A lifestyle (aka environmental) portrait session for the company receptionist required lighting setup. Staging the background with existing furnishings we added a couple of lights to create drama and depth to the shot. We combined ambient light with flash focusing a beauty dish on the subject’s face.
Einstein Studio Flash
Paul Buff 22 inch Beauty Dish
10 Degree Grid
5′ Avenger C-Stand
Canon 6D
Canon 24-70 mm 2.8 lens
The photo session for this Law Office offered a rich background of beautiful wood desks, book cases and wide windows-ideal for an environment portrait session. This was the first shot-perfect pose, perfect attitude, perfect lighting.
Photography Details:
Staff portraits have many settings now. “Lifestyle” aka “environment” portraits are popular because they are rapidly replacing stock photos for companies-real people in real business settings. These are the people who handle your phone calls. Website visitors can put a face to a voice!
This was shot to enhance the background ambiance creating a bright, fresh image by slowing the shutter speed, requiring the subject to hold still and “hold that smile”. She was delightful to work with and the session went smoothly and quickly.
Shooting from inside an airplane hangar to capture the Arizona desert behind our subjects with the blazing sun we used a 2 stop ND filter to bring down the sunlight. Without this you see only silhouettes of the subjects. The pristine hangar floor yielded a lovely reflection! Great family portraits, both the couple and family (below).
Such a fun wedding engagement session. This couple arrived in character and costume, which set a wonderful tone for the entire evening. From inside an old warehouse to the streets of Redlands, we had a wealth of of backdrops to utilize.
Sunlight was spilling into this second floor warehouse as we were shooting the engagement ring. We chose to work the sunlight and later desaturate for the quiet moment we had in mind.
This converted warehouse features a dance floor, ideal for our engagement couple with a passion for ballroom dancing. The shadows were created by Canon Speedlite flashes.
Looking into the window of an antique shop selling mirrors was ideal for the period costumes! The trick was not to be seen taking the photo. Again we used a single Speedlite handheld off to one side. What a perfect mood.
We had more fun including this feather clip-on/hat! This sunset shot looks like a happy ending. We look forward to the wedding!
This family was fun to work with. They were up for a multitude of poses. We shot until…no one had an idea left! The laughter and happiness made this session bubble over! Talk about a great afternoon in the park. We used one handheld flash for precision lighting, plus a general flash for fill. A simple set-up with bountiful results.
A white background gives a contemporary setting for this young family. Once again, the Paul Buff PLM umbrellas let us flood the set with brilliant light, focused where the photographer wanted. And the expression of the front row girl? Did someone mention: ice-cream? You have to speak their language! It was fun!
Headshots are a marketing tool for professional from all industries.
What separates a headshot is the intimacy of the subject with the camera/photographer. While a portrait may be full length, 3/4 length or chest high, a headshot is about the face. Lighting is the key. The above was shot with Paul C Buff Einstein and Beauty Dish. The light wraps around the face creating subtle shadows. For the subject of a headshot – the facial expression is critical. Talk with your photographer before the session to capture the expression you are looking to convey to your viewers.
Studio Portrait Composite
Professional Portrait
Both are one light (flash) portraits.
Einstein 640 @ 1/4 power
22″ beauty dish, diffused
ISO 100
Aperture f8
Shutter Speed 1/200
Daylight balanced
Canon 7 D 70-200 2.8
set to Neutral
It all begins with a well lit photo. The beauty dish was placed directly overhead of subject, just out of frame, using white foam core for fill bounce below at waist level.
Shot against a white backdrop brought in an artist to create Illustrator backgrounds with texture, and manipulated photo and backgrounds in Photoshop.