Thursday, October 27, 2011

The Executive Portrait


I've been a corporate annual report photographer for a long time now. When you shoot corporate assignments, you need to feel comfortable shooting a variety of subject matter, you need to be versatile.

The photograph above was shot for a new client of mine. They had seen some portraits I did for another client of mine which appeared in an annual report.

When it comes to the executive portrait, I'm looking for a location that denotes a sense of power and confidence. Some of the corporate offices I visit are really nice and finding a location to photograph is not difficult. There are also times where the locations are a bit harder to find, as was the case with the photo above.

The location for this photo was in a realistically small conference room, there was bank of windows on the right side of the room. The conference table was a simple glass table with chrome and leather chairs spaced around the table.

I positioned myself at eye level with the table and arranged the chairs height and position in such a way as to guide the views eye to the subject. The light coming in through the banks of window on the right looked great and I felt that no other lighting would be needed for this portrait.

I've been on the road for about 4 weeks, shooting assignments as well as teaching. Over the next several posts I share some of those assignments with you. I will tell you that on of those assignments was shooting for Nikon. I spent 2 days shooting in NY for Nikon's Learn & Explore web site. I was video taped shooting 3 different photos, I'm looking forward to showing those to you soon.

I leave for Hawaii next Thursday for Popular Photography's Mentor Series. With the recent snow here in Denver, I can tell you that I'm looking forward to some nice warm weather. DT

Saturday, October 08, 2011

LED Camcorder Light

For the past several years, I've been carrying around an LED light in my photo bag. I actually own several, the lest expensive I've found has come from Gadget Brando. These are wonderful little lights that have a good amount of power to them. One nice feature is that these lights have an adjustable knob on them which allows you to dim light without shifting the White Balance.

I used one of these lights in the photo above. My assistant John was in the back seat in this mining tug next to my subject. John simply held the light as we were driving through the dark mine. I thought it to be a very useful light source as it provide a means for me to focus as well as enough power to shoot with. DT