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 Picture taken at sunset A short but quick tip on lighting your models. Have you ever been shooting outdoors late in the day and got tired of using your flash or portable lights? Why not use the light from the sunset? Sunsets not only good to shoot, but also a great source to light up your subject. The warm tones it provides, although only for a few minutes, is an excellent and free, way to give your pictures a unique look.
The photo on the left was taken about 15-20 minutes before the sun completely set behind me and facing the model. We were running out of time so I moved the model out in the open. We were shooting at a park and I wanted to use the green grass as a backdrop. I used a wide open aperture to blur out the background. I was using Nikon’s 80-200mm 2.8 AF-D lens, it allowed me to shoot at 2.8 and zoom in and out without changing my aperture setting.
In such a short window of time of about 20 minutes, it was enough time to get a few nice pictures. This was one of them. I really like the warm soft light the sun provided, overall I think the pictures turned out great. I’ll definitely use this method again at a future shoot.
 Photographed using a Nikon DSLR Here is a good Tuesday night photography tip, next time you shoot a friend, relative, model or whoever, get in real close for a very personal shot! Its nice to photograph people from the waist up as most people do, but sometimes its nice to zoom in close and take a tight crop picture. In the bottom picture, I zoomed in and made sure to fill up the viewfinder with her face. She had cute curly short hair and very little makeup, I wanted to show her naturally beautiful face and the only way to do it is to get in close.
Taken at a wide open 2.8 aperture setting, it allowed me to blur out the background, I used my 80-200mm AF-D 2.8 lens (Nikons new version is the 70-200mm lens, at a later post I’ll go over Nikon lenses and my thoughts on them).
The angle I thought was also great, having her look over her right shoulder gave it a special touch. Its as if I caught her in the middle of a thought or about to say something.
 Headshot I also like the first image, which shows her more playful side and a little more of her body. This picture is what most people would take and of course are accustomed to viewing. Compare it to the second with the tight crop and you can see how each have their own special features. Photography isn’t only about having the most expensive or latest photo equipment, its about creating images that tell a story, at least that’s how I view each project.
With the first image, I zoomed in to 105mm and again used a wide open aperture of 2.8, if you try this, be sure you are far enough so she is in full focus, use your aperture preview button to confirm every part of her is in focus. The fact that she was playing with the two strings from her blouse added to the playfulness of the shot. Overall I think the picture is fine but not as personal as the close up image above. As a photographer, I try all types of poses, angles and experiment often. Try it yourself and you will see similar results!
 Have fun during a photo shoot. Every photo shoot I do normally has a purpose. Sometimes its for a client, other times its for my inventory of stock pictures, whatever the reason I always try to find a person I think will fit the project. Even when I do a test shoot, I only offer it to people that have certain characteristics that appeal to me. And one characteristic I always try to make sure they have is a positive attitude.
I’ve found that people that are positive tend to be happier, smile more and easier to work with. I learned this the hard way early on in my photographic career. I recall photographing a model who was hounding me for weeks to shoot her. Finally when I agreed and she arrived at the studio, we clashed at the “hello”! She proceeded to tell me instantly that she only wears black and that she brought her own wardrobe because she would only model in the clothes she had. She went on to list several conditions, including the last one which was that I should not expect her to smile too much!
Needless to say, I cut the time of the shoot in half and never used the pictures for anything. It was the longest and worst hour and half of shooting I ever did. Nowadays I pass on anyone like that, life is too short and photography equipment and studio time is to expensive to waste on people like that.
The image included in this article is of a woman I would photograph any day of the week! She was nervous at first, but was happy, positive and energetic! She arrived ready to have fun and enjoy the experience. We even went over our time allotment and shot for an extra hour! So next time you photograph a model, be sure its a “happy” one and leave those negative people for someone else. And for the models, have fun, relax and enjoy the experience!
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