I ran out of natural light in the end and these really are just snapshots. I only had my camera, tripod, remote shutter release, speedlight, and stupidly I brought an 85mm lens to use. That's a pretty long lens to use in someone's home; I need to remember a 50mm is much more versatile.
On a side note, I discovered yesterday that the 50mm lens is broken.. it endlessly tries to find focus but with no luck :(
Anyway, on to the photos.. thanks to Jess for letting me use her home!
This has quite a lot of Lightroom slider pushing because I didn't increase the exposure compensation in camera, (on aperture priority) but didn't want to completely blow out the background either. I tried using flash, but didn't have full gear with me only a speedlight & no modifier and it ruined this backlit effect even on minimal power. Not much learning was had from this.. only to bring a modifier & stand for more flattering light next time, ha.
The second shot is my favourite from this set of experiments.. Jess has a mirror-top coffee table in the living room, so I sprawled over it with an open copy of Vogue.. camera was on fully-extended tripod on top of the sofa, angled down and I used natural light as there was a large window right in front of me with beautiful light coming through.
Wish I'd used more of the mirrored effect in hindsight.
Feel free to click on these to see them larger..
There was a random single armchair in the hallway which looked pretty amusing, but photogenic.
The first shot is an accident when I got up to look at the back of the camera, I pressed the shutter by mistake, setting the speedlight off which was just in front of me at the time.. on the floor, pointing up. Not technically okay in the slightest, but I kind of like it.
The actual photo aim was me in the chair. The speedlight was in the same place on the floor just out of shot, bouncing light around the white walls. I didn't want to face the window on the left of this photo because that would have been my 'bad side,' haha. I did try this, but the difference in exposure value was too great to use natural light alone.. the highlights on my face were blown out, but the lower half of the image was too dark..
Not particularly what I set out from this shot at all.. the focus is completely out and I was rushing time against ambient light. Again, bounced speedlight off ceiling, but I do want to include it in this set because I love all the mad dress textures against the symmetry & plainness of the sofa. Taking the colour out makes it clearer, but although the colours are mad I like the clash. Originally this was a colour shot in my head anyway, with a retro feel.
Which one do you prefer, the B&W or colour version?
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