Tag: Portrait

We Could All Use a Little Light

Here’s a dispatch from the Don’t Try This at Home Department: I’m a sucker for people in wild costumes doing crazy things. Hence, this photo. This is Michelle Yeager, and awesome fire breather – performing at a Krampuslauf event in North Philadelphia, a few years back. It is one of my favorites because of the work it took getting the right balance and detail of the fire without it being too bright and therefore blowing out the details. It started as big white blob of fire, but with the magic of lightroom and RAW file, rather than a JPG, I was able to coax detail out of flames that look, to me, like an angry universe, or maybe the interior of a sunspot. Yes, I like to shoot film, but there are certain things that are best done with digital, and shooting fire breathers is one of them. And also – use a long lens. No sense singing your eyebrows, even if it is for a good photo.

Uneasy Lies the Head That Wears the Crown

During the Pandemic, I enlisted (threatened, bribed, cajoled) my daughter into posing for me for an online photography class I was taking with Rick Wright, a brilliant photography instructor who teaches at the Fleisher Art Memorial and the Halide Project, both located in Philadelphia.  The plan for the shoot was to photograph my daughter in her devil’s costume backed up by her minions – her many stuffed animals.  She was doing a great job for me, mugging for the camera, and throwing wicked, crazy looks that could give Wednesday Addams a run for her money, and we got a several excellent shots, so we relaxed for a bit and took a break.

While we were relaxing, I was standing by the camera and she threw this look, a bit exhausted, a little hot from the costume, and I had to press the shutter.  And there she was, the ruler of Hades, deep, dark and brooding.  Brava, to my great actress!!

About the Photo:  Digital. Single, overhead spotlight.  Some filters and added clarity.  Jaundice slider +3. It’s not normally my style to spend a lot of time in post, but this shot was just too much fun to make utterly creepy.

The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates

Sometimes the winter kicks you in the butt and you just can’t – or don’t want to – get outside to get your creative on.  My creativity definitely diminishes in direct proportion to how much I am shivering, or if my fingers are too numb to press the shutter button.  And since my creative starts with photography, and I’m not about to brave ice, snow, slush, sleet, psychotic Philadelphia drivers, and that special hell known as the Schuylkill Expressway in order to get to a decent photo location – or my screen print studio as a backup –  I just have to get even more creative to come up with in-the-home photo activities.

The concept for this shot was introspection.  My model was a one-inch-tall plastic action figure – the character was Too-Ticky from the Finnish/Swedish Moomin-Troll universe created by the late Tov Jansson.  At the time of this shot, as I was pondering retirement from my tech career. I was trying to capture the feeling of my state of mind – in essence where I wanted to go and where I had been.  Could I achieve my goal of re-inventing myself as a photographer and artist in my sixties?  Could I somehow fine relevance is such a young and cutting-edge industry?  This is what I wanted to express with the photo.

Black and white was definitely the way to go here – and I wanted it to be dark, moody and dramatic. It would be a bonus if I could throw in a bit of rim-lighting because I love it. 

About this Photo:    This photo required: 1. The edge of a jacuzzi tub.  2. A couple of black fleece throws. 3.  A Too-Ticky Moomin Troll action figure. 4. A desk lamp.  5.  A digital camera.  6. Five minutes from concept to cleanup.    I love film, but when I am experimenting with lights, digital provides the feedback and immediacy that I need to work out the niggles in a shoot.  Film is awesome, but the name of my site is ‘Film Sometimes,’ not ‘Film Always.’ I was able to adjust the dark framing around the borders, so as to give the subject the illusion of constraint and in the end, I was not unhappy with the shot.

Photo Gallery: Things That Drip, Grow and Bark

This gallery is from a test of a film camera and lens to see if it was worth taking on trip to Yellowstone National Park. You have to click ‘Continue Reading’ in order to see all of the photos.
It’s best to extensively test a lens and camera combination prior to taking it somewhere important or where you might not have backup in case the combination is disappointing. From these tests, I found that I was happy enough with the Nikon F100 film camera with the Nikkor 28-200mm G ED f3.5-5.6 ED, F-Mount lens. I took gallery of shots was taken at home and at a local park just a few miles away. It includes some of my favorite subjects; Things that drip, grow and bark.

About the Photos: The flower shots were boceh/lens blur tests which came out better than expected considering that it is a very inexpensive (relatively), compact and lightweight superzoom lens – what I would usually consider a recipe for mediocrity. But in order to be outstanding, you have to stand out. And the separation in the flower shot, between the subject and the background, is excellent. Again, much better than expected. This lens is a winner.

I also love the Nikon F100 for vacation film photography – when you cannot go back to reshoot a subject later – because, while you can use it on full manual, you also have the option to run it in aperture priority or full auto, a luxury I sometimes need with wildlife and street scenes. The only downside of this camera, for me, is that it weighs in a little heavy. But if you throw a nifty fifty or a lighter weight prime lens on it, it really isn’t that bad.
The film used, Ilford HP5 400 – showed some lovely grain and contrast. The water shots – my favorite go-to subject matter these days is anything water. There are a couple of indirect portraits in here, to further test the capability of the setup, and of course, the dog. A dog with human eyes, I get told often. All in all, a good workout for the lens and camera, which I did indeed take with me to Yellowstone, with good results.

I love testing ‘new-to-me’ film cameras.

Boost Drama with Rim Lighting

Rim Lighting creates drama in a photo – more so than with most lighting techniques – and in the right situation it can be just the creativity you need. This shot turned a photo a session from typical and blah into something that really pops.

To do rim lighting you really need off-camera lighting.

Exotic Portraiture: Split Light, Clarity and Vibrance

Sitar John Protopapas is primarily a World Music instructor at York College in York, PA. A study in diversity, John has a Greek background but grew up in South Africa and studied music in India.

The Three Tenors

‘Even a fish would not get in trouble if it kept its’ mouth shut.’
– My Dad (Who once worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency.)

At the docks in Garibaldi, Oregon, after the fishing boats come in, I used a Fuji XT2 – the perfect travel system – to capture these stunning, back lit, dinner-to-be’s. In post-prod, I brought down the white heat at the top of the photo along with a touch of clarity to fill in some of the details.