The Qiangmai season has been a very good opportunity for SYD members to experiment with portraiture. Every season, we are required to come up with publicity portraits of top 16 to finalists. Photos aren't used in major publications, but we still strive to produce our best. Where can you find so many free models anyway?
More after the break...
Judging by previous year's portraits, I believe we have made a big improvement this year. Main ingredient is the use of multiple off camera flashes, AKA strobing. Putting together different brands of flash, gels, DIY light modifiers, we had a taste of what multiple lights can do.
Of course, it was not all about going on site and just shoot. Planning for the shot is most important and time consuming. When we get the theme, we scour the net for what others have done, just to come up with inspirations. Models have to be notified on what to wear, and when to turn up. We have to decide where and what time to do the shoot. Coming up with the idea before shooting will easily save hours, and make everyone happy. A happy model also look better in pictures.
Being new to strobing, experimentation is key. All thanks to the immediate feedback of digital photography, we can see how every little change affects the overall image. Having consistent positioning of lights is very important, and is one problem we face. We do not own lightstands, and have to rely on our dear juniors to hold up the lights, tiring them out and wasting time. Really have to work on this the next season.
Other than that, I guess we learnt alot about how light positioning could really affect the image, and this helps in reverse-engineering those magazine images to deduce the sort of setup others use. Also aids in allowing me to pre-visualise the effects, and know when to employ off camera lighting on assignment.
Besides portraiture, we had to cover the performances as well. Being a rather stress-free assignment, the performances served to hone our skills in metering, which trust me, is one of the hardest to nail. Lights are harsh and ever changing, and we have to develop a feel of what settings to use.
This time round, due to the rather bland lighting, I decided to cheat a little and use off camera lighting =D. Certainly helps in preparing me for covering concerts.
The whole album is visible on my multiply. Do click around.
More after the break...
Judging by previous year's portraits, I believe we have made a big improvement this year. Main ingredient is the use of multiple off camera flashes, AKA strobing. Putting together different brands of flash, gels, DIY light modifiers, we had a taste of what multiple lights can do.
Of course, it was not all about going on site and just shoot. Planning for the shot is most important and time consuming. When we get the theme, we scour the net for what others have done, just to come up with inspirations. Models have to be notified on what to wear, and when to turn up. We have to decide where and what time to do the shoot. Coming up with the idea before shooting will easily save hours, and make everyone happy. A happy model also look better in pictures.
Being new to strobing, experimentation is key. All thanks to the immediate feedback of digital photography, we can see how every little change affects the overall image. Having consistent positioning of lights is very important, and is one problem we face. We do not own lightstands, and have to rely on our dear juniors to hold up the lights, tiring them out and wasting time. Really have to work on this the next season.Other than that, I guess we learnt alot about how light positioning could really affect the image, and this helps in reverse-engineering those magazine images to deduce the sort of setup others use. Also aids in allowing me to pre-visualise the effects, and know when to employ off camera lighting on assignment.
Besides portraiture, we had to cover the performances as well. Being a rather stress-free assignment, the performances served to hone our skills in metering, which trust me, is one of the hardest to nail. Lights are harsh and ever changing, and we have to develop a feel of what settings to use.This time round, due to the rather bland lighting, I decided to cheat a little and use off camera lighting =D. Certainly helps in preparing me for covering concerts.
The whole album is visible on my multiply. Do click around.
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