Jordan Modeling Shoot Downtown

[ClayScots]

Canon 85mm 1.8, f/1.8, No flash.

A good friend of mine requested I help him get some more professional pictures for his modeling portfolio. Naturally, I was happy to oblige. Downtown Knoxville has always struck me as a rustic spot, so I decided to try my luck.

This image predates my knowledge of any kind of off-camera flash work, so it obviously could have used some fill, but given what I had available, I think I captured a decent image.

If I were to reshoot this image with off-camera flash, how would I best go about it?

[3bayjunkie]

Exquisite backlighting Nice photo!

[BigFuzzy]

Answering your actual question, and if you were in the exact same conditions, I'd keep the backlighting as is and simply pop some fill light which focused a bit more on the face (grid/snoot) while leaving the rest as is..


What I would do radically different is the posing.. I loved the light you had there so much I almost missed how incredibly cheesey I felt the pose is. It feels incredibly posey and unnatural to me. He's clearly doing the "hey, look away from camera" pose and the guitar... ouch. Has he ever actually sat like that in real life with his guitar?

And this is clearly a taste issue, so ignore at will (heck you can igore everything I say for that matter hah!), but the sandals bug me. Somehow "professional" "modeling pictures" doesn't seem to match with sandals like these. I think barefoot would be better. Speaking of feet, you chopped off his toes.. that's noticeable to me.

But as I said, take it with a grain of salt, 3bayjunkie clearly sees a different image. That's the beauty of photography..

[Rentham]

I think this shot works best as an available light image. The kind of light you have there doesn't last long, why waste it? You probably could have opened up the shutter speed a little bit, but otherwise I think it is beautiful light.