Summer Shoot: How's that for 55!
That's right. My model for this beautiful June shoot is 55 years old and happens to be my beautiful mom. Soft lighting is great for smooth looking skin, but she looked 30 to begin with!
Here are a few of my favorites from the day, but wait until you see the ones from sunset!
Our prop was homemade from a chair we got at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and spray painted.
It was a mostly sunny day so we looked for shade. We went to a public park and found some trees. In most of these pictures the sun was coming from behind her right side. The photos were shot in RAW and only had the contrast adjusted and sharpened. We moved a little closer to the edge of the shade for some of the photos to get the sun in her hair. In those photos the sun i also behind her, but not directly.
When the sun set.
As we neared the end of the day, we decided that we wanted more than just silhouette photos with the sunset and broke out the speedlight. It was very simple. We covered it with a soft box and set it to 1/1, the brightest flash, and started shooting. I first exposed for the sky, then added the flash to illuminate the subject. All you need is a speedlight that shoots in manual (a cheap one is fine), a radio trigger for that speedlight, and a light stand.
Another sunset photo.
Loving our homemade prop in this one.
Moved to another part of the park.
Loved the cattails in the background.
Looking directly toward the setting sun behind the clouds.
Maybe one silhouette.
