Studio or Not?

Previously, I posted my favorite photo from a recent portraits photoshoot session here. That was ambient light only. These ambient light only shots were only additional shots after the actual session.

Here are some of those studio shots -- not!

I was commissioned to do some portraits to be used for a debut invitation. Client wanted a studio session but I didn't have one so I improvised. The client was willing to go to our place and I planned out where the shoot will take place and I've picked our veranda which was spacious enough to move around and of course it has lots of good ambient light!

I didn't rely only on the ambient light that's coming from the left of the subject. I had to mix it with artificial light from my flash. I positioned it at the subject's right side to act as a filler so I'll have two sides with light. Balancing the output of the flash was a bit tricky since I have one light source that's varying in intensity as the clouds move across the sky. :) I guess that's why on the first photo, the right side has a warmer (yellow-orange) light.

Here's an overview of my setup. Can you see Mr. Sun on the right side smiling? :)

I would like to have more opportunities to have this kind of sessions in the coming weeks. :)

By the way, I did edit a little on the background to make it that white and remove the not so visible creases on the white cloth used in the background.

Original Background

Edited Background

With additional lighting, I could have done it without any editing. Next stop, additional light. :)

Cheers!

Beautiful Ambient Light

Last weekend I was able to take another portraits session and I just want to share this ambient light that I was able to use -- soft and just beautiful.

Sharp Eyes

It even created wonderful catch lights on the eyes and casted soft shadows. It's one truly a softbox made in heaven.

This was taken in full shade at around 11:00 AM where the sun is probably almost peeping from the edge of the roof where we were.

Monochrome It!

The past weekend, I took photos of our visiting cat. Yep, the cat's only a visitor because it's not ours. It usually visits our lawn area to take naps and probably frighten the rats away.

I was able to take a nice photo of this cat while it was resting before it scampers away again. It usually goes away when I approach it as it is very aloof from us who are living in this house. Anyway, I was happy with the technical stuff of the photo but wasn't really happy with one aspect -- the background! I had no time to clear away the clutter or change angle or view. Check the photo below:

Very nice, right? Well, it is to me. There's a little distraction and would you know what it is? Yes, that's right! The green band on the background is taking away the attention from the cat. You tend to look that way, right?

So what did I do? You've guessed it right! Read the title again. I believe that by doing that, it helped bring back the attention to the visiting cat of ours.

Ciao or should I say Meow! :)

Which one do you prefer?