Figured I would post a recap when I could… A post with some of the pictures will be coming later.
So the shoot started about 1:00 after it was planned, Andy and Yari were running late but it gave Ryan and I some time to scout out locations around Oasis Cove where they live.
We took about 50/75 pictures inside of the studio on our white muslin backdrop. Some of them turned out pretty well; I’ve noticed I need to work on more of the human element and bringing out more emotion in the pictures. The majority of the pictures were your standard poses and then look at the camera. I tried to shoot a couple that were more photojournalistic in nature but had a hard time bringing more out of Andy.
Anyways, after the studio portion we went back to their place to get some pictures there. Their house is very nice, it’s got a kitchen and bathroom downstairs with a living/dining area and then the rest of the house is on the second floor (which I think is three rooms not including the laundry room, and a den where the TV and some other seating is).
The house has a very artsy/minimalistic style to it which made it a great take to take pictures in. It really did show my need to pick up another flash though. I was running on 1 speedlight (my 580exII) with a shoot-through umbrella and 1 5-1 reflector.
We took a bunch on the couch and then on the lower part of the staircase. I couldn’t get the lighting right with the off camera & umbrella (not enough light to get the back) so I went TTL with my Gary Fong Lightsphere on camera.
We then experimented with some more creative stuff on the staircase to the 2nd floor. Ryan was kind enough to hold the speedlight over the railing pointing down. I guess I hadn’t bungeed my cybersync receiver correctly because it came crashing down… so it was a good 15 foot drop onto carpet… and it still works! (thank god…)
I couldn’t disperse the light the way I wanted but the effect that I did get was really cool. You’ll see some in the gallery when I put it up.
Then we moved outside to take some pictures. They have a very scenic background outside their back porch overlooking a little lake. I put on the Canon 50mm f/1.4 and just let it go at f/1.4. The lighting was a little too bright so I put on a circular polarizer which bought me 1-2 stops but the sun wasn’t at a good angle to get a blue-tint on the sky…
We tried to take some pictures using the pool as a backdrop but the sheer sun outside made it impossible for me to really get a good idea of how the shots were turning out. Ironically the light was quite good with some flash help but I couldn’t tell on my LCD.
Anyways it was a good learning experience as far as the shoot goes. I definitely need some more couples to take pictures of and try harder to draw out more emotion. Also probably need to pick up a cheap Vivtar flash and another stand/umbrella/Cybersync for when I take the show on the road.
I’ll try my best to get some of these pictures up later in the week.
