BALLER
When photographing children its important to act fast, as their attention span will deplete rapidly if you don't. Two ways of increasing the time you can get them in front of the camera are simple, and easy to achieve.
Firstly, plan ahead. Make sure that you know the kind of look, or looks, that you are going for and plan your lighting set up, and camera settings for each set up, ahead of time. If you're caught short and find yourself waisting time thinking about and fumbling through settings, you've already lost.
Secondly, make it fun. If the child is enjoying the experience they will give you more time and attention, enabling you to get more images to choose from come the final edit, and more importantly, a better selection for your client.
With this said, lets take a look at how I achieved the look in this final image;
Equipment.
Nikon D750
Nikon 24-120mm at 50mm
2 x Elinchrom D-Lite RX4
Three Legged Tripod (Winston)
Backdrop - white vinyl.
Camera Settings.
ISO 1000, f6.3, 1/200 second
The Set Up.
Understanding light is so important within photography. To understand how it bends under different conditions is fundamental. When I shot 'Baller' I knew that I only had two lights to work with and that I wanted as clean a backdrop as I could possible get with the two small square diffusers, which is why I positioned each facing one another, set slightly back from the subject. This way I knew I'd get spill hitting both the subject and the backdrop.
Editing Process.
Adobe Lightroom:
WB as shot. Temperature 5,500. Tint +7
Exposure +0.95
Contrast +9
Highlights -9
Whites -34
Clarity +10
Vibrance +62
Curves; highlights -81, lights -9
Profile Corrections enabled
Dehaze +28
Spot removal tool on the helmet and top.
Despite a good wipe down with a cloth prior to the shoot, dust still appeared on the helmet, which I didn't actually notice until in post.
Adobe Photoshop CC 2018:
Healing brush to finish off the helmet
Camera Raw Settings: Contrast +54 / Shadows +13 / Blacks+10 / Clarity +10 / Vibrance +10
Original Image:
Final Image:
Self Critique:
It's important to be able to self critique your work, which is why I've decided to include this section into the Creative Process blog posts. I am, as I'm sure are most of you, my own worst critic. I believe it is an important aspect of how we grow as artists and creators.
In hindsight, what I would have changed about this shot, to begin with are the reflections of the lights in the helmet. This would have been a relatively easy fix, albeit time consuming, by utilising the clone and healing tools. Additionally, the more I look at this shot the more I dislike the vignetting at the bottom of the photo. More work could have been undertaken to correct and balance this.
Conclusion:
I hope you found this post useful. I aim to share posts like this every Sunday, so if you found benefit in this, consider following me so you don't have to remember to check back each week as you'll be notified every time I post something new.
Without Photography, There Is No History
e: gary.fernon@photoreceptorcell.co.uk
Resources:
Lighting diagram from; www.lightingdiagrams.com