Assignment 3: Environmental Portrait Outdoors - Part II

3. Final photo-shoot report and analysis

The final shoot took place on Sunday March 13 as planned.  The prevailing weather conditions were quite different from the pre-light.  A fairly bright, overcast day with lots of reflected light from the snow was very favourable for the kind of 'feel' I wanted for my shot.  Because of this change I re-walked the surrounding area I had chosen from the week before.  At approximately 12.30pm I metered the ambient light at f.16 1\125th sec at ISO 200.  This was the incident reading I obtained, pointing away from the interchange.  In the other direction - away from the diffused sun - the reading was 1 1\2 stops less, not as much as I anticipated.  Because of the amount of reflected light and general glare from the surrounding snow I was not sure how far I should trust these readings.  In the end, I worked with the information on the back of my camera to achieve a correct exposure and a 'match' for my inspirational shot.

Since the pre-light I had also had a chance to think about my lens choice.  On that day I had not achieved the symmetrical look of a constructed environment as background that I wanted.  I knew that I needed a longer lens to achieve this compression effect so on this occasion brought along a 55-200mm zoom.  I anticipated shooting at between 100 and 150mm.  I did not want to go above this because of the necessity it would bring of shooting at a higher shutter speed (at least equal to or above the focal length of the lens).  I needed to stay around f.8, or an absolute minimum of f5.6, in order to keep my subject in focus.

For my shot to work I wanted a diffused light source and had anticipated using some degree of strobe.  However, after examining my model and seeing how the light fell on her face from different directions, I found that the best 'fit' in terms of lighting came from simply placing her in a position where the snow could reflect and bounce into her face. This source metered at slightly above f.16 at 1\125th.  

This was the scenario for my first shot which was achieved using ambient light plus the snow beneath and in front of the model as a reflector.

f.8 1\125th 165mm

I felt that this shot was good, had the right colour palette but was lacking in impact.  I decided to re-walk the site and try some alternative locations.  After examining several, I found a spot and angle that gave me a similar image to my first inspirational shot (shot 1 in Part I of this assignment).  However, by this time the light had changed.  In addition to this the new position did not have the hidden benefit of a natural reflector.  It became clear that I would have to try to use some strobe to recreate the feel of the soft, naturally diffused light I had found in the shot above. 

I positioned the model at the opposite side (the interchange side) of the bridge and photographed her with the interchange at my back.  From a low angle it was possible to get the ironwork as a background.  I set up a speedlight and stand with a shoot-through umbrella around 8 feet from the model and 6 feet high.  This was angled down towards the model and oriented around 45 degrees relative to her face and at 90 degrees relative to the brightest part of the sky at that time (measured at f.8 1\125th).  In the end, I got the exposure and effect I wanted by setting the speedlight fairly low, at 1\16th power.  The 145mm focal length provided just the amount of compression I wanted and the final shot was taken using f.6.3 at 1\160th 145mm.

The most important thing I learned from this assignment was to pay really close attention to, firstly the light in the environment and secondly, how this light interacts with the model. This is where everything begins and it will be the largest factor in the shot whatever the desired final effect.  I also learned how light could be bounced and bent by factors in the natural environment such as (in this case) snow, concrete and a diffused sky.  I learned a lot from this assignment and hopefully in my final image was able to get to a successful combination of ambient light and strobe, plus the composition that I wanted (see shot 1 in Part I above).