This is Serilda Summers McGee.  She is the Portland Business Alliance’s Program Director for Leadership Portland and Partners in Diversity.

She came to me for her professional Bio/PR.  I just got a new light modifier, a Beauty Dish, that I used for this shot.

Serilda has such a bubbly personality and is innately goofy.  She is quick to make you laugh and place you at ease.  It took a while but I kept working with her to finally settle her down and get her out of that goofy mood to get this beautiful look.

For you techies, here is the set up to create this image:

So here’s my thought process for this image.  I wanted to show the buildings and sky in the background as well as show “me” and the products in the foreground.

I first metered for the light coming from the window in the background of the image so the buildings and sky would not get “blown out” (i.e. overexposed) in the final image.  Unfortunately, my light meter was in the “shop” so I had to use the meter in the camera body (not the best method but will do in a pinch).  Wanting to keep a good depth of field (i.e. a wider range of keeping “things” in focus), I set the aperture to f/8 and adjusted the shutter speed until my meter indicated the correct exposure (i.e. middle of the scale).

If I just stayed at this setting, everything in the foreground (including me) would be dark.  So the next part to consider was how to light the foreground.  A Nikon D200 was set up on the tripod and an SB900 Speedlight was placed on the light stand with a shoot through umbrella.  The set up image doesn’t show that the light and umbrella was actually placed higher just above my head pointing slightly downward.   Having the light set up “off camera”, I avoided glare off the products and placing the light slightly above me created a flattering shadow line (see below my chin).

Ta Da!  Let me know what you think!

If you have a small space and only two speedlights, how do you photograph a group of 15?

Shout out “DOG PILE!”  Hmmm, maybe that only works with kids – some adults might not be comfortable with this tatic.

I had a “duh.” moment after attending Sandy Puc’s recent workshop stop here in Portland, create a composite of separate smaller group shots.  This also solves the problem of adding in members that were missing the day of this shoot.  Just keep in mind to keep your light placement consistent so the shadows match across all the subjects. And keep your distance from the subjects the same – this will reduce the amount of time you spend in postproduction.  I like to shoot without a tripod so learn from my mistakes!

If you haven’t seen this group perform, their next full ensemble concert is in October.  Their enthusiasm and energy will reverberate down to your core – their joy is contagious.  I dare you not to smile when you see them perform.  Check their website for more information:  Portland Taiko

In a previous post, I talked about playing with a directional light set ups using my camera flash units, Nikon SB-800′s.  The image above is using the Lastolite 15″ softbox + SB-800 on the subject and another SB-800 bouncing off an umbrella to light the Wells Fargo stage coach in the background.  ISO set at 100 and using my 85mm lens, my exposure was 1/50th sec at f/4.5.  I was so excited about the results that I placed an order for Lastolite’s 24″ Ezybox product.

Collage of Favorites from Bio Photo Special

This event was filled with lots of fun and great positive energy in working with all the beautiful ladies that participated in my Bio Photo Special shoot on September 9th.

Just a few of my favorites are (left) Candace Petersen, President and COO of learning.com, (center) Linda Wion, Realtor with Prudential Northwest Properties, and (right) Sharona Tsubota, Wine and Spirits Explorer of In Great Spirits.

Special “Shout Outs & Props” to:

Layla Bauder and Lynn Hannah (e: lhannah@marykay.com), representing Mary Kay Cosmetics.  These two little ladies worked their make up artistry and provided great tips and products to all the attendees.

Francoise Weeks, provided whimsically sweet miniature floral designs as thank you gifts to all the lovely ladies that participated in this fun event.