Simple is often best

When I get a portrait assignment, one of the first things that usually comes to mind is that I need to check my bag o' flashes and make sure I have everything I need to complete the assignment. Yet, not all portraits require the use of flash, sometimes the light available on site is good enough or even better than hooking up the strobes and pocket wizards. The portrait below was taken of a local businessman, in the restaurant he has run for twenty-something years. The whole front wall was practically one big window, letting plenty of beautiful sunlight in so I decided to go with that instead of something fancy. Mr. Brooks seemed like a straightforward and simple man, so I hope the choice to go available light here adds to the photo and says something about the subject too.



Julius Brooks in his restaurant Mr. Brooks Barbecue, which he will have owned for 29 years in August. Photo © Midland Reporter-Telegram

For the baseball players below, I used just one light at camera right to light up their faces and to even out the exposure. Unfortunately, the sky wasn't blue and cloudy so it's mostly blown out. I include this here because six months ago I probably would have been too scared to even try a one light portrait as I felt I didn't have a good grasp of lighting basics. I have been a strobist reader (www.strobist.com) for over a year now, but I still felt nervous shooting with small strobes on assignment. Thankfully my job has pushed me to not only do so, but to begin experimenting more and more with simple setups that can easily turn a dull portrait into something better. I'm not saying the photo below is great by any means, but it is certainly made better by using a simple flash setup. As I grow better in my lighting skills expect to see some more complex portraits here on this blog.