Rick’s Rants and Raves

Profile Pics, originally uploaded by rick020200.

A couple of weeks ago, shortly after shooting Skippy, I decided I wanted more practice doing portraits. I supposed that the folks I work with would be interested in having quick, easy, profile pics made for them. So I sent out an invite (our office lives and dies by Outlook calendar invites) titled “Free profile pics” to about 15 folks with the encouragement to forward if they wanted.

I brought in my camera and three flashes, but I only used two. Each of these had Lumopro LP120 behind shoot-though umbrella camera left, and Strobonar on the back ground (a nearly white conference room wall). The subjects were also pretty close to a near-white wall camera right.

First, I set the Strobonar, and tried to gauge that it would throw about f/11 off the background using a flash meter. I then set the LP120 to 1/2 or 1/4 power and it was doing about f/8 on the subject. This “felt” like the right balance before anyone showed up.

When folks showed up, I only had to make minor lighting adjustments, but I had one problem that I was able to fix in post-production for several of the shots–there was a bit of gradient in the background such that the top portion of the pictures was not completely over exposed like I wanted. With a bit more work, I think I could fix the remaining gradients, but at least one person told me they liked it and thought it was intentional.

Over-all I’m pleased with the result. The white wall camera right provided nice fill and rim light. The subjects are all folks I’ve worked with pretty extensively and were willing subjects except the middle of the top row. She has something wrong with her upper teeth and is very self-conscious about it. I told her she didn’t have to smile, but, like a dumb-ass, I kept cracking jokes anyway. Hence the forced I’m-NOT-going-to-smile look on her face. I apologized for continuing to be a clown and let her go so as to not make her more uncomfortable.
The gentleman in the upper left corner refused to sit up straight in the chair (I asked twice). I could just hear the advice from Clay Blackmore–never shoot anyone leaning back. So I rotated the camera and shot.
The gentleman in the upper right was my best subject. He’s the only single person in the group, and really wanted a variety of shots that he could use in on-line dating. So I did two headshots and two 3/4 length. I think he was the most pleased with the results.

All in all, I think I’ve become proficient at the technical aspects, while I still need to work on my camera-side manner. Maybe I should tape some jokes to the back of my camera. Maybe next time I’ll be more relaxed and patient and remember to build rapport and confidence in my subjects as I shoot.