9 Take cool shots of the locals
Gritty, craggy, scary: take your pick…
Unlike landscape photography, where you sometimes have to travel miles to get to a photogenic spot, interesting-looking people can usually be found easily. They make great subjects for portraits, with craggy, battered faces particularly suited to a moody black-and-white treatment.
Fashion photographer Dave Kai Piper usually shoots beautiful people, but jumped at the chance to take some character shots of a fearsomelooking biker called Dink as part of a seminar for Cambrian Photography and Sigma. “When photographing anyone, from model to rock star to family to veteran biker, it is good to remember that being photographed is a pretty intense thing for many people,” says Dave. “Starting shoots in familiar surroundings is always a winner; starting with little or no lighting and building up is good too.” If somebody in your town looks as striking as Dink, why not offer to do some portraits with them?
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* Preparation is key. Dave had scouted the biker club-house location the day before, as he needed to do the shoot in 15 minutes. * Dave used Lee Gradient ND filters to kill ambient light where he needed to create shadows, and a Westcott Ice Light to highlight walls and details in the background. * Dave tested the exposure settings for the room the day before and simply dialled in the settings to his Nikon D800 while the assistant held the light directly in line with his and Dink’s head. “We used a smaller Profoto strip with grid and diffusion panels to help control the light,” Dave explains. * For the final shot, Dave shot Dink with a 50mm prime lens, keeping the light low to give the scene a ‘pub’ look.