The images, the process and product reviews about my photography
Had fun with the Bliss Bridal Magazine staff again this week. Shot a series of staff photos for the next issue. Many shots were taken and submitted but here are a few of my favorites. There are also a few “blooper” shots that will remain unpublished until I need some leverage for a favor. Ha, ha…just kidding. 😉
Below is a “behind the scenes” shot from the graffiti wall. We knew this would be a cool place to shoot but turned out even better due to the musical soundtrack of a local band shooting a video and hippies dancing nearby. Gotta love Austin!
In a recent senior portraits shoot with Nikki Gilbert, I was able to shoot inside the Continental Club. Great opportunity but really bad lighting inside this popular club/bar. There were a lot of interesting colors and textures on the walls from the posters/paintings that were hanging. I setup my one light with a softbox and took the following shot.
Not a bad shot if I wanted a black background and nothing else…but that’s not what I was going for. There was a great wall behind her that would add some depth and texture to the photo. If I increased my light output or slowed my shutter speed, I would blow out Nikki’s face. All I really needed was enough light to pull in some color and texture from the wall that was about 20 feet behind her. There are many ways to accomplish this but I wanted just a kiss of accent light and not enough to distract from her being the subject.
I setup a Canon 580 EX II speedlite on the ground and dialed it’s output down to 1/4 and diffused it.
This speedlite coupled with the strobe that I already had setup gave me the lighting combination I was looking for.
I now had the speedlite accenting the wall and the strobe with softbox camera left of Nikki. This would give me the shot I was going for.
Gear used in this shoot:
I have known Nikki and her family for a couple of years and was excited when asked to do her senior portraits. Nikki Gilbert is a fighter and a cancer survivor. She has an amazing story to tell and you can read more about it here.
We started our shoot outdoors in Austin and had some great locations picked out but the weather did not cooperate. Thanks to the Continental Club for letting us shoot inside their place. There will be a part two for this shoot, but until then…
I met Amanda Still through the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce. Amanda is the owner of Hill Design + Gallery in Georgetown. They asked me to help them with photos for their family Christmas card this year. Below are some of the images from our time together. Looking forward to part two of this shoot in the outdoors…when the weather clears up!
Todd White Photography 