Wide lens VS long lens

    In both thies images images I shot of Christian Herrera, a friend that's a singer, were shot one right after the other, with the same light, same camera, same ISO, same f-stop, and same shutter speed.  The only thing I did different was on the top one I had my 24-105mm lens zoomed in all the way to 105mm and on the bottom image I had it zoomed out at 24mm as well as I got in closer to make his head the same size in the frame. As you can see the top image is more of a straight up portrait; he stands out, the background is nice and soft like a painting.  In the bottom image its more of a charter study or environmental portrait;  the distortion of the wide angle lens makes him look like his coming at you, even tough he's only in a small area of the frame he has a feeling of owning the frame, the background has a feeling of been up in your face and it has some sharpness but that it doesn't distract from him, the main subject.  Another thing that you notice is on the bottem image you see the V shape tree by his right earn, our left, it's reall small but then when you look at the top image that same tree is hug, it's larger then his head.  So there's no right or wrong way to make a portrait you just have to have in mind what it is that you want at the end, and know what are your tools to get that done.

Extra:

The video below is a scene from Good Fellas where the used the zooming in on the lens and moving the camera back to keep the subjects the same size as an effect.  Here you can clearly see what effect a lens has on the background, not just the subject.  

(Starts at 0:26 mark and ends at 0:54mark)

Workshop with John Ricard HipHop photographer

      In December I was invited by John Ricard, a great hiphop photographer, to a lighting work shop in his studio in Manhattan.  A lot of the information from the work shop I already knew from attend Hallmark and from assisting, but there was a a couple of great tips I learned, as well as getting to use some of John's awesome equipment.

      One of the points that John said that stuck with me was that for what ever portrait you are hired to do your subject wants to look good, that is your job as a photographer is to make that person look their best.  So before trying to make a crazy image, just try to make your subject look their best.  From reading about sport photography they always talk about having a safe shot, that is the shot that is not over the top but you're sure that what you good is good, then you can go and experiment with something more wild.  On all my shoots I have always tried to have a minimum of three set ups but they were just any three, now I have made sure one of the set ups is 100% about making my subject look great above everything else.  

     The second tip that has helped me a ton was when bring in you lights closer to you subject there's less fall of on you back ground. But the subject can't move as much or the f-stop on them will change on them.  This has help me working in my studio that I have set up in my garage, it's a small space and I was having problems with my lights spilling on my background and not getting a pure black.  On the other hand having you lights farther away form you subjects gives your subject more room to move, like for kids or action shots.

     It was also awesome being able to shoot with John's Profoto Magnum Reflector and the PML by White Lighting, I've set these up assisting on shoots but I have never been about to shoot with them.  I really loved the PML and planing on getting one soon.  These are my two favor shots and if you would like to see what John had posted on his blog about the workshop click here.

Location shoot for Izulec Beauty Salon

        
               In December I did a photo shoot for Izulec Beauty Salon, that consisted of a group shot of all the staff.  They wanted one image to put on Christmas cards to give out to clients.  There's a big field in Lincoln going to the Community College of Rhode Island that I have been wanting to use as a location for a long time about didn't know what a good subject would be for it.  So when I got this job I thought that location would be great for this shoot, big area for a large group and the tones of the trees and grass would like great with the blue outfits they wanted to wear.
               I knew that I didn't just want them to be standing there so I got a table and chair set to pose them around to add some layers.  So about an hour before the subjects showed up I arrived to the field where I places the chairs and table where I wanted, placed a huge white sheet(20'x10') on a back drop stand that I was going to use to shoot strobes threw, and added a accent /hair light.  After metering all my lights I realized that I wasn't getting enough light from the to strobes firing threw the sheet, the accent /hair light wasn't going to do much, and I wasn't going to be able to over power the sun to nock out the back ground as much as I wanted too.  So I moved to the acsent /hair light behind the sheet to fire with the other two and got the look I wanted.  The lights I used were 3 White Lighting strobes; 2 X1600 and one X800.

Depth of Field

I have 3 different Canon lens 50mm f-1.8, 24-105mm f-4, 70-200mm f-2.8, and I ran an exercise to see what lens and f spot together would give me the shallowest depth of field Iwould likedto shot at. To keep it simple I shot each lens at the greatest focal length and at the smallest aperture.

50mm at f-1.8

105mm at f-4

200mm at f-2.8

After looking at the 3 images I realized that I really like the 24-105mm lens at 105mm at f-4 the best. I feel that with the 50mm at 1.8 the back ground is too defused and it's harder to recognize what's back there as well as you have to get really close to your subject to fill the frame, and for the 200mm at 2.8 the length of the lens gives you the same problem with back ground defusing as the 50mm and it keeps you to far from you subject and you are not able to make that connection as easy. With the 24-105mm I like how the lens length at 105mm and the f-stop at f-4 give you the right amount of defusing of the back ground and the length is also just right not too far from your subject or not to close to be in their personal space.