edorayPhotography

My friend Wazari mentioned in a post below that I don't take photographs of people often enough, so here's another. Shot last night, and when I say that this is a 'Character' portrait, I mean it. I happened to find him in front of the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park, so as we were talking he was weaving a tale of intrigue about his earlier days as a Admiral in the Japanese Navy. I was pretty sure, if we'd been standing in front of the Malaysian Museum, he'd have told me of his youth spend as the son of the President of Malaysia. Good thing we weren't standing in front of Victoria's Secret, because I can't picture him in pantie hose ;)

He was a character for sure, but he did say something that really struck me. He said cameras were only capable of capturing light. Which is something I always think about. But after he said that, he told me that I could photograph him if I'd only take his light, and not his soul.

I used a strobe about 3 meters behind him at shoulder lever, with a +1 setting, and another 1 meter in front of him about knee high aiming up, at a -2 setting.

Getting the most out of natural light is something even strobe purist should strive for. Even with my 3 off-camera flash units at the ready, when this opportunity came up, I had to quickly grab it. It only lasted a few seconds.


Pure unadulterated, natural light coming through the trees is obviously some of the best lighting you can have. The problem is bending it to fit your needs, or at the least, catching it at the only second that it's perfect. Strobe purist might want to control things a bit more than this, and of course they can, but the color of natural light cannot be duplicated with flash.

Sometimes it's nice to catch a moment in time without the usual smiles that photographers want to force on their subjects. Deeper, darker moods are much harder to choreograph and capture, and willing subjects, with this capibility, harder to find. But with the right person, place and proper mood, these photos can say a lot more.

Of course, along with a moodier subject comes the necessity to create a moodier atmosphere. But with the proper lighting, setting etc, it can be done. The arches of Balboa Park and the colors of the walls and railings help to get a somber mood going. Hopefully it comes through.

This is the daughter of one of the students in my photography class, demonstrating off camera flash. One is situated just behind her for the backglow to her hair, while another is just off camera to the left. The photo was actually taken by the mother, not me. I was busy setting up the flash effects.

We had a photo workshop the other day and spent a little time learning the ins and outs of lighting. Basically a simple setup of one softbox just off to the right of the subjects, and flash just behind the subjects to whiten the background. An on board flash triggered both and these are the results.