Tati is an actress and friend that I used to live with along with many other artists that we shared a house with in Los Angeles, before we all found ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic. I must sound like a broken record considering how often I post a photo along with a story about how I used to live with that person in a big house in LA, but so many of the portraits I've taken over the last couple of years were of these people. Tati was staying in LA with a school visa that expired only a month after this photo was taken, and the day I took this photo was when her mom and brother came to visit her from Brazil. I had offered to take a photo of the three of them to commemorate their visit, but after I had taken that photo I also got this lovely portrait of just my friend Tati. I took this photo in all natural light, with a silver reflector for fill light. Typically I don't shoot portraits like this with such a shallow depth of field, but regardless of my mistake I still feel like the portrait captured her sweet and optimistic disposition.
Shot using the original Canon 5D with a Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens attached set to f/1.8, 1/800th sec, ISO 800.
The way I look at it this isn't a photograph about chins. The eyes are sharp and that's what really matters. It looks to me it's more shot from slightly higher rather than chin down.
Yes I tend to favor natural and available light when possible and if I can control the time it is usyally very early or around sunset to about a half hour after. North window light is usally a good source also.
airfrogusmc wrote:
Yes I tend to favor natural and available light when possible and if I can control the time it is usyally very early or around sunset to about a half hour after. North window light is usally a good source also.
I used to favor natural light over anything else. I personally find that it's much easier for me to use than studio lighting, but that's because I feel like I'm still learning to fully understand studio lighting. I'm hoping to get a battery powered flash and octa soon though and I'm really excited to start incorporating studio light into my location portraiture. I've always admired the work of photographers who can incorporate studio into their outdoor location shoots and make it look completely natural.
Actually my experience is learning to see light and the ability to then use that is one of the most difficult things. I did formal studio portraits and table top commercial work for a very long time(decades and still do) and used all kinds of different artificial lighting and once you learn what modifiers give you the quality of light that you desire and you learn how to use light ratios the rest is pretty easy. And usually I was always trying to create a natural light kinda look. Still do when using supplemental lighting. But learning to see light is a very long journey and really takes a long time to master. Yoiu have a very good start.
