I wanted to pass on some advice to new photographers. It does not matter if you specialize in portraits, headshots, boudoir, or any other photography genre and it’s something I learned that applies to sales in general, whether it’s screening applicants as a corporate recruiter or selling digital cameras at CompUSA, Best Buy, or Ritz Camera absolutely is advice that applies to you as well:
I’ll be blunt here:
As a photographer, people don’t buy your photos because you’re “the best!” photographer in the world. There will always be another photographer who is better or cheaper. Suck it up, hero.
In retail, people don’t buy the camera you’re selling because you work at Best Buy when they can get that exact model at Amazon, probably for cheaper and without getting hounded about that stupid extended warranty all retailers try to push on you.
As a job applicant, people don’t actually hire you for your “unique” skill-set. I say this as a former staffing specialist at a global staffing firm: there are a thousand other products applicants with the same skills, same generic resume, same blasé personality, and they’re probably wearing the same tie that you are wearing.
TeLL mE wHy ShUd I HiRe U?
The Jerk Who Should Be Hiring You
The simple truth is that a randomly generated 64 character ASCII string is statistically unique. Your “skills” are not. Seriously, according to the GRC Haystack, the fastest it would take to crack the following randomly generated 64 character string as a password is an estimated 12.06 million, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, centuries or 1.206 x 10^105 (120,600 googol?) years, according to a more mathematically-learned buddy of mine:
In reality, we are all just selling the same crap and there is nothing unique about your products, your skills, and your rates. There will always be someone else selling the same camera, taking the same types of photos that you do, or who has a similar skill set. Someone else will always will be better, cheaper, hungrier, luckier, or more connected than you are. It is a frustratingly difficult lesson to learn and a brutally humbling truth to accept.
If that is true, then what actually differentiates you from any another sales person, new hire, or photographer trying to stand out from the huge crowd of your competitors? You do.
Yes, you.
You stand out because they are not you and they will never be you.
Portrait of Sunshine as she gets prepped for an art project by Soyoon Cha.
Here’s a little secret advice:
The only reason why people buy from you or decide to hire you is because they like you. That’s it. That’s all.
If you want to play in the ‘commodity’ lane and be compared on your prices, yeah, you’re gonna be made (sic) when someone comes out who is cheaper than you […] But if you manage to step out of that lane and sell yourself based on value and experience, then you never have to worry. Never once […]
In the end, I, you, they — anyone with a camera really — can take a photo. Most will be god awful. Some will be much better than you. A lot better. So what? Do you, and keep taking photos.
Anyone with a camera can photograph poi spinning culturally-appropriative dready-haired spunion wooks and hoop spinning burner yoga goddesses at a festival. So what? Do you, and keep taking photos.
Anyone with a camera can do a half priced, fifteen minute, mini portrait session weekend flash sale at a park. So what? Do you, and keep taking photos.
Anyone with a camera can be an independent ‘tog who specializes in newborn, family, maternity, wedding, social media, product, influencer, mom-blogging, solopreneuer, boss-babe photography. So what? Do you, and keep taking photos.
Anyone with a camera can be a creepy GWC neckbearded fedora-tipping milady incel master-rigger with a sketchy modeling contract who trawls for “open minded” talent on Model Mayhem and FetLife for nude boudoir shibari “art” collabs. So what? Do you, and keep taking photos.
Sometimes, a good GWC can get models to meet them alone in the woods
Anyone with a camera can always be cheaper, more expensive, less skilled, have better equipment, use retro cheap gear, specialize in natural light, be a Strobist snob with a 3 pointed lighting kit and run an assembly line headshot boudoir photography business as they masturbate endlessly in photography oriented comments sections about off-camera flash, LED video lights, Sony ruleZ, laughs in EOS, Nikon 4 Lyfe, M4/3 cultism (RIP Olympus) while getting more likes on their vlog about photography (hit that Subscribe button!) than you ever will, all while hating on the latest Peter Lik abomination. So what? Do you, and keep taking photos.
Do what you will. Create your own market how ever you decide. Fill it with fanatics who love you and love your work. Market yourself as the best experience for your clients. Charge what you feel you are worth, charge the average for your market, overcharge, or give away the store. None of those options are sustainable in the wrong market, anyway. So what? Do you, and keep taking photos.
The photographer who is stalking your posts on Facebook and complaining about your choice to charge a fee or not? They don’t have a market that actually supports their photography. They haven’t differentiated themselves enough on anything but price simply because, as they’re unconsciously realizing, that anyone with a camera can be a photographer, and it terrifies them. So what? That’s entirely their problem to figure out. It’s never your problem. Do you, and keep taking photos.
Realize that you differentiate yourself from all those other people. You are not any of your “competitors,” and that is your greatest asset. Run your shit up the nearest flag-pole as high as it can go, and see who salutes it.
So, if I could pass on just one piece of advice, from one photographer to another, it is this:
Clients will hire you because they like you. Do you, and keep taking photos.
In my last post, before I covered how to photograph fire breathers, I made several assumptions about your photography, some of which I will repeat here:
You have access to a camera with manual settings.
You know how to change those settings relatively quickly.
You’re familiar with how Aperture, Shutter, and ISO interact with each other both with exposure and with each individual setting’s other effects.
You have read through Section X and Section XI of my Terms and Conditions page. (You HAVE read it, right?…)
Ready? Good, let’s begin.
Dani Rei and some siiiiiiiiiiiiick textures at Wildfire Retreat. F16 @ 1″, ISO400.
Dani a few moments later. F16 @ 1″, ISO800, eTTL flash.
In this post I am going to discuss primarily fire fans; however, things are also applicable to palm torches since they are functionally similar from a photography perspective.
Of all the fire props and flow toys out there, my favorite to photograph are fire fans for two simple reasons:
Fire fans, more than any other prop, are an effective two-light source. A key-light and a rim-light, fill-light, or back-light.
There is always a natural pause in movement at full extension just before a transition to another movement and, if you’re lucky, great expression.
Settings can vary, depending on what you’re going for. Can you get siiiiiiiiiiick textures in the flames? Sure, but often times at the expense of all that fantastic portrait lighting, by underexposing the performer. You can even get some fire trails with fans, with some siiiiiiiiiiick flames. If that is your goal, then be sure to have some softened speedlight flash ready and use 2nd curtain sync to help time the shot. I am always amazed at the ability of flash to freeze motion on long exposures, as long as your ambient light is dark enough.
Personally, I like to treat a fire fan performance as a candid portrait session with highly variable light placement. My focus will be to watch for, and expose for, those expressive moments so, for me, I want fast shutter speeds to freeze motion and apertures as wide as possible to force those faster shutter speeds with ISO around 800-2000 to help with skin exposure. Typically I’ll be around f1.8-f2.8, and shutter speeds ranging from 1/25″ to about 1/800″. For certain shots, I’ve pushed to 1/4000″ with a wide open aperture and ISO2000.
The challenges at those extreme apertures happen when wider apertures create an incredibly thin depth of field, and auto-focus getting easily fooled by the very bright shiny light source that can get between you and the face, a mere arm’s length behind it. If you can be positioned so that the fans are at a near right angle from you and the performer at full extension, the odds of such a thin depth of field becoming apparent are greatly minimized.
F1.4 @ 1/4000″, ISO 2000 – Emily Gandolfo (f) and Jenny Suh (r) at the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors’ Summer Solstice Celebration. Notice how thin the depth of field becomes at f1.4, and how easily auto-focus can get fooled by the closest bright and contrasty object in front of it? Also, notice that, even though the shutter speed is so quick, there isn’t a lot of siiiiiiiiiiiiiick flame texture? Why?
F1.8 @ 1/200″, ISO1600 – Danielle MacNevin at a small party in Boston, MA. F1.8 also creates a very thin depth of field, but Dani’s arms are not at full extension. As a result, even though the camera focused on her knuckles, there was enough depth of field to create a pleasing shot with her amazing smile still recognizable.
Because focus becomes so challenging at wider apertures, whatever features your camera has for auto-focus tracking and continuous auto-focus, etc, become crucial. Learn about backbutton auto-focus. Make use of those features as often as you can. Some would also suggest turning on Servo mode, or continuous shot mode. You know, that 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 – 20 frames per second your camera is capable of. As much as I hammer on the idea of using Manual exposure mode, you could try the “Sports” Scene mode, if your camera uses it, as a starting point.
Speaking of Manual mode, personally, I tend to use Single Shot auto-focus with the classic half-press of the shutter to engage and lock focus and Single Shot mode rather than focus-tracking auto-focus and Servo mode, because I prefer to maintain as much control over the shooting process as possible. It’s something I will continuously adjust while looking through the viewfinder, until I take the photo. For follow up photos, I won’t raise my finger all the way, in favor of keeping the half-press on the shutter button. This is not the way you’re normally taught to handle action shots.
Think of it as having an A, B, and C position on the shutter release button. A = Your shutter finger is lightly rested on the shutter button. B = You half-press on the shutter to engage and lock auto-focus. You’ll feel it. C = Push the shutter button all the way to take a photo.
Most people will only follow this finger sequence: A (Rest) -> B (Auto-focus) -> C (Shutter release) -> A (Reset) before preparing to take the next shot.
Instead, try this finger sequence to improve shot to shot times: A (Rest) -> B (Auto-focus) -> C (Shutter Release) -> B (Auto-focus) -> C (Shutter Release)
If you’re familiar with shooting a fire-arm, and riding the trigger’s reset between shots in order to increase shooting speed, you’ll find sequence this very familiar.
By altering your finger sequence, you can also improve your odds of nailing focus in single-shot focus mode, the way I do. Track the performer with the camera held to your dominant eye, while keeping both eyes open: A (Rest) -> B (focus) -> A (Reset) -> B (Focus) -> A (Reset) -> B (Focus) until you’re ready to shoot on -> C (Shutter) -> B (Focus stays locked) -> C (Shutter) -> B (Focus stays locked) -> things changed so then A (Reset) -> B (Focus) -> A (Reset) -> B (Focus) -> C (Shutter), etc.
F1.4, 1/1600″, ISO2000 – Brittny Popolizio performing with her fire fans at CoSM’s Summer Solstice Celebration. Having both eyes open while looking through the viewfinder, and the continual A, B, A, B, A, B (hold), A (Reset), B (Hold), C (Shutter) auto-focusing technique and a fast shutter speed made all the difference in capturing a lit fire fan in mid-toss.
F1.6 @ 1/800″, ISO2000 – Jenrick Yabut dancing with palm torches at CoSM’s Summer Solstice Celebration. Having a colorful background helps create separation and adds depth to an image. A, B, A, B, etc auto-focusing helped to keep focus on peak movement.
It takes a bit to get used to, but once you’re used to it, your auto-focus and shot to shot times improve all while you maintain as much control over your camera as possible.
So, how do you photograph fire fans:
Make full use of the two-point lighting that fire fans or palm torches create. If there is any light in the background, even better; you now have a three-point lighting system at your disposal.
Watch for natural pauses in movement. That is your best chance to catch a performer in a pose at their most expressive. Those pauses also are less likely to be motion-blurred by the performer while your shutter speeds decrease due to dimmer flames over time.
You ARE adjusting your shutter speeds to maintain exposure while the flames dim, right?..
Be wary of thinner and thinner depths of field as you push your apertures wider.
Focus becomes critical. If your camera has subject tracking auto-focus, use it. If you have Ai Servo focus or something similar, use it.
Since you’re shooting fast action, use Servo mode and make use of the fast frames per second rates your camera is capable of.
Then throw all that out the window and really work to improve your use of Single Shot mode and Single Shot Auto-focus by shaking off the usual A, B, C shutter finger sequence and altering it to improve on auto-focus and shot to shot times.
Speaking of auto-focus, I only use a single focus point. The center one.
If you use any kind of auto-focus zone, set it to a small zone focus area, centered on the center focus point. It’s always the most sensitive one.
Additional Photo Gallery
Are you near Boston, MA and want to schedule a photo shoot together?
Please visit my contact page and send me a message so we can get started!
Want to see more of my photography?
My portfolio features the best of my headshot, portrait, event, and boudoir photography.
After reading this blog post, could you figure out what is wrong with this shot? More importantly, could you explain what would you do differently? 1/320″ @ f2.8, ISO 3200, no flash.
Q – What’s a surprisingly good technique I can use to photograph fire performers?
A – Thinking.
In Part One of this series on improving your fire performer photography, we looked at using concepts from photojournalism to keep the focus on the human performer. In Part Two we looked at Always Getting Consent and Safety Third. Fire performers are not props. They’re human. Treat them that way. For Part Three, we looked at Basic Rifle Marksmanship. A camera is no different, conceptually, from a rifle. In Part Four, combat shooting, er, improving photography with Shoot, Move, Communicate. In Part Five, even boredom and creative ruts can be effective photography tools.
Today, we’ll take a fairly high level look at how camera settings interact with each other, and what happens when you don’t fully think through what you’re trying to do. This is not a tutorial on how your camera works.
Generally speaking, shutter speed will control the size of the plume or length of the trail. The longer duration your shutter is open then the flame that gets recorded will be larger. Because light from the flames will also be, in most cases, your key-light, the slower the shutter the more you risk overall motion blur as well.
Aperture and ISO will control exposure. The smaller the aperture, and the lower the ISO, less details will get blown-out to white in the flames and the darker the photo will become at a given shutter speed.
This is, usually, where I see most people stop. Once they record super detail in the flames they feel that they nailed the shot, regardless of how badly they under exposed the photo to actually get there. The flame, and lust to capture “SIIIIICK” texture overrides all other considerations, including the human element.
Think of it this way: Imagine a photograph of, say, Thomas Edison, standing next to a brightly lit light-bulb with his hand holding the lamp, and the exposure on the light-bulb is SO good that you can see all the details of the tungsten coil wire, even as it is glowing yellow-hot. You can also see the texture to the glass bulb, but you can barely see Edison. Sure, you can see his hand holding the lamp but his arm is really dark and maybe, just maybe, you can see a hint of his face, but only if you squint.
Maybe he is a little brighter in frame but, at best, he looks muddied and muted compared to the bulb, and the details you see in the bulb are so much clearer than than the half smile he has or the texture in his exhausted brow.
Could you connect, emotionally, with that image?
WARNING – DO NOT ATTEMPT
I shouldn’t have to say this, but here we are. I am an experienced fire performer photographer. Photos taken with fire involved professional fire performers with proper fire safety training, equipment, and procedures in place.
Use of fire comes with inherent risks including but not limited to risk of life, limb, or property. Any action you take based on any information on this website is strictly at your own risk and I will not be held liable for any loss or damages you cause to yourself or others because you chose to use fire in any way.
Don’t be a bogan wook. Leave the siiiiiiiiick fire trails and fire plumes to the professionals and support them by cheering their performances in person!
Photojournalism 101:
For me, the flame is not the subject; the performer is. I’d rather nail the exposure, and action, with the emphasis squarely on the human being manipulating the flame than on any other element in the frame. I want to see the human, the effort made, countered with the inherent element of danger from the flames. The dance, to me, is more important than the costume. When present, the human element will always be the most important factor over anything else because people will visually connect more readily with people in an image.
1.3″ at f10, ISO 400, off-camera flash. Not quite Edison, but the overall effect is the same, even with flash for drama. This is also a case for shooting in RAW. There isn’t much I can do to rescue the image because I shot this one as a JPEG. If I shot the same image with RAW, though the image is dark, there would be enough latitude to regain a relatively useful exposure, but I’d still toss it. Compositionally, it’s horrid. 1/160th” @ f5.6, ISO 100, eTTL flash, edited to taste.
Let’s take these concepts a little farther, and I am going to grossly oversimplify things to do it:
The primary effect of altering shutter speeds is the amount of motion that gets recorded. Faster shutter, less motion; slower shutter, more motion. The secondary effect of changing the shutter speed is altering exposure. A given amount of light (via the aperture setting) is dumped onto the camera sensor/film for a particular duration. Faster shutter, darker image; slower shutter, brighter image.
The primary effect of altering aperture is controlling the light for a given shutter speed. The iris of the lens opens more, or less. Wider aperture, brighter image; smaller aperture, darker image. Note: This is just like the pupils of an animal’s eyes in daylight or nighttime. The pupils of certain animals open wider than others. Cat’s pupils open far wider than those of humans. Think of them as having “faster lenses.” The secondary effect of altering aperture is controlling depth-of-field, the zone of focus (acceptable sharpness) from your subject. The wider the aperture, the narrower the zone of sharpness; the narrower the aperture, the wider the zone of sharpness.
ISO’s primary effect is amplifying the signal that is recorded by the sensor. The higher the ISO, the brighter the pixels become. The lower the ISO, the dimmer the pixels are. ISO’s secondary effect is a direct result of the first: everything is amplified, including the noise contained within the signal, especially in darker areas of the image where the camera may or may not have recorded much light data, but still recorded the noise present within that area. The higher the ISO, the brighter the noise becomes; the lower the ISO, the dimmer the noise gets.
Again, for most people, this is good enough. Fiddle with Aperture, Shutter, and ISO, and you’re golden.
What about distance, though? Just like Aperture, Shutter, and ISO, distance can affect the compositional side of the image. It can also have an enormous effect on exposure at the same time.
Distance, in particular, affects composition and exposure both by what exactly is visible within the frame (and the overall brightness and darkness of the frame as a result) and specifically it affects exposure due to the Inverse Square Law of Light. In the simplest of terms it means the intensity of light gets less as distance increases both from the observer and from the object being illuminated. Light from you is dimmer with distance from you. An illuminated face is dimmer with distance from you. A face is also illuminated more weakly the farther the light source is from it.
Finally, the last factor to consider is focal length. For the purposes of simplicity, more focal length will equal more reach. At a given camera-subject distance a longer focal length will magnify the subject more. When objects are in the frame the distance between them will appear to be much less at higher focal lengths. At wider focal lengths the distance between objects will appear to expand. Focal length will also affect depth of field as well as motion blur. More focal length narrows depth of field and increases motion blur from camera/lens shake. Less focal length deepens depth of field as well as reduces motion blur from camera/lens shake.
Here’s a couple of scenarios to consider:
A photo of Finlay is well exposed and bright because you balanced aperture at f2.8 on a 50mm lens with an ISO of 1600 and set a shutter of1/800th of a second to really freeze motion and bring out some flame texture. He is well exposed and the noise in the image is very low but when you look at it more closely, the closer torch heads are super sharp but his face is ever so slightly out of focus. What happened?
(Depth of field was too narrow) 1/800″ @ 2.8, ISO 1600, no flash. BTW, a dragon staff puts out a LOT of light.
How about a shot of a Kendra where flame trails are long enough at a 1.3 second exposure to have recorded an interesting spiral pattern, flame textures are reasonable with detail because you waited until most of the fuel burnt off and the flame brightness died down, even at yet still have decent exposure at f5.6 because your ISO was at 800 and you were far but framed tight at about 60mm on a zoom lens and but the she is a fuzzy blob and everything else in the background looks like a wiggly mess?
At 1.3″ @ f5.6, ISO 800, with flash (someone else’s) the shutter speed was too slow for the exposure difference between Kendra and the background.
How about LED flow props? (Yes, yes, LED poi is not fire performer photography, but the concepts are completely the same. The advantage to LED props is they are much dimmer and their brightness does not change much at all. Lock in exposure and you’re good from the beginning to the end of the performance)
2 second shutter @ f2.8, ISO 800, optically stabilized lens, eTTL.
How would you fix them?
(Mind you there are no right or wrong fixes to these particular scenarios)
For Finlay’s dragon staff photo, you could have been too close for the given aperture and angle, therefore narrowing the depth of field. Only the front most torches at that depth of field would have been in focus. Standing a little farther away or changing to a higher F stop would have increased the depth of field and made the angle somewhat irrelevant since DOF would have encompassed a wider area, but could also affect the exposure. Do you, then, lower shutter speed a little to compensate or reduce ISO? What if you reduce shutter speed it enough that even at 50mm, motion blur gets introduced? What if decide to avoid risking motion blur by changing the shutter speed after changing the aperture to increase depth of field but now your subject is even darker because of the aperture change? You could increase ISO, but that would push noise into obnoxious levels. Also, keep in mind the brightness of the fire prop is always getting lower and lower and that no prop will ever the same exact brightness as before. What about changing your auto-focus setting to AI-Servo and, using backbutton auto focus, prefocusing on the face, thus locking focus away from the torches? The face will be sharper, but not the torches. Would that work?
For Kendra’s photo, you could make a choice: either record trails or freeze motion. If you opt to record trails the only thing you COULD possibly do is freeze motion with flash (a powerful enough flash will freeze motion at a 1 second exposure simply because the duration of the flash can be something along the lines of 1/10000th of a second at low power). Or you could change your priority here, and opt to freeze motion — faster shutter, wider aperture (at 28mm, are you using a kit zoom lens at a max range of F3.5-5.6, another zoom lens with a 2.8-4.0 aperture, or do you have a 35mm lens at 1.4?), and higher ISO. What if F3.5 does not give you a fast enough shutter to freeze motion while keeping a decent exposure on your subject? What if an ISO above 400 is too noisy but you need 1600 at your given shutter and aperture combination to properly expose your image?
As far as the LED poi shot is concerned, using flash is no help when it is poorly bounced around a venue that is primarily black and eTTL is fooled because, well, black absorbs light. Also, optical lens stabilization makes zero difference to a moving subject. The overall exposure is fine; however, the image is awful. No one is sharp, no one is clearly visible. Just a couple of vaguely human shapes surrounded by squiggly lines but hey, siiiiiiiiiiiick patterns, and the room is bright…
What is the point to all of this? A good photograph is composed well and relies on effective use of one or two of these elements and is well supported by the rest, in order to show emotion and connect with the viewer. In order to use these different elements effectively, it takes a strong understanding of what each can do in relation to the others under fast changing conditions, incredibly variable lighting, and very little time to reach. A poor photograph, well composed or not, uses one or two of these elements and ignores the others, while failing to connect with the viewer.
It’s that simple.
Are you near Boston, MA and want to schedule a photo shoot together?
Please visit my contact page and send me a message so we can get started!
Want to see more of my photography?
My portfolio features the best of my headshot, portrait, event, and boudoir photography.
Lighting a Headshot Portrait with Three Speedlights
Headshot portrait of Hanna Shansky, LMT, using gelled speedlights, to add some color. I like this one so much better!
Headshot portrait of Hanna Shansky, LMT, corporate friendly, conservative, and simple.
I was hired by my friend Hanna to take some headshots near Boston, MA for her massage therapy business, over in Brookline. We tossed some ideas around for looks, and mutually decided that it would be best and most time-efficient to begin with a somewhat conservative look, suitable for any corporate profile, before getting a little playful and creative with the photography.
I hadn’t seen the inside of her studio before, outside of a couple of smartphone photos that she sent that helped give an idea of color, so I was not certain where exactly we would set up for headshot portraits. Even though her studio space was relatively small, it turned out that her office had a large enough blank wall that I could use as a backdrop for portraits fairly easily.
I didn’t have a light meter with me, so I opted to use my camera’s histogram as a quick and dirty light meter. To the right are the lightest pixels, to the left are the darkest pixels. I also set up a manual flash on a stand and reflected umbrella to camera right (about 45 degrees from where Hanna would stand) and at about a 30-40 degree angle downwards as the key light. I marked a spot on the floor to act as a visual reference I could use to help guide Hanna where to stand, well away from the wall. Distance and angle of light would prevent any shadows from showing up on the wall in the portrait background.
This first test exposure shot shows the straight image off the camera and histogram based on the initial settings I chose. It gives an idea of the wall, and the kind of ambient lighting that was present.
Dim and warm. F5.6, 1/125th, ISO1600.
The next shot shows what happened after I turned on the flash — my initial estimate was fairly mid to low strength, at 1/16th power. Of course, everything is over exposed: note the wall pushed to clipping white (the extreme right of the histogram shows it) while the black jacket is grey-ish (the left of the histogram confirms no black tones/shadows. It does not reach to the edge). At the settings chosen, I wanted to keep the aperture at f5.6, as it’s sharp for portraits on my chosen lens. If I increased the shutter speed, the ambient light would get dimmer but not subject exposure. The way light was hitting, there was zero ambient light registering — it was all wall/jacket subject exposure.
I could have opted to lower my flash power or lower ISO. For the time being I decided to start reducing ISO from 1600 to 800.
In the next shots, take note of the difference the black leather jacket and in the corresponding histogram. The blacks and shadows creep further and further to the left. Drop the ISO more, to 400, and the jacket is mostly black with the histogram nearly fully extended to the left.
At this point, I brought Hanna over to stand at the spot I designated, while I took a test shot or two at F5.6, 1/125th, ISO400, and flash at 1/16th power. Shadows and midtones are good (left and center segments of the histogram) and given the wall color (not white), there isn’t much white to expose for. There is the white thermostat to the left on the wall but it would’t be lit to white anyway, otherwise I’d blow out Hanna. Almost dead on, I’d say. Exposure can be pushed to the right as needed. Noise won’t become a huge factor in the shadows, since Hanna’s shirt has plenty of texture and Canon RAW files can withstand a lot of noise reduction before getting horrid detail loss.
Test shot at f5.6, 1/125th, ISO400, 1/16th power, single speedlight and umbrella. Note the harsh shadows to Hanna’s face.
F5.6, 1/125th, ISO400, 1/16th power, single speedlight and umbrella, with white art foam used as a reflector to camera left. Better, but the shadows are still a little harsh for my tastes.
Shot at f5.6, 1/125th, ISO400, reflected umbrella key light at 1/16th power, shoot through umbrella fill light at 1/32nd power. Bam!
One small factor that bothered me was the contrast between the lit side and the shadow side on her face. It was too dark, for me, and for the use I had in mind for her headshots, so I asked the RTMS2000 to hold a make-shift reflector to camera left in order to try and pop some light back towards the shadow side of Hanna’s face. Some difference, but not enough, so I set up a second flash with a shoot-through umbrella to the my 7 o’clock position behind me. Though it would be farther, and therefore a little dimmer, even at the same power setting as the key-flash at 1/16th, I wanted to still have a gentle transition between shadow and light across Hanna’s face, so I reduced the second flash to 1/32nd instead. A quick explanation, demonstration, directing, and tweaking of Hanna’s pose lead to the final shot. Some quick sprinkling of pixie dust in Lightroom, and she has a simple, conservative, headshot for use.
Noting that we still had some time to experiment a little, I incorporated a 3rd flash to about camera 10 o’clock, on a flash stand about waist height and pointing up towards her shoulders, with an impromptu snoot (a Rogue Flashbender worked perfectly!), but with a blue gel. I wanted the splash of color to rake her arms and back as a rim-light. I also bumped the shutter to 1/250th of a second, the maximum sync speed for my camera and flash. I wanted to lower exposure a tad for the background and bring more color out from the gels. By the next shot, I had decided to not use the Flashbender in favor of unmodified light with a relatively wide throw, and after adding a red gel, the third and final shot.
Same set up and nearly the same settings as photos above, but added a 3rd flash, snooted and blue gelled, as the rim light.
Decided to go with the rim light unmodified and at a fairly wide throw for the flash beam.
And there it is! Final Settings were: Camera @ F5.6, 1/250th, ISO 400; Key Light @ 1/16th; Rim Light @ 1/32nd, blue gel; Background Light @ 1/32nd, red gel
Headshots don’t have to be stuffy or boring!
There you have it, a headshot portrait photography session, on location at a small studio space, lit quickly and efficiently with a bare minimum of equipment, and making use of what is available in the environment. Realistically, this would be overkill if I were creating photos for the newspaper because it could easily have been done with just a single off-camera flash and umbrella.
Even simpler, I could have used on-camera flash set to eTTL modified with a black foamy thing and been done with it.
Instead, I used the extra time and assistance available to craft images that provided plenty of opportunity to experiment, relax, and bring out Hanna’s personality at a pace that was quick enough to keep from losing her interest and participation and efficiently enough that I wasn’t wearing myself out in the process.
Are you near Boston, MA and want to schedule a photo shoot together?
Please visit my contact page and send me a message so we can get started!
Want to see more of my photography?
My portfolio features the best of my headshot, portrait, event, and boudoir photography.
Q – How can you improve your photography of fire performers?
A – Believe it or not, get bored. It helps.
In Part One of this series on Fire Performer Photography, we looked at how the discipline of photojournalism brings the focus back to the human being behind the fire prop. In Part Two we covered Consent Always and Safety Third. Performers are people, first. Not props. Treat them with respect. In Part Three, we looked at how learning to shoot a camera is essentially the same as Basic Rifle Marksmanship. In Part Four, we took the rifle concept a step further and looked at how the combat-shooting techniques of Shoot, Move, and Communicate can improve your photography.
Photographing fire performers and flow artists has become a specialty of mine over the years. Obviously not every prop is fire based and not every prop is represented but every event that I have been to since 2010 has had its share of some combination of fire eaters, fire breathers, poi spinners, hoopers, dragon-staff spinners, fan dancers, pixel whips, levitation wands, palm torches, glovers, and so on, and they are inevitably surrounded by the folks and photographers who love them. More often than not I end up seeing the same people, regularly, with the same props at all the semi regular events, weeklies, monthlies, and outdoor festivals I’ve been to whether or not they are jam band based events, Christmas themed raves, or psytrance oriented festivals.
Are you bored, yet? I hope so. That’s exactly the point of this post. I’ll let you a big secret. As a photographer, I find it all to be very boring. Often.
You know what, though? Boredom is perfectly okay. In fact, boredom is an incredible creative asset.
WARNING – DO NOT ATTEMPT
I shouldn’t have to say this, but here we are. I am an experienced fire performer photographer. Photos taken with fire involved professional fire performers with proper fire safety training, equipment, and procedures in place.
Use of fire comes with inherent risks including but not limited to risk of life, limb, or property. Any action you take based on any information on this website is strictly at your own risk and I will not be held liable for any loss or damages you cause to yourself or others because you chose to use fire in any way.
Don’t be a bogan wook. Leave the siiiiiiiiick fire trails and fire plumes to the professionals and support them by cheering their performances in person!
My Very First Photos of Fire Performers
Amanda introduced me to fire performers in 2010. This is the first time I tried to photograph a fire-breather.
Early on, I was all about the trails, and getting the perfect textures. This is from the second spin-jam I ever attended.
“I did not say I, personally, find festivals, flow artists, nightlife events, or the people who attend them to be boring. Quite the contrary. I’ve made wonderful friends, met incredibly talented and creative artists, passionate crews, and interesting personalities in all the various ‘scenes’ I’ve been blessed to be a part of. ”
–Totally Necessary Disclaimer
Art and artistic expression is necessary and healthy and very human. It’s easy to fall into a routine, a creative rut, without even realizing it. It’s normal and it will happen. Same with boredom. It, too, is normal, will happen, and is perfectly okay. As an artist, photographer, musician, fire performer, flow artist, author, welder, banker, real estate agent, partner, spouse, parent — as a human being — recognizing when boredom strikes, understanding why you feel stagnant, and using it as motivation to change, is absolutely necessary in order to grow.
Can you imagine how a photographer who specializes in, say, weddings feels at having to take the same types of shots from a set list of must-haves, with the same general flow of activity, day in and day out, week after week, month after month, year after year?
Let’s take this even farther. Can you imagine growing bored with photographing fine art nudes? Maybe you just cannot stand people at all and prefer landscapes?
Maybe, though, photography is your life’s blood and you really enjoy the energy and warmth and genuine compassion from flow artists? Have you considered that you could put the camera down and mingle? Get out from behind the lens and really put yourself out there. You could always pick up a set of poi and try your hand at spinning. One photographer I know is currently trying his hand at at last year’s Fractalfest I made the choice to let others concentrate on the glory shots of the stage, the different DJs, producers, and the various bigger-perspective moments that always get the attention. I wanted to experience Fractalfest differently from the past incarnations that I attended so I chose to primarily stalk the dance floors, photograph The Firefly Caravan, the art projects, and interact more with the attendees, strange creatures, masked characters, and live blog about the experience whenever possible. When photographing fire spinners at Petrified Forest III in Maine, I set up a spot to do portraits of people with a wall of fire behind them.
Nikki from The Firefly Caravan at Fractalfest 2017.
This image was the result of boredom. I found an art display with fire on it and decided to make it an impromptu portrait station for anyone who happened to pass by at Fractalfest. Wiggles was one victim.
During my second festival, ever, at Tir Na Nog in Saratoga Springs, NY, I ran into my friend Kaitlyn after putting my camera away, and nearly quitting photography all together, who asked to do some portraits. Under the conditions that we were under, giving explanations while photographing was particularly difficult, so I asked her to just do whatever came to mind and I would try to take some shots. After about fifteen minutes, I was distracted by someone who decided to nearly set himself on fire next to me while pouring Kaitlyn’s fuel onto a dying fire pit (no, seriously, dude was that fucked up), so after making sure no one was injured or killed, I shouted back over, “KAITLYNNNNN, I don’t care what you do, just keep moving, PLEASE?..”
Kaitlyn at Tir Na Nog in Saratoga Springs, NY
My photography has completely changed, forever, as a result of these images of Kaitlyn.
I am forever grateful.
Siiiiiiiiiiick fire trails!
For me, I hit that boredom point long ago. At some point, every photographer ends up dazzled by the pretty lights and challenged into recording mesmerizing textures and patterns to the detriment of a good shot of the performer behind the lights. I don’t really focus on that anymore. Rather than photographing light trails, I aim for faces and the try to photograph performer. Light trails are just a secondary element in the shot, they’re just another prop.
If you’ve been following this series on improving fire performer photography at all, none of this should be a total surprise, or shocking advice, and is applicable to any kind of people-centered photography.
To take it one step further as a photographer, try any or all of the following:
Get away from Auto settings.
Try change modes on the P/A/S/M dial. (P/Av/Tv/M if you use Canon)
Change lenses.
Change cameras.
Change apertures.
Change shutter speeds.
Vary the size of the heads in your photos.
If you think you are close, get closer.
Get even closer. (If you’re careful, there is no such thing as too close)
Remember Consent Always and Safety Third.
Be okay with happy mistakes. I made friends with fire faeries entirely by accident.
Make eye contact, and try silent communication. Direct with your hands.
Stop trying to photograph the fire and start photographing the performer. It will absolutely change your entire photography technique, I promise.
Are you ready to learn how to photograph specific types of fire performers?
I hope so. In the next post we will start taking a high level look at camera settings for fire performers and how those settings interact with each other.
Are you near Boston, MA and want to schedule a photo shoot together?
Please visit my contact page and send me a message so we can get started!
Want to see more of my photography?
My portfolio features the best of my headshot, portrait, event, and boudoir photography.
Lennen and Luna’s Engagement Photoshoot at Bull Mansion, in Worcester, MA
Bull Mansion was built in 1876, it was designed by Calvert Vaux who was contracted by Daniel Wesson (of Smith and Wesson) for his daughter Sarah’s wedding present. Bull Mansion is also known as G.A.R Hall (Grand Army of Republic Hall). It is an ornate Victorian Gothic/Stick style granite mansion, which is on US National Register of Historic Places.
— From Bull Mansion’s Website
2018-01-05 WORCESTER, MA – I was contacted to schedule an engagement photography session by a Lennen, a friend from my Western Massachusetts goth-club days, for him and Luna, his new fiancee. He would be flying in to Massachusetts during the holiday season and had some gothy/Victorian styled clothing that they wanted to be photographed in. After tossing about a few ideas, we felt that photography for their engagement would be perfect at an equally elegant location so I contacted my friend, Victoria, who graciously allowed us the use of Bull Mansion, a historic building in Worcester, MA that was originally designed as a wedding present and is now an upscale restaurant and event space.
Of course, no one could have predicted that there would be a major snow storm the night before the engagement photoshoot and that temperatures would plummet on the day of the shoot itself. Unfortunately, it made things more complicated by changing the timing and freedom of availability for everyone. Some showed up later. Some could no longer stay as long as needed. Some could not make it at all. It’s winter in New England. Shit happens. Suck it up and drive on.
For this blog post, I got stuck here for a little bit about what to write next. I suppose that I could go on and on in several directions. Some may want to read about behind-the-scenes stuff and get into the nitty gritty of creating romantic engagement photos with multiple light sources in a beautiful venue. Others may wonder about contracts, how I got paid, how we juggled everyone, or the kind of equipment I used, feel that I edited too much / edited too little, lets chin-stroke over lenses, sensor resolution, dynamic range, and so on.
It’s really all irrelevant.
The most important thing I can pass on is that we somehow managed to find a way to pull everything together into a photography session that challenged us to find the best in what circumstance, timing, and other factors presented to us. When I could not scout the location the night before, I showed up earlier on the day of photography. When one person couldn’t make it, we lined up another. When another was delayed by brutal traffic, we shot photos anyway. When another couldn’t be there, we shifted roles to involve someone else. When people showed up, we worked them into the process. When we began running low on steam, we broke things into smaller pieces and decided to go all out for one final creative push. When the final concept proved too difficult for one person to pull off, we quickly organized into delegated roles and a by-the-numbers approach to photography. Together, we found a way to make it all work.
The romantic in me feels that there was something symbolic in the sudden challenges that came up out of nowhere to shake up the flow of plans we made and the correspondingly equal effort we all made to overcome them in the hopes of creating something beautiful. Engagement is the pinnacle of romantic idealism where more than one person makes plans together in order to create something unknown while hoping that what results is lasting and beautiful. Then life happens to challenge those hopes.
So what? Love each other, anyway.
In the end, storms will come. Delays will happen. People will drop out. Results won’t be what you expected. They may have even failed to match expectations. The Good Idea Faerie will pay a visit. Strong wills will clash. What else can you do, but react to the situation exactly as it has presented itself to you?
It is my hope that the images from this engagement photography session reflect the dedication of everyone involved, the challenges, the hopes, and the effort it took to create them and reminds the betrothed that they can find a way through anything, together.
So, congratulations, Lennen and Luna, on your engagement. May you have a beautiful life together. May you create something beautiful and lasting in the face of every challenge to come. May you have the support of a loving community, friends, and family with you every step along the way.
Photo Gallery from Lennen and Luna’s Engagement Photography Session at Bull Mansion
Q – How do you photograph fire performers like a combat shooter?
A – Shoot, move, and communicate.
In Part One of this series of tips to help improve your photography of fire performers, we looked at seeing fire performer photography through the lens of a photojournalist as a way to create stronger, more impactful images. After all, the human element is what draws us into any performance. In Part Two, we looked at Always Getting Consent and Safety Third to remind you that a performer is not just a sparkly prop who happens to be spinning pretty fire — there are many factors to be aware of, especially the importance of everyone else’s agency. In Part Three, we began to delve into how to more effectively use the camera by using techniques taught to soldiers as Basic Rifle Marksmanship. You are, after all, shooting people with a camera.
In this post, I wanted to pick up where I ended off with the idea of Kinetic Shooting vs Static Shooting and which is better, as well as how Shoot, Move, Communicate helps to reinforce Consent Always and Safety Third. Ready?..
How and Why to Shoot, Move, and Communicate
TL; DR – Don’t stay in one place. Once you start moving around, don’t be an asshole.
Always keep moving. Staying in one spot is boring for you, and does not help you make a picture interesting, especially one you realize that you happened to pick a bad spot to begin with. That’s it.
Once you start moving and shooting, but you are not communicating with people around you your intentions and gaining their consent as you move around (“S’cuse me, may I take a shot from here?”), being aware of possibly getting in someone’s way (“Am I in your way?”), to apologizing for getting in someone’s way (“Oh, I’m sorry, I’ll get out of your way — my bad!”) then you risk becoming the dreaded Uncle Bob that wedding photographers love to make fun of amongst themselves who is always in the way of a good view. At best.
At worst, you become like the Naked Guy who risks impacting the performance itself, and the safety of everyone around them. Imagine you are spinning a rope-dart, originally a weapon, requiring great concentration and awareness due to its sudden strikes and long reach. Now set the business end of it on fire. Along comes a Naked Guy who suddenly gets well within 10 feet and ends up between you and your safety, who is responsible for quickly putting you out should you somehow set yourself on fire, preventing them from moving our of your way JUST as you’re about to fire off a quick strike in that direction.
WARNING – DO NOT ATTEMPT
I shouldn’t have to say this, but here we are. I am an experienced fire performer photographer. Photos taken with fire involved professional fire performers with proper fire safety training, equipment, and procedures in place.
Use of fire comes with inherent risks including but not limited to risk of life, limb, or property. Any action you take based on any information on this website is strictly at your own risk and I will not be held liable for any loss or damages you cause to yourself or others because you chose to use fire in any way.
Don’t be a bogan wook. Leave the siiiiiiiiick fire trails and fire plumes to the professionals and support them by cheering their performances in person!
Speaking of bogan wooks…Seriously, don’t be That Guy™
Simple, right? That is all I wanted to go over for Moving around and Communicating, and all I will cover when it comes to the boring stuff.
Okay, well, not exactly.
In the next post, I’ll explain just how boring fire performer photography can be.
Are you near Boston, MA and want to schedule a photo shoot together?
Please visit my contact page and send me a message so we can get started!
Want to see more of my photography?
My portfolio features the best of my headshot, portrait, event, and boudoir photography.
Q – How do you photograph fire performers like a solder?
A – Learn US Army Basic Rifle Marksmanship
In Part One of this series of blog posts on How to Photograph Fire Performers, we covered how three compositional and conceptual elements help photojournalists and sports photographers create powerful images by depicting the human being, interacting with an object and struggling against adversity. In Part Two, we looked at always getting consent and “Safety Third” because fire-performers are not props, they are people. There is nothing wrong with actually working with them, and the other people around them — photography becomes a dance, as a result.
Which brings us to this post. You’ve now got the consent of the venue/promoter to photograph on location, and consent of the performer(s) to take pics of them from within the safety circle doing some really cool things with fire during a free-form performance, you’ve even asked if it is okay to use flash during some shots, and everyone is cool with it, and you’ve grabbed yourself a great spot, but holy hell, they move fast! How are you supposed to take a good shot if they’re constantly moving?
You can either wait until they line back up, at some point, with you and your position or you can say screw waiting and begin moving with them. You can be a passive marksman, or a kinetic shooter. Both have their advantages, and disadvantages.
Steady Position – Your stance, grip, body position, orientation, all combine to give a relaxed and steady platform to shoot from.
Proper Aim – You’re looking down the barrel, through your sights, to your target and your sight picture is consistent.
Breath Control – Your breathing is relaxed and steady, not elevated and erratic.
Trigger Squeeze – You aren’t pulling the trigger, you’re gently squeezing it, so that the act of actuating the trigger itself does not throw off your aim.
What does any of this have to do with shooting a camera?
Everything.
WARNING – DO NOT ATTEMPT
I shouldn’t have to say this, but here we are. I am an experienced fire performer photographer. Photos taken with fire involved professional fire performers with proper fire safety training, equipment, and procedures in place.
Use of fire comes with inherent risks including but not limited to risk of life, limb, or property. Any action you take based on any information on this website is strictly at your own risk and I will not be held liable for any loss or damages you cause to yourself or others because you chose to use fire in any way.
Don’t be a bogan wook. Leave the siiiiiiiiick fire trails and fire plumes to the professionals and support them by cheering their performances in person!
When you’re a dark environment, using much slower shutter speeds and relying longer focal lengths can all combine to cause any minor unsteady movement by the camera to be greatly magnified which will increase motion blur. Add to that the use of much wider apertures (with the right lenses, you’ll be between 2.8 all the way to 1.4 and fiddling with ISO in order to raise those shutter speeds faster) and your depth of field gets razorthin.
In my experience, shooting a camera is no different from shooting a rifle and the basics of hitting a target are no different than getting a sharper, well composed photograph:
Steady Position – Hold the camera with both hands, one on the camera body and the other steadying the lens and acting as the support for the camera, lens and possibly an external flash.
Proper Aim– Look through the viewfinder, held to your dominant eye, pulled in lightly against your face for additional steadying. I shoot with both eyes open. It helps greatly with my situational awareness as I am weaving in and among active fire performers.
Breath Control – Steady breathing helps to lower your heartbeat, and muscles to relax, reducing a tense/anxious grip, and camera sway as a result.
Trigger Squeeze – I keep my finger lightly on the shutter release button, half-pressing to lock focus, and re half-pressing to re-lock focus (I tend to shoot in single focus mode, rather than servo focus, preferring to control autofocus myself). When I actually release the shutter to take a photo, it’s a matter of a very light twitch. When the camera fires, I do not fully remove my finger from the shutter button. I reduce pressure until the internal spring resets — you can feel it reset, it’s subtle — it me to helps take follow up shots quickly, with the same focus.
Continuing with the idea of tacti-cool photography, in the next post on fire performer photography tips, we’ll look the pros and cons of Passive Shooting, Kinetic Shooting, and how Shoot-Move-and-Communicate helps you not trip up multiple performers, accidentally block the fire safety, or step on people in the audience. In other words, “Safety Third.”
Q – How do you photograph fire performers without killing yourself and everyone around you?
A – Learn about “Safety Third” and “Consent Always.”
RECAP OF PART ONE
In the first part of How To Photograph Fire Performers and Flow Artists, we started with a very broad level topic and looked at how to improve your fire performer photography by trying to see through the lens as a photojournalist. Those elements involved capturing the effort made by a human being with something against adversity. As a sports photojournalist, that “something” is usually a ball, puck, shuttlecock, a javelin, their fists, or even themselves. As a fire-performer, that “something” is their prop: poi, dragon staff, fire fans, hula hoop, sword, scythe, or whatever else has been modified with appropriate wicking.
I’ll start by going out on a limb here. Camera settings, and the the type of camera, at this stage are mostly irrelevant. The most important element to be aware of, at all times, is not the flames, not all the cool tricks, flashy tech, the fire trails, burn offs, and dragon breaths. When photographing a fire performer, it is not the fire that matters. It’s the performer.
In this next segment we’ll touch upon three things that will, hopefully, help keep your awareness squarely on the fire-performer where it belongs. We’ll look at safety third, and how to help them maintain safety third via consent.
No, seriously. Safety Third.
Safety Third:
The Alpha Betas burn their frat house down
Everyone is familiar with the idea of safety first. Protect yourself because your life and safety are your responsibility, so always do things with your safety in mind. That mindset is obsolete once other people are involved.
Performers, artists, photographers, contractors, and business operators use a slightly different set of safety protocols because of liability reasons. In the multiple layers of liability involved, your safety must not come first. It is third. Your duty to protect always lies, in order, with:
The Audience
The Venue.
Yourself.
Your equipment
Uploaded by Walsh Family on 2016-05-10.
As a photographer trying to take good pictures of fire spinners, how does safety third apply to you?
The Audience. Don’t kill anyone, remember? You are part of their Safety First layer and they are part of your Safety First layer.
The Venue. Don’t burn the fucking place to the ground. Don’t interfere with the performance. Don’t knock shit over. Don’t risk bumping into the performers.
Yourself. Don’t Die. Don’t get high. Don’t get drunk. Don’t be like The Naked Guy, above, and take too much 2C-I.
Your equipment. Better to drop a lens than trip onto a performer. Better to fall on to your camera than knock fuel everywhere. Equipment can be replaced. People can’t.
WARNING – DO NOT ATTEMPT
I shouldn’t have to say this, but here we are. I am an experienced fire performer photographer. Photos taken with fire involved professional fire performers with proper fire safety training, equipment, and procedures in place.
Use of fire comes with inherent risks including but not limited to risk of life, limb, or property. Any action you take based on any information on this website is strictly at your own risk and I will not be held liable for any loss or damages you cause to yourself or others because you chose to use fire in any way.
Don’t be a bogan wook. Leave the siiiiiiiiick fire trails and fire plumes to the professionals and support them by cheering their performances in person!
Don’t be this idiot.
How do you help each other to maintain each other’s Safety Third? You start with realizing that you and the performer(s) are both now a part of a dance together. How do you properly begin any dance? You ask for consent from everyone.
Always.
Consent Always
While most fire performances are outdoors, some are indoors. Unless you are clearly on any publicly owned way, you are most likely on private property, even if it is at an outdoor space. Photography of any public event, any person in a public way, and any person reasonably visible from a public location does not require consent to photograph as there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.
That does not matter.
How many problems are caused by photographers who do not gain consent? From paparazzi to sexual predators, photographers already have questionable reputations in some people’s perception. You can help change that perception with three simple words: always get consent.
bUt AdRiAn WuT iF tHe VeNuE SeZ PeOpLe aRe Ok WiTh PiCtUrEs So I dOn’T HAVE tO AsK tHeRe pErMiSSiOn?
It does not matter.
Adrian Feliciano
Always
Get
Consent
From the venue, from the performers, from anyone you point your camera towards to photograph. There is really nothing more I need to write about on the topic.
Think about this: is it really that difficult to ask for permission, or are you just lazy, entitled, and possibly predatory? Always. Get. Consent.
Coming up, I’ll start giving my favorite tips and techniques on how to take better photos of fire performers. Have you ever fired a rifle before? It helps.
Are you near Boston, MA and want to schedule a photo shoot together?
Please visit my contact page and send me a message so we can get started!
Want to see more of my photography?
My portfolio features the best of my headshot, portrait, event, and boudoir photography.
How good are portraits with iPhone and Hipstamatic?
2017-09-16, Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA – Last night I had an on-location portrait photoshoot with Dani at Goddess Tower, her aptly named apartment in Boston. The circumstances were a little different from my normal portrait photography sessions. There was little planning, not a lot of pre-shoot discussion, and no real idea what our theme would be. Similar to the boudoir photography sessions I’ve done, the number one request made by Dani (and the primary goal for both of us) was that she have a photography session to help boost her confidence.
The photography session started with ordering pizza while her roommate, Joy, joined us in chatting, sharing random music together, discussing hiring her for a couple of graphic design projects, and fiddling with her website. To make a long story short, Dani cleared a corner of her room and set some blankets out while Joy started suggesting wardrobe options.
By this stage, I decided that we would skip breaking out the dSLR, flashguns, tripod, and umbrellas — the corner was really bright, the walls and ceiling were fairly white(ish) and we’d see what happens with just an iPhone and a couple of small handheld LED lights that I always carry in my camera bag.
To me there is something to be said about iPhone photography that is especially intimate and lighthearted. The camera is utterly unobtrusive, absolutely familiar and comfortable to be around, and everywhere which makes it completely non-threatening. Plus, iPhone’s camera is pretty damned good. One of my favorite iPhone camera apps, over the years, has been Hipstamatic. I’ve always loved the simulated “lenses,” “films” and “flash” combinations it is capable of using — especially when setting everything to “random.”
Regardless of how good iPhone’s camera is, and the software engine behind it, the basics of paying attention to lighting still matter. It’s a small lens that has a relatively decent, but fixed, aperture and almost zero control over exposure. The built in flash may be “true tone” but it is still weak, incredibly small, and very direct.
The only real way I’ve found to effectively use iPhone’s LED light in a photograph is to use it as a fixed light for someone else’s selfies, the same way I use the LED video lights. Thankfully, between Dani, Joy, and me we were able to make use of both LED lights by acting as each other’s lightstands (Sorry, Diana!)
It’s important for any model to feel as comfortable as possible especially when the whole reason for the shoot is to help bring his or her confidence up. Dani picked up different things that held deep meaning to her as props: her hula hoops, faerie wings, a small glass ball, sat with some of her crystals, and her beloved kitten, Noah. We incorporated them all into different segments while constantly showing her results as we shot.
I am glad that we were able to come together with only one goal in mind, utterly zero ideas how to accomplish it, and start improvising together to create some images that are technically mediocre at best given the self-imposed limitations of the gear at hand but helped to push our collective creativity and, most importantly, the photography session gave Dani the confidence boost that she was needing to find.
In the end, sometimes it’s refreshing to put down all the camera gear, and just shoot for the fun of it.
Photo Gallery of iPhone Portrait Photography With Dani Mac
Are you near Boston, MA and want to schedule a photo shoot together?
Please visit my contact page and send me a message so we can get started!
Want to see more of my photography?
My portfolio features the best of my headshot, portrait, event, and boudoir photography.
