I’ve blogged before about the virtues of using your friends and family to experiment on. In many ways, there’s less pressure when taking their portrait because you can be open with them and they’re less likely to be damning of you if you cock things up a bit. They’re also likely to be grateful for the free dinners you have to ply them with in order to get them to sit for you.
So, enter Ed. In this case, he came to me asking for some portraits that he could use both personally and professionally, and he had a few ideas too. He’s a very outgoing chappy so I knew he’d be open to me trying out a few things on him. This would also be the first time we’d shot in our new house in Brighton. It has a massive basement kitchen that instantly lends itself to being used a studio. It also has a nice worn out Chesterfield sofa which is a great prop.
We kicked things off with some very formal headshots. Simple stuff, really. One shoot-thru brolly camera right (nice and close for that soft light), and a teeny bit of fill on the left. Hey I even managed to get a slight Rembrant Triangle in there!
Next up, the Chesterfield. I love shooting leather. Its specular highlights really give it a nice 3D feel. This time, we had two shoot-thru brollies in order to give the whole of the sofa a nice even light. Ed obliged by relaxing and basically hanging out on the couch.
Not to be out-propped by his photographer, Ed had brought along a wardrobe and a guitar. OK, let’s shoot the guitar, then! You can see from the highlight on his face that the brolly was quite high this time (camera right), and in hindsight, I wish I’d had a softbox for this one. A second flash was down low catching the guitar.
And finally, Ed proved he’s not just a pretty face by breaking out some tunes.
This one may work better in black and white, to be honest.
So, grab your friends and some props and practice!