1/250th | f/2.8 | 51mm | ISO320
I had the chance to shoot Ashton at Brushy Creek Lake Park this week. I hadn't been there, it was her suggestion, so I came into the shoot blind in terms of location, available light, etc. We had settled on shooting outdoors and just showed up to see what we could find.
After walked around a little we found a (mostly) dry creek bed and wandered into it. It provided a nice scene, as well as protection from the direct sunlight. This shot, as well as the others I have posted on my Facebook page, were shot between approximately 3 and 4:30pm.
I don't do fashion photography very often; I mostly focus on creating an interesting visual scene, or narrating a story. However, I wanted to switch it up a bit, especially when I had the chance to work with a real model.
It was a great time trying to effectively balance the sunlight with my strobes, while not making it glaringly obvious I was using artificial light. Much of my photography has an unabashed studio feel (which I do because I like it), but experimenting with different styles is always something I love.
Ashton was awesome to work with and required little to no direction. When she would do something particularly good I would tell her to hold it, but she seemed very comfortable and natural.
Shooting outside with off-camera lights can be tricky because the maximum shutter speed you can use is 1/250th of a second, often resulting in the inability to shoot at low apertures. Luckily because of the shade, I could shoot at f/2.8 and achieve this nice depth of field. If I had shot higher, at around f/9 or 11, the busy and distracting background would have been in sharper focus, and taken away attention from her.
Here are a few more select photos from the day:
And don't forget to take a look at a larger selection of photos from this shoot on my Facebook page by clicking here.