Thursday, May 05, 2011

"Texas Rose"

Texas RoseIMG_5459

"Texas Rose"
©David A. Ziser

When we headed out to shoot on Tuesday, the hotel lobby seemed like the logical choice for photographs.  The setting, the attractive chandelier all looked to make a good background for this photograph.

The challenge was, once again, the lighting.  In a wider view I noticed my Quantum flash thru my Zumbrella from camera right was lighting up the ceiling.  It was quite distracting.  We grabbed a USA Today, removed the reflector from the strobe, wrapped the newspaper around the flashtube of my Quantum flash, set the power to 1/4 power, focused the light carefully on our bride, and shot away.

Once the light was what I wanted, I ran a series of images at differing focal lengths.  This close perspective was one of my favorites.  The USA lighting technique created a cone of light that gave me a Hollywood spotlight effect on the bride – I thought it looked great.

The pose was easy, natural and relaxed, the background complimented the image nicely and Jennifer’s warm smile engages the viewer.  All in all, a nice, very elegant bridal portrait for the bride.

Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 100mm, f5.6 @ 1/25 second, ISO 800.  Enjoy!  -David

3 comments:

  1. I am distracted by the clutter around the bride. Would it have worked better to darken that somewhat. I recognize the value of keeping the above light and geometrics clear and clean, but the light green and yellows distract me from the bride.

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  2. Hi David,
    I'm teaching a webinar on digital pastel painting this Tues evening through Marathon Press. I will be mentioning you as one of the prime examples of aesthetic achievement that one should seek for both photographers and painters. Here is the link:
    https://www.marathonpress.com/webinar/1083157539/

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  3. David,

    Thank you for your mentoring at the Texas School and all of the stunning images of Jennifer during our class sessions. You have changed the way we will see space and the apply lighting moving forward.

    Daniel Fermaint

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