Home Forums Gear Photography Some Easy Portraits

Hi,

I was doing some youtubing and figured that I would try some black drop portraits...it was really easy and the family seems to like them. Very impromptu...the subject is literally sitting on a yeti cooler on the back porch. You basically manually set your camera to shutter and fstop until the whole frame is black. Keep iso at 100 and then plug in the flash and take some shots.

Since so many people were asking about moon shots, I felt that some may like this technique...I didn't invent it...just plagiarized the technique and had some fun.



Libby


Sheila


Heidi


Evie

This is a very nice portrait.

Leaky...:

Nice effect. Might one divulge a few more details? Camera make/model, lens, and shutter/aperture settings? Any background or backed by the darkened cosmos?

Need to try that on one of these guys sometime.

So you just basically set your iso to 100 and leave it. Set your shutter speed to as fast as your flash will work with. Then decrease your f stop and take pictures at your focal length until your pic is totally black. (Your flash is not connected yet...) Once you got that, position your subject, connect and point your flash and snap the shot. Everything is in focus because of the small fstop and everyone is impressed because the background is universal black in the middle of the day.

For numbers I was using....

5dmk3 24-70 f2.8 lens

Libby 1/200 f16 iso 100 55mm
Heidi 1/200 f16 iso 100 55mm
Evie 1/200 f22 iso 100 70mm
Sheila 1/200 f22 iso 100 47mm

Zach and Paprika's pics were shot on the same cooler and back porch but at night...1/250 f9 iso 100 53mm (Zach) and Rika 1/250 f9 iso 100 35mm

Thanks

Leaky thanks for this.

Nice.
With strobe or Flash, most use shutter control to control the ambient exposure (background and non-subject). If you're limited to your sync speed (1/125, 1/200 or 1/250), you can use aperture to compensate to get there as you've done. If play with HSS (high speed sync), you can keep aperture within your creative control.

Are you using a cable or wireless controller (since you mention plugging in your flash)? It might be worthwhile for the folks following along to mention that you're using off camera flash and what flash power and distance you're using along with the exposure settings.

There's a guy out here that has carved out a pretty good niche with junior athletes essentially doing what you've shown here. He gives the kids a pro athlete photo shoot...
https://www.takoeyephoto.com/?pgid=jsxn52ol-a5908e42-2414-4efd-af67-9212b50e7521

Chris... for this technique I'm using a cable with the flash. Basically my wife or assistant is standing probably 2-3 feet from the subject and 'aim for the nose'. I make adjustments of their aiming point based upon the picture. The subject is a little lower than the flash...seated on the cooler, while the flash is held at chest level from a standing assistant. My camera is handheld.

If one wanted to get fancy they could use umbrellas and reflectors etc...this is just a handhold down and dirty technique. I plan on using it at the next navhda event - whenever that it is - so people can get some dog/people/gun portraits for their own use. For free of course, this is just a hobby for me.

Or, if I had to shoot like 20 in a row or something then I'd set-up a tripod for camera and flash so it would be quick assembly line like photos.

The pics are very sharp...I should probably soften them up in light room...but I am a very lazy photographer. I usually crop, adjust the saturation a little and print to jpeg.

I think the folk trying to follow along will appreciate knowing that you're using your flash off camera and the additional detail of that set-up. You might also consider sharing your flash settings; manual 1/64? 1/128? ...or were you shooting TTL and compensating down?

To take some of the hard detail off your shots consider playing with High Speed Sync so that you can open up your aperture (but use a faster shutter to keep your darkened background). That will soften up your shots a bit. I like to use a small softbox (24") or a small shoot through umbrella (if I have an assistant) in my portable kit. That makes the light less specular and I like the more gradual fall off it provides.

I think the folk/dogs you're shooting will be very happy! Great job.

Thanks for the shots and the background information on how you captured it...

Boy! You folks are GOOD!

I'm a slow learner on some things.

I was sort of self taught as a welder. At Iowa State, my shop teacher walked into the welding boot, and said. That's not a 70. 30 angle, put

his hand on mine on the electrode holder, and "I', proceded to weld.


That's what I need to take good pictures.

Thanks all, I'll do some study.

Great dog shots

That's really nice.

Nice!