Lighting Session

To me, "lighting" is the one thing that really makes a great photographer. It is essential to the whole presentation and composition. Of course, being creative and actually coming up with the composition of a photograph is important, but if you have no control over lighting then what good does your creativity do? So I decided to take a trek to Columbia this past Saturday with my sister-in-law, Abby, and do a lighting session with Lucas Brown of www.kickstandstudio.com. These guys are AMAZING and I've actually known Lucas since the 6th grade. Anyway, check out their site! What I learned was invaluable and I know it will take me to another level and I can't wait for my next shoot. :) What I mainly wanted to accomplish was to have more control over lighting so that whatever I saw in my head could be done in the camera without the lighting in the setting itimidating me out of the shot I REALLY wanted. This also cuts down on editing time and work flow. How great is that?!

Below, are some of the shots I took during our session. I'll briefly walk you through the difference.

This shot was completely in a manual setting with no flash.



Here the shot is again, but with flash and correct exposure for the window in the backgroud, which added a unique challenge.



This shot was purely on a whim. It was in manual and no flash. I just loved the available light already there.


This shot of course had a flash and my goal was to wash out the backgroud to make Abby stand out more and give it an edgy spin. goal acheived. :)


This shot was def with a flash and my goal was to blacken the background with out darkening Abby.


Same goal here...


In this one I wanted the washed out background again and a soft shadow on Abby's face. This made her stand out and against the background with out the background overpowering her. The background also gives a nice contrast and composition element.


Here was my first shot of the day that finally came out the way I wanted. this shot was key for me in understanding. For any photographers who want to know...this was f11, shutter at 250, ISO at 100, and flash at 1/16 power (I believe). This was taken at mid day with full sun out and I really wanted a blue sky, but with Abby exposed properly.


This one was just fun. Lucas showed me a trick and gave me something I could put around the flash to put the light just around the subject. Cool huh? :)