"Spring Nymph"
©David A. Ziser
I made this image back in my Nikon/digital days, hence, the Nikon camera data below. This image was taken as part of a shoot to get a nice portrait of this young lady for her "sign up board" at her Bat Mitzvah. A sign up board is a large framed and matted image of the celebrant where guests can leave their well wishes for the Bat Mitzvah girl. I love the subject's soft expression, the out-of-focus background, and the colors of the image. We were working in one of the local parks. The background was so far behind the subject, it when spectacularly soft really adding to the overall feel of the image. Lighting was supplied with my off-camera flash coming in from camera right - my Quantum at 1/2 power or about 100 w.s. Since I was exposing for the flash, the background went slightly darker and richer. All came together for a very nice very simplistic and classic portrait of my young subject. Camera specs: Nikon D1x fitted with 80-200 non VR lens @ 105mm, F 3.5 @ 1/400 second, ISO 400. Enjoy! -David
HI David,
ReplyDeleteBeen reading your blog for just under a year now - always a source of inspiration. You make it so simple!
One thing's baffling me though on this image. How did you get the light to appear so soft? I've always been under the impression that a bare bulb cast harsh shadows, and that's always been my experience! Did you use a modifier (and just not mention it) or is there a knack/pecadillo of wisdom I'm missing? I've seen this a fair bit recently and I'm fairly sure I'm missing something.
Thanks for sharing so much (I particularly enjoyed your wedding DVDs which I loaned from a friend!) Start my own portrait business next week (once I've finished my day job! Hope I can be half as successful as you!
Best,
Toby
Hello Dave,
ReplyDeletelong time reader of your blog and look forward to something interesting everyday.
My question is how did you get your ofc to sync at that shutter speed or did you crop out the shutter line in post? I use that same exact lens on just about every shoot and love it, just wish it was the VR. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing.
Jeff
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteThe D1x is among a few cameras that has an electronic shutter as well as a mechanical one. That is, the mechanical shutter operates normally to reveal the full sensor. The sensor itself is electronically controlled, turning itself on and off to facilitate shorter exposures.
This is one reason I keep my old D70S around.
I hope this feature makes a comeback. It makes things a lot easier than losing power (and range) with "High Speed Sync." This was also a big reason those of us in the film days sought out cameras with in-lens shutters - the ability to sync flash outdoors at higher shutter speeds.
Warmest regards,
- Arved
Arved,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great info, seems life would be easier if all cameras were designed that way.
Jeff