nuke the background and make it pure white. But a key, a fill and a separation is usually all that you need to nail great looking headshots. Which is exactly what I used here.
Woke up a little before dawn today for this. Never mind that I was still sick and possibly spewing germs all over the place, the show needed to go on. We were actually supposed to shoot Norman and his drift-tweaked Nissan 240SX for Goodyear Philippines yesterday but because this was all thrown in together by the client at the last minute, we found out later on that the 'little' details such as the location, permits and exact time for the shoot were overlooked. Genius! Already 6+pm with no definite plan and a dying ambient, it was decided that we move the shoot early the next day. Anyway, to cut the long story short, we were able to proceed with the photoshoot today. Sure there were some last minute hiccups again but nothing that couldn't be solved by a few minutes of deliberations over coffee and yosi. At least the weather this morning cooperated. The sun rose slowly and the clouds were thick enough to give us beautiful diffused light which made it a lot easier to balance the strobes with the ambient. Guerrilla shooting once again. This time at the Mall of Asia/baywalk area. We were done in just a few minutes. Mga Pinoy talaga kasi usi :p People were staring at us and it was a bit uncomfortable shooting with lots of people stopping to see what the hell we were doing hehe. But I think for the time we spent there, the shots were worth it. Now Nadine can send her friends back home some not-so-ordinary postcards of herself while she was us in the Philippines :) Strobist info: 1. Bare 430exII on lightstand camera left 1/8power@24mm 2. Triggered via ctr 301-p's Hi-res image after the jump Just a few more months and I will be married to my fiancee, Karen :) The big day can't come soon enough! Strobistry: 1. 430exII on lightstand shot through 60x90 softbox camera left @ 1/16th power 24mm 2. YN 460II on lightstand, gridded, camera left as hair light 1/64th power 35mm 3. Triggered via CTR 301-Ps 4. All images shot using the 85mm @ f1.8 On slow nights such as this one, me and my best bud Mark usually end up venturing out with a concept in mind, take on an alternate persona, and document the craziness through the viewfinder.
What's awesome is that it is during these nights that we get to exercise our creativity and explore lighting techniques that we normally don't use during our contracted shoots. Why? Well, mostly because so far, our usual clientele want clean looking photos. None of that grunge-y dramatic look that both of us love to produce during our conceptual night-outs. But hey it's all good. At the end of the day, it's about churning out what the client wants. And if they are happy, then we are happy :) For the meantime, we are content expanding our lighting knowledge through our guinea pigging strobist adventures. Follow me after the jump to check out the latest BTS: Mafia Wars Goodyear Philippines commissioned me to shoot their sponsored drifter David Feliciano a few days before he left to compete in the ESPN STAR Sports organized Formula Drift competition in Singapore. The shots were featured as part of their promo collateral for the event. Awesome baby! Link to the official press release from Goodyear Philippines: http://www.autoindustriya.com/racing-news/id/320/ The complete set below: |
Aguhon
This is the travel and photography blog of Manila based photographer Dux Carvajal. Archives
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