Light for Portrait Photography | The Big Difference

Harbor Town Portrait Photography by Jim Crotty, originally uploaded by jimcrotty.com.

Last week I was providing a lesson on location for two local photographers here on Hilton Head Island. They wanted to know more about lighting for outdoor portraits. We chose Harbor Town (which was packed with the summer tourist crowd) as our location. My model was my daughter, Emma. 

The two images clearly show the difference when it comes to lighting, not only with the source of the light but in time of day as well. The first images was lit using a on-camera flash - in this case the Canon 580ex, with a diffuser. It's nice but it lacks the dramatic effect of a professional portrait at sunset. Next I used the same camera but with the light source off to the side. In this case the light was from an Alien Bees 800 strobe, powered by the AB Vagabond portable battery by Lightgear USA. The light was diffused through an attached translucent umbrella. The only thing I may have changed was to provide a reflector on the other side to fill-in the shadows just a touch on the right side of Emma but the improvement in the quality of the light is clearly evident. 

Another lesson is time of day. There was perhaps 20 minutes between the time of the first and second image. Notice how much the light and color had changed in the background. Outdoor portraits in the summer - especially here in South Carolina - are always going to be best right at sunset and even better for a good half hour afterwards. The key is to provide and direct additional light that is evenly diffused and soft on the subject.

Via Flickr:
Outdoor portrait photography by Jim Crotty on Hilton Head Island noting differences with light as to time and light sources

October at Rose Lake | Autumn Workshop in Hocking Hills

October at Rose Lake, originally uploaded by jimcrotty.com.

I'm currently working on the details on a weekend photography workshop at The Inn at Cedar Falls in Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio, either in mid-October or early November. I will be guiding and leading a group of no more than 20 photographers to my favorite locations for fall nature and landscape photography in Hocking as well as providing in-depth instruction on digital editing and workflow. Please email me if you would like to be added to my first to notify list for the details and date, which should be released within the next couple of weeks.

An Infinitely Greater World | Ansel Adams's Epiphany

I know what this feels like. I've been there. Several times. In that moment of powerful epiphany brought on by the overwhelming silence of near-perfect light. Once in a moment such as that a switch within the soul is turned on. Nothing can ever turn it back off.

Listen to Ansel Adams's own words between the 2:18 and 3:00 minute marks and you will hear the echoes of what it feels like to become completely lost within something far greater than the self while at the same time arriving where you were always meant to be.

What Attracts the Eye

It's interesting to place these two images near each other and notice the common visual element found within each composition. Here are two photographs from entirely different areas of the country - one being the Hocking Hills of Southeastern Ohio; the other deep in Lower Antelope Canyon on the arid, dramatic landscape of the Colorado Plateau in Northern Arizona.

Beauty in nature and landscape is not the sole possession of exotic, far away locations. The truth is that it resides within the visual artist and is discovered in small tones and a still, calm voice no matter where he or she travels, or travels not at all !