Life, The Universe and Everything

• Photographing people and studio lights.

  Posted: July 3, 2008, 2:49 pm by egm

  I am very impatient when it comes to children. Or so I tell myself. It was with wonder, then, that I got called to photo the son of a friend. I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures. Either I force patience upon myself and get some great photos, with the subsequent payments coming after, or I just be my normal impatient self and brush away that job. Good thing money-sense won out! And it was a surprisingly good shoot. Didn't have as many problems as I thought I would. I guess the presence of a big camera pointing at him made the boy more receptive to my guidance.
  
  Talking of photographing people, I now know that studio portrait work is not for me. I just don't have the personality to interact with models in a way that brings out the best pictures. So I either work with an assistant who will engage the models as I shoot, or I try my hand at other aspects of photography. That explains why I am more fond of capturing moments at weddings in a photojournalistic style, with my clients being almost oblivious to my presence, as opposed to me directing them on how to pose so as to get certain shots.
  
  How did I come to this realisation? I was fortunate to have at my disposal a studio, with complete lighting and backdrops for an entire afternoon on Saturday. And I had some friends come in as models to aid in that. The owner of the studio was with us throughout as we went throught he paces. He guided the models on how to pose and guided me on how to best capture the models. Even though I have decided that this is probably not my line of work, I nevertheless appreciated the time he put in teaching us that day. He extended an invitation to get back another afternoon and do some more shooting. Most definitely I intend to honour this invite. It would be stupid of me not to! Maybe after a while doing this my stance towards studio portraiture will change.
  
  The best thing about that day was the realisation of just how wonderful off camera lighting is. No wonder these guys are so cookoo about that whole arena! To them, the first and only commandment is: Thou shalt NEVER use on-camera flash! That day I understood why. None of my on-camera flash shots have ever come close to what I achieved that day with the studio lights illuminating my subject. I had seen examples of both before, but until I did it myself, I didn't fully appreciate the difference in quality of light. There are indeed certain situations where I will have no choice but to use the on-camera flash, but given the choice, I am now sold on off-camera.
  
  My next investment might just end up being a set of studio lights. Which I hope to put up in my tiny sitting room. And do lots and lots of shots. Good thing I have friends who have said I can call upon them any time I need models. So long as they get a copy of good shots from the sessions. The people at Saturday's shoot will all get copies of good pictures of them on disc. Which they are free to use in their portfolios should they wish to make one. Likewise, those that I work with will have the same deal.
  
  But beyond practicing on models, I shall also work on doing lots of still life photography. My understanding is, product photography is a big thing here. If you have even a modest portfolio, you can get lots of work. There is one guy already who says he has almost 10,000 items he needs photographed that he intends to put up in an auction site. Methinks that number is exaggerated, but that's neither here nor there. He wanted to know if I would be up to doing photography for those items for him. This makes my getting lights even more important.
  
  Time to go make that shilling so I can get me some lights!

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Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

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The end of the fish cakes