Today’s Post by Blue Moon Staff
Shooting images outdoors mean you’re going to have to be creative about where and when you shoot and you need to look for locations that will accommodate the client’s photographic needs. That’s why private locations for intimate portraiture are best.
ON LOCATION
Sometime the physical location and the subject’s clothing—or lack thereof—will dictate a pose for the model, the photographer or maybe both of them. The right locations provide a place where a natural-looking space where the subject can pose and be comfortable all at the same time.
How I Made this Portrait: One of the positive aspects of shooting glamour outdoors—including intimate portraits such as the featured image—is that there’s always something for the subject to interact with.
The point of any pose, especially in intimate portraiture, it to start with an idea, give an instruction to the subject, watch what happens, and then improve on what the what see on the LCD’s screen. On a porch of a house at an outdoor movie set in Arizona, I told the subject—Tomiko—to lean back, the rest was her interpretation.
I photographed her using a Canon EOS D60-—not a 60D—with the now discontinued EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 lens that, for a long time, was my go-to lens for all of my outdoor portrait and glamour photography. It may be because I didn’t have many lenses at the time when I started shooting Canon DSLRs. That lens was sold a while ago but if I was still doing a majority of my photography using DSLR’s instead of the mirrorless cameras I predominantly use today, I might consider re-buying a used one. It was a useful and versatile lens. This portrait of Tomiko had a completely available light exposure of 1/250 sec at f/9 and ISO 200. No fill flash from a speedlight and no reflector was used.
In Outdoor Glamour Photography Bill Lemon explains, image by image, how each was created and the equipment used, as well as the time of day that produces the best image and how to use the light to your advantage. Used copies of the book are selling for around $49 on Amazon as I write this, but you can pick up a Kindle version for around ten bucks.
