Connor’s turn.

shot of daddy (notice the lens hood has shifted)

self portrait (trying to pick up the camera)

takin pics of the ladies (my friends little girl)

pic of mommy takin a pic of connor

mommy’s pic of connor takin a pic of mommy

]]> http://www.chrisradcliffephotography.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=317 1 http://www.chrisradcliffephotography.com/blog/?p=301 http://www.chrisradcliffephotography.com/blog/?p=301#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:52:55 +0000 admin http://www.chrisradcliffephotography.com/blog/?p=301 I don’t want to give the impression that this has anything to do with me. It’s just a GREAT idea by and EXTREMELY talented photographer, Jeremy Cowart, out of Nashville, TN. Check out the video. Then make a commitment to do it.

I set up three lights. Two left and right 45 degrees to the front and one 45 degrees back left. I had a strip box of the left, front light and just reflectors on the two to the right side. I want the light to be punchy so I didn’t want to diffuse too much. I did go with a soft box on the left side main light because I wanted the light be be long and narrow, by the way, I left the diffuser off the box. I really had no idea how I wanted to shoot this at all. I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it. All I knew was where I wanted to shoot and the feel I wanted them to have. I knew I wanted a vignette, dramatic shadows, some glowiness, and personality. So, basically I just threw up some lights and started shooting. I tested a few times on my student worker, Dusty before the players started showing up one by one. I shot them in the order you see above. The first two were shot with a 70-200 on a 5d mark2 and the remainder were shot with a 16-35. I wish I would have started with the 16-35. I like the first shot because of his poise, the light and the deep maroon of his practice jersey. I was happy after that shot. Then I got stuck on the second. If I would have went wide on that one I would have been happy. One the third shot I knew I wanted to show some movement so, duh, I went wide. took a test… saw the shadow and told him to jump. Forth, I actually went back to the 70-200 (what?!). It didn’t work so I went back to the 16-35 (ahhh, there it is). Took a low position and shot up. This isn’t something I do very often for a portrait but, I told him to look away from the camera. I saw strength and confidence. 5 was all Derek. I just asked him what he had for me and he said “what about this?’ I said “dope.” Love this shot. On CJ’s shot I knew I wanted to show some movement so I shot all the photos full body. He took a few quick steps toward me and broke to his right. Took a few times to get that right. When I went to edit I wasn’t really feeling the full body scene so I cropped waaay in and I like it much better. worked really well in print. The seventh photo… I was lost a little. We were moving at such a fast pace and I still felt like we were running long. I was beginning to get nervous that the coaches would be like “what the heck?” Ideas were not flowing freely. I had a saftey standing in front of me and I was like “how do I shoot you?”  We started taking some random pics and I wasn’t getting anything AT ALL. Crap. Then I noticed this thought creeping in… go away thought… that’s too much. Kept shooting. Nothing. Crap. There was that thought again… no, no. I don’t want to get him hurt. NO. another shot. I stop. Thought came back. Okay. “How would you feel about diving for the ball?” “Sure!” We went down to the field and stole 4 pads. I was hoping no one would realize what we were up to. Put the pads down. I tested the fall to make sure it wouldn’t break his bones. Felt good. explained what I wanted. He said “got it.” I thought we will have to do this a hundred times. Wrong. First take. No joke. Patrick nailed it the first time. I couldn’t believe it. Last shot. about 15 takes. Not by the fault of the kicker  was just way off on the shutter. Way off. Logan didn’t seem to care a bit. I started shooting this scene vertically and I thought I was done at one point. Hey dummy… all the others are horizontal. I had gotten wrapped up in the individual photo and forgot that it was to have 7 other companions. So I shot horizontal… bunch more takes. Got it. Done.

A picture might be worth a thousand words.  For this picture… this moment, only one word need be said.  LOVE.

love

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