All the World's a Stage

Nikon D200, 35mm, 1/6 @ f/8.0, ISO 320, one SB800 in a 30" soft-box, one SB600 illuminating kitchen, CLS

Actors are the best. Particularly actors you've known for a while. I've been trying to step up my portrait chops over the last few months and the skill I really needed to hone is directing. Putting together the shot and directing the subject to get the concept you want ... get the subject; not something staged, something honest. And actor's get that. Whether you're taking a portrait or a caricature ... they get the honesty part. They understand that it will all fall apart if you're not honest with the camera and sincere with the moment.

Nikon D200, 30mm, 1/60 @ f/4.0, ISO 100, one SB800 & one SB600 into a 60" shoot-thru umbrella, camera left, CLS

I approached Todd and Robert about doing a shoot, of them, at their house. It's interesting that even your close friends are suspicious about your intent ... maybe it's more like curious, because they're usually pretty game for about anything. Especially, something that points the spotlight in their direction.

The evening was a great time. I brought some good beer, they made dinner and we shot before and after each course. The time we got to spend was really important. We got to talk about the events of the day, events of the recent past, people we know, just chit chat. It was a great way to disarm and establish a more comfortable relationship between photographer and subjects.

Nikon D200, 85mm, 1/60 @ f/3.5, ISO 100, one SB800 into a 60" shoot thru umbrella, camera left, CLS

Nikon D200, 85mm, 1/60 @ f/3.5, ISO 100, one SB800 into a 60" shoot thru umbrella, camera left, one SB600 shooting thru window into the garage behind subject, CLS

Thank you , gentlemen. We'll do this again sometime.

Just a couple of notes ...

There are a couple of resources that I use quite a bit that I want to share with you. Strobist is a really great resource for a lot of information. If you’ve never been there, it’s a “Must Bookmark” for every photographer that has ventured passed ambient light – ie. Using a flash of any sort. It’s a blog hosted by David Hobby.

Anyway, I was reading Strobist the other day and ran across the following video on Street Portraiture which I found very interesting. It demonstrates the relationship between man and photography with amazing clarity and a profound spirit. It was actually published at Wired.com, Strobist embedded it on their site and now I, here, to share most conveniently with you.



Actually, I’ve been interested in finding an excuse for embedding video as a resource on my blog and this seemed like a fitting start. So, enjoy!

Another resource that I’ve been using lately is called DTown TV, the Weekly Show for Nikon DSLR Users. It is hosted by Scott Kelby (of National Association of Photoshop Professionals fame) and Matt Kloskowski (of Adobe Lightroom Killer Tips fame). Both are famous for their photography and share much of their experience in their blogs, DVD’s, books and in videos on DTown. They have currently published 22 episodes all of which are worth a click. Find them here. You can subscribe to DTown in iTunes and download the episodes as video podcasts as well. I’d embed one of their videos but they seem to be less accommodating … no embed link.