Portrait Wednesdays: The Many Moods of Pamela
“Look, I’m not an intellectual – I just take pictures.”—Helmut Newton With Wordy Wednesdays running so many years I thought it was time for a change and inspired by Gary Bernstein’s book Burning Gold decided to see how many Wednesdays I could publish a different portrait of the same model, in this case Pamela Simpson. Over the next who-knows-how-many Wednesdays I’ll be showcasing a different image of her...
Portrait Wednesdays: The Many Faces of Pamela
In 1988, photographer Gary Bernstein, along with Bernie Taupin, published his first book called Burning Cold. The only model whose photographs appeared in the book’s pages was Bernstein’s wife, Kay Sutton York. I’ve been flogging Wordless then Wordy Wednes-days for many years and thought it was time for a change and inspired by Burning Gold decided to see how many Wednes-days I could publish a different portrait of the same...
Why It’s a Good idea to Test
Back when everybody shoot film, testing was an important part of improving your photography and most people wouldn’t shoot an assignment or any critical images before testing the concept or gear beforehand. Before clicking the shutter, medium and large format studio shooters used (expensive) Polaroid film and others would shoot test rolls or run clip tests before trying anything new. Along comes digital capture with its instant...
Shooting with Cold Continuous Light
The problem with traditional “hot lights” is that they are, well, hot and are not all that comfortable to work under for subject and photographer alike. Welcome to a world of continuous light sources that are powered by fluorescent bulbs. I know what you’re thinking, don’t fluorescent lights produce horrible green light? As it turns out daylight-balanced fluorescents are the perfect light source for digital photography. By...
Two Photographers, One Model, One Location
Today’s Post by Joe Farace A great photographer once advised me to work with as few light control devices as possible. I try to do that because the less time spent working with my gear, the more time I can spend putting my subject at ease. If you give me a doorway I’ll use it as a prop. Doorways give subjects something to do with their hands as well as—I think anyway—provide a natural frame around the subject adding interest to...
LED Lighting for a Nostalgic Portrait
When shooting with Rotolight’s Anova Pro BI-S Bi-Color LED Light, the optional ($250) barndoors are an ideal way to control the output. The barndoors’ lightweight metal six-leaf design folds flat for easy storage and comes with mounting hardware and hex wrench just in case the doors loosen. The barndoors were helpful whether I was trying to focus the light on a subject, allowing it to go more low key by keeping light off of a...
Using Soft Focus or Blur for Portraits
When it comes to portraiture, you don’t always want tack sharp photographs. Blur and selective blur, when applied to an otherwise ordinary photograph can create a mood that fits an impression of the subject more than the reality but sometimes the distinction between blur and soft focus gets confused, so let’s take a look at their differences. Blur: Blur can be caused by camera or subject motion and can be accidentally or deliberately...
