As a professional photographer, I’m always looking for a new method; a different way of getting images that make people say “Wow!”. It’s what keeps artists going and creating. I could have just taken a shot with the standard lighting style, but in last night’s shoot with Andy Rose, I wanted some that would make her say “Wow!” I think I accomplished my goal.
Andy and I both live in Brantford ON, so getting over to her home for this shoot wasn’t a problem. We shot in her living room with her Christmas tree that was tucked in the corner nook as the backdrop. Now Andy is a master of expressions, and as always, she did give some great ones.
We didn’t shoot long. About an hour after I got the strobes set up. I used my portable system of the Godox AB600BM as the main light. Most of the shots were done with only this one light. Camera was a Canon 5D mk4 with the Sigma 85mm f1.4 ART, which is the sharpest lens I has ever used. Setting were f10 and I dropped the shutter speed down as low as 1/15th of a second to get the lights of the Christmas tree bright enough to show.
For the glow from the gift box, I added a flash inside the box set to shine upwards. I also dropped the power of the main light down to make the image darker overall. In post editing, I softened the image and added a ‘glow’ for effect. A couple of test shots and we were ready. And the results speak for themselves. I posted both images to Instagram and they are doing well with my audience.
If you are looking for something beyond the standard portrait, maybe something like this is what you are looking for.