Headshot

[octothorpe]

Remote strobe, off axis and above on camera right. Sunlight in front and to camera left acting as second key.
-2 stops ambient (so the strobe can fill)
+2 stops strobe exposure compensation (purposefully slightly over-exposed)
ISO 100
135mm @ ƒ2
1/30th of a second exposure (hand held)

Full Frame

Adjustments:
Contrast
Colour Contrast
Spot dodging (under left eye, mouth)

Comments

[mort-83.livejournal.com]

1. Is this a teaching moment?
2. Who is this?

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

1) You've gone through enough university to realise every moment is a teaching/learning moment =)

2) Bill (my partner)

[mort-83.livejournal.com]

1. Yes, it is. Something I tell my students all the time.

2. This is the first time I've seen him. Very kiind eyes.

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

=)

He doesn't like his pic taken, but he needed it for a board he is on. In fact, this is probably the first time anyone on LJ has seen him.


He's a good egg.

[perlcub]

2: I've also never met Bill nor saw a photo of him! Nice to put a face to the name finally!

Wow...

[huxbear.livejournal.com]

What a stunning shot! :o)

And Bill looks really nice! I'd vote for him! ;o)

Re: Wow...

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

He is looking rather senatorial in that pic, eh?

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Who is this?

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

It's Bill!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I've never seen his picture. Now, I know he's real:) Thanks for sharing.

[tdjohnsn.livejournal.com]

That is a great portrait.

It is a little like seeing a picture of Charlie though.... :-)

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Hehehehe… I seriously considered not posting this because of that ;-)

[fogbear.livejournal.com]

Very handsome. I figured it was Bill without peeking. :-)

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

Bill looks very sweet!

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

He can be difficult, and woefully recalcitrant at times, but yes, he's very sweet.

[thornyc.livejournal.com]

1. Handsome man.

2. The level of focus you've taken this with gives it a 3D effect!

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I shot wide open (ƒ2) which meant the area of focus was *really* small. His eyes are in focus, but that's about it. It's a bit 'Barbara Walters effect', but I feared the results stopped down to, say, ƒ5.6 or ƒ8 would be potentially unkind for the type of picture this was meant to be (headshot for appearance in executive board print/web material).

[kitchenbeard.livejournal.com]

What lens did you use for this?

[kitchenbeard.livejournal.com]

Woops, never mind.

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

lol. Yeah, the 135 ƒ2L It's such an amazing portrait lens. The strobe was fired through the new PocketWizard FlexTT5/Mini TT1 combo. The idea of having ETTLII on remote strobes is really amazing. That said, I just as often use manual strobe control, so the older/cheaper PWs would work just as well in that case (and you can mix both, as they all speak 'PocketWizard').

[kitchenbeard.livejournal.com]

I know I've mentioned this to you before, but I really need to learn how to use strobes. I make do with natural lighting and one softbox but I frequently hit a wall to do more simply because I don't know what I'm doing.

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

I've probably already asked you this, but I can't recall… Do you read the Strobist blog? You should. He even has a section on "Are you new here?". Basically read all that stuff, and you'll be totally overloaded with information, but also surging with ideas on how to light things =)

He's also got some hookup with Midwest Photo Exchange, and as such, they've created some really cool "Strobist Kits" which have everything you need to get started with off-camera lighting, on a student budget. They even make their own (dumb) strobes, which are *very* nice — and cheap.

Check it: http://strobist.blogspot.com

[kitchenbeard.livejournal.com]

I kind of quit reading it because, as you say, it was a little overwhelming. Baby steps perhaps, but I find I learn better by doing. I'll look more into the "new here" section and see if I can't get some projects rolling out of that for hands on self teaching.

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Oh, he changed his site slightly, so the newbie stuff is in a slightly different area:

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

[kitchenbeard.livejournal.com]

Thanks

[thetarnishedowl.livejournal.com]

FINALLY!! (And worth the wait—you did a fine job.)

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

::blush:: Thank you, handsome!

[bear-left.livejournal.com]

This is a gorgeous shot.

And some time in the next few weeks, let's follow up on our conversation from when you were in town.