This week, Shouten, Winnie, and I went out for another photo session. This shoot took place at Kinzan River. Every spring is the Cosmos Festival highlighted by the blooming of various kinds of flowers, especially tulips. On either side, the river is flanked by gorgeous flower beds and cherry blossom trees. We were too late for the cherry blossoms but just in time for the flowers.
Winnie really enjoyed this shoot because she loves flowers!
Winnie looking beautiful in her spring dress
I'm not a "flower" kind of person but even I can appreciate their beauty!
This one is shot with a long lens and the next one with a wide-angle lens. Which one do you like?
Shouten wanted to learn more about flash photography. He specifically wanted to know how I got the nice starburst effect on some of my shots. For those shots, I use a Lastolite triflash bracket. You are able to mount 3 flashes. Using 3 flashes will allow you to “overpower” the sun. Having 3 flashes also gives you a faster recycling time between shots as the flashes don’t have to be on full power. On the next 3 images, my aperture setting is the same but look at how the mood changes when I adjust the shutter speed.
F22, 1/200 A dramatic look with a sharp sun starburst
F22, 1/60 With a slower shutter speed, you bring in more of the scene. The starburst is not as sharp but still pretty good. I also had the model face more in the direction of the flash. I also love the little starburst reflections on the water!
F22, 1/50 Now the sun is starting to wash out. But still a nice warm, pleasing shot of Winnie.
F18, 1/50 Sometimes, I introduce texture to compensate for the harsh lighting. The texture also gives a nice fine art look which I was going for in this image.
I also use a reflector to bring light back into the face when in open shade. The reflector I love to use is the Lastolite Trigrip. I am using the reflector in the next 3 images.
Learning lighting is essential when doing photography and I’m thankful for my mentor, Scott Robert Lim, who has taught me a lot about lighting and photography. Check out his site and be inspired!
Thanks again to Shouten and Winnie for an awesome photo shoot. Looking forward to our shoot in May!
***Update: I forgot to include one more photo. See below:
Can you "feel" the warm spring sun on her face?
To be honest with you, my shots didn’t do any justice to the beauty that these two women have. God made them both beautiful on the outside. But the beauty they have on the inside is just as attractive. The strength and character of these women are something to behold. So, forgive me that these images fall short of truly capturing who they are.
