Simple story telling portrait of a local

Have you ever paged through the big travel mags and come across the photo of the local woman who is posing with some local fare?  You know the one the Jamaican woman with the tropical fruit framed against a pastel wall.

I love those portraits, they’re very simple and they tell a great story.  To me these portraits are such important parts of any travel piece for that very reason.  Simple story telling.

I recently got the opportunity to shoot such a shot while on assignment for Forbes Life Mountain Time when I was passing through the town of  Leadville, Colorado.

Sandra Gnant, the photo editor, had specifically asked for portraits of locals. Now, Leadville has an undeserving reputation as a surly place so I wanted just the right person and as the morning wore on I hadn’t yet found what I was looking for in a local.  As we sat down for lunch the waitress came around the corner and I knew I had my perfect victim.

With a little begging and the promise of a big tip I got her to stand for this.  I loved it as I was shooting it, I loved it in the edit and I still love it.  Sandra loved it, I hope you do too.

Photo Editor and Art Director types often call Tomas Zuccareno Photography because they know that I’m resourceful and can get the job done on remote locations.  Part of that resourcefulness is the ability to shoot a portrait, anywhere.  I love natural light portraits but sometimes I just want to use some strobes to give my work a modern punch.

Sidelight Portrait

Here’s my two cents on how to use artificial light on remote locations.

First let’s start with the equipment.  You’ll need at least two or preferably three portable light sources.  Any brand name or power output will work but keep in mind that less power generally means less creative potential.  Also, keep in mind that some brands are just more reliable with better quality light than others.  I own two very portable systems: A Canon system that consists of three 580ex flashes and Profoto system that consists of two 600R packs, two heads and one Canon 580ex.  I also carry a set of Pocket Wizards to trigger the Profoto units.  The Pocket Wizards allow my to move all over without the hinderance of wires. Get into what you can afford and go with it.  If you spend your whole life dreaming about having the money to buy the best you won’t be shooting, and you need to go shoot.

Second, let’s talk about the technique.  I’m going to talk you through very basics of a “hard sidelight” technique that will wow them every time….if done right.  A good dose of sidelight will help give your subject depth and separate him/her/it from the background.  This technique is especially helpful when you want to shoot with a deep depth of field and your subject might otherwise blend in to your backdrop.  In this example, I have chosen to balance the ambient light with the strobes (more or less), also try dialing back you ambient light to get a moody effect.

Place a strobe head or flash on each side of your subject.  Be sure to place your light sources far enough away from your subject so that they won’t flare into your frame.  Place your lights just behind the plane created by your subject shoulders so that 85% of the light is lighting the back of your subject.  This allows the light to wrap around your subject and creates great depth.  I like the sidelights to be hot so that they almost blow out the rim of the subject, this will create drastic shadows on the front of the subject.  Next, place your third strobe head or flash just off camera.  This light will act as a fill light to deal with the shadows your sidelights will create.  Always place your fill off camera (not centered over the lens) as this will make it look a little more natural.  Don’t use the fill to clean up all of the shadows just use it to open them up a little.  Some shadow on the front of the subject will help to create that depth.

It’s really that easy. Try experimenting with the ambient exposure.  Try changing the balance between the sidelights from side to side. Try it with only one sidelight.  Your potential is limitless, now go shoot!