Welcome to a quick behind-the-scenes tour of our portrait session with Sam Cullen.
Sam hired us a week ago to photograph her senior year dance individual portraits. Here we will give you a little taste of what it's like to spend an evening with Kevin and Heather Autry. Enjoy!
How we got the shot:
We set up our strobe at about a 45 degree angle to camera right. Typically we use our 24x36' softbox attached to our strobe, but the wind was too gusty this evening. Even without it we were able to acheive the look we were aiming for. After we decided what sort of 'look' we wanted with this image, we used our lightmeter to get our camera and strobe setttings just right the first time. We ended up with f11 and a shutter speed of 1/100 at ISO 100 and strobe at aproximately 1/3 power.
Gear used:
Camera - Canon 5D MKII
Lens - Canon 24-70mm f2.8
Light - White Lightning x3200
Lightmeter - Sekonic L-358
Editing:
Cropped
Slight contrast boost
How we got the shot:
With this next shot we wanted a bit more of a dramatic look, so we changed our settings to f14, shutter 1/100, ISO 100 with strobe power just over 1/3 power. Our strobe was set at about 45 degree angle to Sam again and we had her jump away from us as we shot. We metered to strategically capture the gorgeous setting sun. To heighten the perspective, I took this image while laying in the grass.
It's always fun sharing the shot to show the beauty of the imagery right in the camera.
Gear used:
Camera - Canon 5D MKII
Lens - Canon 16-35mm f2.8
Lighting - White Lightning x3200
Lightmeter - Sekonic L-358
Editing:
Slight vibrance boost
How we got the shot:
Getting down and dirty is all part of the job. At this location however, it was awkward dodging all of the goose "gifts" - hazards of the job. (lol) With this shot it was getting later so our aperture could be quite a bit more open: f3.5, shutter 1/160, ISO 400 and strobe power at about 1/16th.
Gear used:
Camera - Canon 5D MKII
Lens - Canon 16-35mm f2.8
Lighting - White Lightning x3200
Lightmeter - Sekonic L-358
Editing:
Levels adjusted
Cropped
How we got the shot:
Sam's good friend and fellow dancer, Alissa Maedel, was on hand for inspiration and for her technical eye. We were glad she was there because although I LOVE dance, I am not a trained dancer and couldn't instruct Sam on her form. Photography we can do. Dance, not so much.
Our gear, editing and set-up for this shot were all the same as above.
~Heather
