Since I have been involved in photography, I follow a lot of websites of other photographers. I like to study what they have done and what I like and what I don’t particularly appreciate when looking at their work. About a year ago, I saw a photo at sunset of a golfer and thought to myself; this would be a cool Senior Picture idea if it ever comes. During the summer of the pandemic, I practice the setup of a sunset in the daytime. Not so much for this picture but weddings, family and so on. Ok, how did I do it, and what was I thinking?
Senior High-school Picture with a little wow to it
Yes, there is some thought to this picture. It's 4:00 pm on a sunny afternoon. The sun is out, and it's a warm day that causes this day to be very busy with other golfers. After picturing in my head what I wanted, it was time to set up the shoot. The first was to get my camera settings for the ambient light. To make sunset, I needed to get darker. I controlled this with ISO, Speed, and Aperture. I went with my lowest ISO 50, and Speed would be at 8,000 and F18 aperture. I knew at this setting; I will not get the full power of my two flashes with a Speed of 8,000. Out came my Density filter to bring the Speed to 200 and now a scene that would look like it was getting darker outside.
Great, next was to get the sun. Using a flash with a full CTO gel on, I set up the flash in the same direction of the sun. Why? I wanted shadows to look real and from the same direction as the real sun. I believe at full power (200), the artificial sun was set and ready. Next was to expose the front. Using an Octa with a grid in front and at full 600, I got the light on the senior that I wanted, and with the grid, I did not have light spilling in an area that I did not want. Ready set go pictures were taken; looked at my back of the camera and said, I got it.
Last was postprocessing. Yes, I use Lightroom for most of my work and photoshop for some more. I needed to get rid of the light stand of the light that was the artificial sun, and as I said earlier, it was a busy day, and golfers were in the picture. I took them out also. After all, was done, a picture that I always wanted to do, and I felt great about it.
Photography is more than just a camera. A lot of thought and understanding of light goes into it. I can't wait for my next creative idea.