Location Light

Environmental Portrait– "The Grave Digger"

Alma resident Craig Brune, 38, has been a groundskeeper for Riverside Cemetery

in Mount Pleasant for eight years. He is in charge of groundskeeping and office responsibilities, in addition to burials.

"(The job is interesting because) it's a cemetery. I like working with the customers," Brune said.

35 mm lens, ISO 200, f/11, 1/200

The Lighting Setup–

To complete this portrait, I used three strobes. My subject was mainly lit from the left. My secondary light was used as a rim light behind Craig. I varied aiming the strobe on the right; I used it to either light the tombstone or fill the right side of my subject's face.

I wanted to do a grave digger for my environmental portrait. Although I initially planned to shoot with my subjects in the evening, we had to move the time to early morning. My intentions were to make the cemetery look creepy, so I wanted to take advantage of the shadows.

Additional Location Lighting–

Essexville junior Clare Tamez models a lace tank under a gray leather jacket on Sunday night.

"I love playing around with different themes and designs," she said. "Lace with leather are total opposites,

but finding the right color with the romatic ruffle on the jacket balances it out and makes it a softer finish."

50 mm lens, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/200

The Lighting Setup–

For this particular portrait, I used one strobe as my main light. For the rest of the shoot, I used two lights; my secondary strobe was used as a hair light.

For most of the shoot, I posed Clare in a field in Shepherd. The weather was miserable and sprinkling, so when we turned around and saw a rainbow, we acted quickly. It came and went in less than a minute, so I had to think lighting immediately.

In-Class Location Light with Paige

50 mm lens, ISO 100, f/8, 1/200

Paige and I went to the skate park in Island Park during Studio to complete our in-class location lighting assignment.

We kept the lighting setup really simple with a light to our subject's left and a reflector to fill the right side of his face.

This assignment really helped Paige and I feel more comfortable with using strobes on location.

Personality Portrait: Not the Typical Scientist

West Bloomfield junior Kathryn Brandell is a biochemistry major at Central Michigan University

with minors in both psychology and leadership. While maintaining a high GPA, Brandell stays highly

involved on campus, including being a member of Sigma Kappa and the Leadership Institute.

West Bloomfield junior Kathryn Brandell is a biochemistry major at Central Michigan University

with minors in both psychology and leadership. "I love chemistry because it's an ever-changing field of science,

and I can always learn something new," Brandell said.

(additional image)

(All photographs were made using a 5o mm lens at f/8, 1/200 & ISO 50.)

I immediately thought of Kathryn ("Kitty") when the studio portrait was assigned. She simultaneously breaks the stereotypes both scientists and sorority girls hold. It was great to have her model for my first independent studio experience.

My original setup consisted of four lights, including the soft box as the main light, a fill light, a hair light and a background light. I adjusted the power several times during the session. I found that the fill light looked too hot off the wall, so I additionally experimented by using it as a main light source and using the soft box as a fill.

After taking multiple shots with the plain white background, I decided to use different colored gels to make the photograph more vibrant. I used dry ice and dyed water to make it look like a chemical reaction was occurring in the beakers.

Studio Portrait Exercise

(Both photographs were shot with a 5o mm lens at f/8, 1/250 & ISO 100.)

During the second class period of JRN 420, we experimented lighting by taking portraits of our classmates. I shot my friend and fellow photojournalist Paige Calamari. She brought several props into class, including bear claw glovevs, a tiara and the goofy glasses shown above.

Although I wish there could have been more time to experiment with the lights (including placing them elsewhere, setting them at different powers, etc.), I learned the basics studio lighting. I am excited to get back in the studio; I intend on using different backgrounds and multiple lighting setups.