"Doherty gymnast Brittnee Martinez poses for a portrait at Colorado Aerials Gymnastics in Colorado Springs, Monday, Nov. 3, 2008. Martinez, who will compete at the University of Michigan next year, won the all-around, vault and uneven bars titles at the CHSAA State gymnastics meet this past weekend." JUSTIN EDMONDS, THE GAZETTE
Practice does make perfect. I'm getting better and better at these portraits and am doing so with an exponential growth curve.
I walked into the gym this morning about 35 minutes before my subject was due to arrive. One of the coaches escorted me into by far the busiest place I've ever had to make a portrait. There was stuff EVERYWHERE. The plain white walls didn't seem to be helping either. I must have stood there just looking around and thinking for at least 10 minutes before I decided to do anything. I had my lights up and ready to go in about 20 minutes and hung out with one of the coaches and Katy while waiting for Britnee. Having everything ready to go is great because I already know what I want to accomplish so all I have to do is push the button.
I finally saw something that I could work with, ugly overhead florescent lighting. Instead of using it as a source I determined that I could use it as a graphic. I kicked the white balance to tungsten and since the lights recycled at different times each set was a different color blue or green(ish). When Brittnee showed up in a leo with blue and green on it I knew I was in business.
I used a medium softbox with a 1/2 CTO folded in half to create a full as the main light and a bare head in the background to add some separation. The back head fell to a cool blue color because of the white balance setting allowing it to match the blue in her leo and the blue in some of the lights overhead.
I made a simple posed vertical, more unique vertical and the image seen above in just 27 frames. When I saw the image up top I called it a wrap. Using only 8 minutes of her time Brittnee couldn't have been more pleased. (Not that hs students worry about missing class for their 15 minutes of fame)
I could do this all day...now I just need someone to hire me.
-JCE
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