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I'm saddling up for my Spearfish, South Dakota Old West Workshop, which I am co-leading with my cowboy/photographer friend, Les Voorhis. You'll find info on the workshop on my Workshops page, and you can see more pictures in my Old West Gallery. I hope you can join the posse of photographers who will be on the workshop.
While going through the images from my previous Spearfish workshop, I came up with the idea to share with you a few images that illustrate the "evolution of an on-location portrait session." Here goes.
Above: Final image, which is a hand-held, in-camera Canon 5D Mark III HDR image. I had to shoot HDR due to the high contrast range. My lens: Canon 24-105mm IS, which is my favorite lens.
Here's why I like the image: nice light rays, low camera angle, cowboy looking toward the light, night light on his face, relaxed pose, relatively plain background.
I shot at ISO 4000 due to the low light. Even at that high ISO setting, I saw little noise in the images.
Above: Adobe Bridge screen shot of the three raw files and in-camera produced HDR JPEG image.
The final setting in the old barn was not my first choice for posing the cowboy.
Above: This location was my first pick for our portrait session. I liked the light, but it turned out that the scene was just too cluttered - with light and shadows and objects.
For more on light and composition, see my Kelby Training on-line classes.
By the way, the scene looks soft because there was a ton of dust in the old barn.
Above: A behind-the-scenes shot showing the students shooting. On my workshops, everyone has the opportunity to make great pictures.
The message of this post: When you are on location, keep looking - and testing - for the best light and best background, as well as the best pose.
Also think about the digital technology (in-camera HDR in this case) can help you make the picture you see in your mind's eye.
Above: Here's another image that illustrates the technique of making a picture, rather than simply taking, a picture. The cowboy was not positioned in this exact spot my accident. :-)
Above: When we are not photographing cowboys and cowgirls, we'll focus on landscape and nature photography.
I hope to see you in Spearfish or on another one of my workshops.
Explore the light
Rick
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