Digital Outback Photography

A few times a year I teach some classes at my local community college, this not only gives me the opportunity to get out and meet other people who are keen on photography, but also pushes me to hone my own skills and put a little more thought into my photography. Recently I ran 2 day classes one being Introduction to DSLR cameras and the other being a Photographic portraits workshop. The photographic portraits works shop was a totally new class and it really changed things up for me.

We did  little theory and them moved out to take some images, it was a good day tho show the students the challenges of portraiture as it was really harsh sunlight with nowhere to hide but the shadows.

The first set of images we were playing around with a reflector and finding appropriately lit locations in the harsh sun. The hero type shot above is an example of working with the sun, looking up at your subject gives them a n appearance of power and the bright sun behind really adds to the effect.

This next image was an example of finding appropriate background and lighting, this location was completely in shade and the repetition works well as a background.

In this image we found an old shed during our afternoon walk, this was a brilliant location for a close detailed portrait and the light spilling in through the doors left a brilliant glow in Andrew’s eyes

Bouncing the light of a building as we did in this shot can really balance out the harsh sunlight and work really well, in this image we stood Andrew near a creme colored building and positioned him for a nice light balance.