”I’m Just A Country Girl”

”I’m Just A Country Girl”
©David A. Ziser

This image was made as part of a high school senior shoot a few years ago and is pretty much how it looked right out of the camera.  We had a beautiful Fall day full of color, great locations, and a very pretty subject to work with.

In addition to our lovely subject, it was the Fall colors that really made the session fun. Everywhere you pointed the camera, the viewfinder was full of Mother Nature’s glory.

The goal though is to keep the viewers’ attention on your subject. The best way to do that is with great light, a large aperture, shallow focus, and tack sharp focus on your subject.

I positioned Casey in the foreground knowing the wooden fence would go slowly out of focus but still lead the viewers’ eye right back to our subject. Here grey sweater matched the colors of the surrounds perfectly.

My off-camera flash was brought in from camera left – my Quantum shooting through a 42 inch umbrella.  Yes, this was in pre-Zumbrella days.  Nevertheless, we still got a great direction of light which balanced perfectly with the ambient light falling on Casey.  The result was a terrific high school senior image.

DAZNOTE: I would have preferred using a larger aperture but the ambient light was a bit too bright.  Remember, I was limited to 1/250 second – the native sync speed on my Canon 20D.

Yes, I could have used a lower ISO but that would have necessitated me bringing the flash closer to my subject which was not an option – it was just out of camera view on the left already.

And yes, a more powerful flash may have helped but I was already at full power on my Quantum.  Working outdoors with flash is always a challenge to get the best light on the subject, but the final result is always worth it.  

Camera specs:  Canon 20D fitted with 70-200 IS lens at 185mm, F 5.0 @ 1/250 second, ISO 400.  Enjoy!  -David