I recently took these portraits of my friend, Dave Wallace (a hugely talented guy, you can check out his work at idlerich.com.au).
Dave suggested the location, a carpark around the corner from where he was working. I didn’t tell him that his choice didn’t exactly convince me. But he’s a director so knows what he’s doing and I was just happy to catch up with a mate.
I fumbled around with the camera, and we took some shots. The low light posed some challenges for both photographer and his trusty old Canon 5d mk2 that doesn’t quite have the low light capabilities of its modern equivalents. Additionally, Dave provided some reference images and wanted a super smooth finish so I couldn’t crank up the ISO too far. These challenges were overcome by using a tripod, slower shutter speeds and asking Dave to “stand still”.
The original image, processed somewhat hastily – Canon 5D mk2 | 50mm | ISO160 | 1/6 | f8
The initial results were OK… but nothing inspiring. It all felt a bit flat. Thankfully, Dave wanted to cover another angle, and that’s when I spotted something when framing up. There was a fluro on the ceiling just in front of where Dave was standing. I asked him to step forward and just like that we had some interesting light!
The (now obvious) ceiling light above Dave’s head.
I was quite annoyed that I hadn’t spotted it, or thought about it sooner as the results were infinitely better and allowed more character in the final portraits.
Canon 5D mk2 | 50mm | ISO400 | 1/8 | f8
Canon 5D mk2 | 70-200mm (@145mm) | ISO400 | 1/8 | f8
So what did I learn on this occasion?
- Always take time to look around your surroundings and take stock of what you can use to your advantage! We so could have easily missed utilising the ceiling light to our advantage.
- The shadows under his neck are quite severe. I think it would have been nice to bounce a bit more light into there. I might save up for a reflector or even just a roll of white cardboard!
- There’s sometimes another way! I forgot my cable release to use with the tripod, so instead, I used the two-second timer to avoid any camera shake. A nice little hack a remember reading about many years ago.