"Night At The Symphony"

"Night At The Symphony"
©David A. Ziser

Here is another image I made for the same magazine shoot I discussed yesterday [link].  This is probably one of my favorite portraits.  The location was the historic Music Hall in the Over-The-Rhine area of Cincinnati, Ohio.  Talk about locations making for great images, Music Hall is a case in point.  The colors, leading lines, and architectural beauty of this location serves as a fabulous backdrop for this portrait.

The woman featured in this image was a high profile individual who was very involved with the Cincinnati Symphony, hence the Music Hall was selected as the location for her portrait.  The challenge was the low amount of ambient light in Music Hall. I still wanted to see the detail in the setting so that meant a long exposure with my camera on a tripod.

I positioned her leaning into the composition so that all lines would lead the viewers eyes directly to her.  I asked her to hold a program guide in order to avoid having her right hand appear too static in the shot. Notice too her position in the bottom left quadrant of the scene. Lighting - camera right through a translucent umbrella.  The easy pose and soft expression completed the portrait.  Camera specs, Nikon D1x fitted with the 18-35mm Nikkor lens at 18mm, F 5.0 @ 1/5 second, ISO 400.  Enjoy!  -David