The search for natural light is a neverending journey for me. Not just any light though, preferably the kind just before sunset. I would also add sunrise to this, but since i’m not really a morning person, I rarely get to enjoy that. This picture of my girlfriend, Nanna was taken just before 7pm on May 31, 2011. We were on our way to the Don Valley Brickworks Park, and on this path I noticed sunlight filtering through the trees. It was only in few places, so I positioned my favourite model so that most of it fell on her face and took this portait with my Canon 5D Mark II camera and the Canon 50mm 1.4 lens. The dark background can be a little tricky for the camera sensor as it might over-expose (the subject) so I under-exposed by 2/3 of a stop.
This kind of simple portrait photography still can capture emotion and personality. Even though I directed Nanna to stand in a certain spot and to look a certain direction, it is still her essence that is captured here. Dating a photographer has gotten her very used to being in front of a camera so no doubt she has become accustomed to it and can more easily relax and ‘pose’. This makes my job easier, although I still have a great deal to learn about portraits and using light in the best possible way. Hopefully by taking more and more pictures and studying them to see what works and what doesn’t afterwards that I can become a better artist.
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by admin