Had a chance to shoot with a beautiful and funny lady this week. Cold weather, 2 speedlights, some industrial areas, and a warm subject combined to create some fun images of a funny lady.

Anna May met up with me to go over some outfit choices and then we made our way out into the cold Bushwick wind. I was looking to juxtapose this tiny ball of wit with the urban landscape. Go to her facebook page and like her if you get a chance.

By JC Carey for jcphotomedia.com

Set ups were simple - 

Two SB-910's placed on stands and controlled via Nikon's Creative Lighting System with the pop up flash on my Nikon D810. When the sun was at Anna May's back I used the two flashes in conjunction to produce a bigger light source (read softer) and when the sun wasn't available i put one of the speedlights toward her back to create separation from the background.

I used two lenses during the shoot. The Nikkor 70-200 2.8 II and the Nikkor 14-24 2.8. Choice of lenses was dictated the same way that i decide how much flash or what aperture to use. Every decision in artistic/editorial photography needs to be made with the idea that you know what you are trying to reach a desired look. Some photography is totally reactive such as photojournalism but for much of the photographic world you need to make decisions based on the image you see in your head before  you start.

For example. I was shooing in an industrial area and wanted to show the juxtaposition of grit vs beauty.  I also knew the story (i try to think about images as a story and more specifically what is the story that i want to tell. Sometimes this is dictated by a client - other times it's purely my idea) is about Anna May and that the background is not the star but only a supporting player in the scene. For the first image I knew i wanted Anna to stand out from the background so i picked an aperture of 3.2 (just a 1/3 of a stop from wide open) to give myself a shallow depth of field and then i decided to shoot at 1/3200th of a second. I chimped the shot once at 1/6400th as a baseline and decided it was too dark. So I added one stop of light to the background. It is of VITAL importance when shooting with speedlights to realize that you are exposing for the background with your shutter speed. The subject will be lit independently by the flashes.  Comedian Anna May showing a sense of style to go with her sense of humor By JC Carey for jcphotomedia.com 1/3200th at f 3.2  Comedian Anna May showing a sense of style to go with her sense of humor By JC Carey for jcphotomedia.com

1/8000th at f2.8 with the 14-24 - The wide lens will have more depth of field than the 70-200 regardless of aperture so i shot wide open. the inclusion of the sun in the shot and the positioning of the wall (casting shadows on Anna's lower body meant i moved the second flash to camera right and aimed it lower on her body to create details in the pallets and boots. The main flash was still up and over the model to camera left which created some drama around Anna's face for a more dimensional image. The shadows cast to the right of the model help create dimension even though the sun would cast the shadows the other way. Note the sun is giving a nice hair light as well.

Comedian Anna May showing a sense of style to go with her sense of humor By JC Carey for jcphotomedia.com Comedian Anna May showing a sense of style to go with her sense of humor By JC Carey for jcphotomedia.com By JC Carey for jcphotomedia.com