Taken with my Lensbaby Muse, a deliberately low sharpness lens, focussed by squeezing (like and accordion)
Category: Portraiture
Reflections
My favourite part of today’s image is the reflection of the lighting in the sunglasses worn by my subject. The lighting used was a small strip light/soft box, to make the lighting very directional. In addition, a strobe was used behind her head, facing the camera as a rim light in order to create highlights in her hair.
Nikon D7100 DSLR, 18-200mm Nikkor lens, ISO 100. Post work done in Nik Efex and Lightroom
Neewer 300DS Studio strobe with strip/softbox light, Yongnuo YN 560 III flash used as rim light
Background
This post is about the background. 🙂 At a local thrift store I found an old bedspread for $5. I love the pattern: it has a vintage look, and in some ways reminds me of Batik. I’ll definitely be using it again! 🙂
Nikon D7100, 18-200mm lens
Playing With Light
Today’s image is all about playing with light. I placed my newly acquired YungNuo YN-560 III flash (quite a bargain by the way) behind the glass ball. It was triggered by a built in optical slave when the main flash (my Nikon SB-600 with a Lightsphere) fired. Finally, a cross star filter provided the star effect, when things were lined up precisely.
Nikon D7100, 18-200mm lens
Post work done with Nik Efex and Lightroom
About Face
I call this post About Face for multiple reasons. Firstly, after months of shooting black and white, or colours muted by a seemingly endless winter, I wanted to do an about face and shoot some bold, vibrant, highly saturated, over the top colour. Secondly while I still shoot a lot of film, I felt like doing something shamelessly digital, not trying to emulate a film look at all.
Lastly, this post is called About Face as a tribute to the model Jennifer Bettencourt, who consistently delivers great facial expressions, whenever we work together! (Jennifer is multi-talented: she is also the singer on the demo version of a song from my Blitzed musical I am writing. )
Nikon D7100, 18-200 lens, Illumination via Nikon SB600 flash and Lightsphere Diffuser.
Post work done in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex 4
Cool
Today I had the pleasure of working with my friend Cate again. It was very cold and rather windy afternoon in a downtown Toronto cemetery, the kind of day that make its seem like winter will never end. Cate cool-toned hair and make-up was perfect for the weather!
Nikon D7100, 18-200 Nikkor lens
Post production in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex 4
Affirmation
Yesterday was an amazing day, photographically speaking. Jessica (pictured below) shared some feedback she got from a friend who checked out some of my other portrait work, and had the following to say:
“There is a kind of love in his photography that is sensitive and charitable to the subject, but in a number of portraits on his blog, the you can see brokenness or sadness in their expressions.”
When I read this, I felt here was someone whom I’ve never met, who understands what I have tried to achieve in my portraits, to show humanity, including all its glorious imperfections. I was thrilled to say the least.
Jessica and her friend have also been discussing Canadian philosopher Jean Vanier, and she shared with me this quote from his work Community and Growth:
“In any case, community is not about perfect people. It is about people who are bonded to each other, each of whom is a mixture of good and bad, darkness and light, love and hate. Community is the only earth in which each can grow without fear towards the liberation of the forces of love which are hidden in them, but there can be growth only if we recognize the potential, and this will never unfold if we prevent people from discovering and accepting themselves as they are, with their gifts and their wounds. They have the right to be rotters, to have their own dark places and corners of envy and even hatred in their hearts. These jealousies and insecurities are part of our wounded nature. That is our reality. We have to learn to accept them and to live with them without drama, and to walk towards liberation, gradually knowing ourselves to be forgiven.”
A great quote that really resonates with me, and the fact that someone connected my photography with this philosophy is amazing 🙂
Pentax 67 camera, 105mm/f2.4 lens, Tri-X film exposed at EI 800, developed in Diafine 3+3
Post work done in Lightroom and Nik Efex
The Portrait Up Close
Yesterday I had the pleasure of working with Jessica; this was her first time in front of the camera in a portrait session setting. While admitting to feeling a bit self-conscious, Jessica did quite well, and has a natural camera presence. She also has a knack for very subtle, tiny smiles, and I thought an extreme close-up (tighter than most portraits are shot) would help capture this.
Nikon D7100, Nkkor 18-200/3.5-5.6 VR II lens
Postwork done in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Efex software
Another Backstage Portrait
I am writing this blog post from the backstage dressing room of The Crucible, as we await the start of our last performance, so I thought another backstage portrait would be an appropriate subject. This is Annie, at fifteen the youngest member of our cast. She is a remarkable, talented young actor who combines wisdom beyond her years with the spirit and enthusiasm of a child; as such she is perfect for the role of Betty Parris.
(Nikon F2, 50mm/f1.4 Nikkor lens, Tri-X film at E.I. 800, developed in Diafine 3+3)
Swirls
Today, another image shot with my Soviet Russia era Helios 44/2 58mm/f2 lens. I took this image with the lens mounted on my Yashica TL-Electro SLR body, using Kodak Cinema XX film at E.I. 200. The occasion was the engagement photo shoot of GIllian and Kari.
The Helios 44/2 lens has achieved cult status in some quarters due to the “swirl” one can achieve in the unfocused parts of the image, when shooting wide-open, and the effect is really evident in this image. Shooting in full shade wide open at 1/60th means the image isn’t tack sharp, but I do love those swirls 🙂
My Third Eye 