10 Minute Portraits | North Carolina Photographer
With a limited amount of time and no desirable location I setup Jay in front of my garage door to create the below portraits.
With every photo shoot I have 4 things I check off in my head. Lighting, posing, composition & expression. The process is really quick because I have done it for so long.
1) Light -- I like to work quickly and efficiently, so my go to lighting source is natural light. I look for the best source and quality of natural light. If the natural light is terrible and I can't move my subject then I would introduce tools to help with the quality of the light on my subject. Of course the tools used on every photo shoot does vary, it could be an artificial light aka strobe or speed light, a bed sheet to help diffuse the light, a video light etc. whatever it takes to get a great portrait. That said, with these portraits I used all natural light.
2) Posing -- giving my subject a reason to be wherever they are ensures my subject looks natural and comfortable. In the case of Jay, he was in front of my garage door with a cool jacket, so I thought, what would I do in front of my garage door with a cool jacket and I believe the answer was just look cool. The word "cool" could mean something different to everyone, this was my interpretation.
3) Composition -- knowing what to include and exclude in your portrait is critical to ensure your viewer is not distracted with other subjects that's not the main focus of the portrait. Playing with angles, shapes etc helps to create an interesting composition that's pleasing to the viewer's eye.
4) Expression -- My last check mark is the mood and emotion of the portrait. This last bit is the soul of the portrait it helps the viewer to connect with the subject. Having the best lighting in the world, the best posing and a great composition means nothing; if there's no emotion, no spark and no mood in the portrait. In these portraits I wanted to express how cool he was in this awesome jacket, so that's what I aimed for and hopefully achieved.
From a post processing perspective, when I was reviewing the images they all just screamed black and white to me. Simple, no distractions and timeless. Here's a secret, I love creating beautiful portraits but I hate post processing :-).
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