It’s #anythingcanhappenday and it’s also Kyrgyzstan National Hat Day has been observed in Kyrgyzstan since 2011. Kyrgyzstan is in the eastern regions of Central Asia, lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir mountain ranges. Today’s featured portrait showcases the talents of Pam Simpson who I photographed using a light bulb, actually two LED light bulbs from Home Depot!
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
I can’t change a light bulb.—Naveen Andrews
Let’s get this out of the way first: Camera and lighting equipment don’t make portraits, people do. To actually make a portrait, it’s obvious that you’re going to need a camera and some kind of light source, even if it’s just two LED light bulbs, as was the case in today’s featured image. But you don’t need a $7,399 Hasselblad 907X with a CFV 100C back to make portraits. Any, and I mean any, camera that takes interchangeable lenses will let you produce creative and salable, if that’s a goal, portraits.
Out Here in The real World
Recently I talked with an aspiring portrait photographer who shoots with a four year old Nikon DSLR and he told me that when he went to photography meet-ups, people disparaged his use of “old” gear. My advice: Don’t let other other people, especially other photographers, determine how you spend your money.
Having too much money tied up in cameras, lenses and lights or worse, having debt for all that gear will sink a new portrait photographer faster than anything else. You should sell your photographs based on the quality of your work and well as your personality and business ethics. The truth is that if your clients like their photographs and you, they don’t care if you shoot with a Pentax K1000.
How I made this photograph: The portrait of Pam Simpson at right was made with a 18-megapixel Canon EOS 60D that cost me a little over $1000 when it was new but now these cameras can be found for around $150 used. This is a great camera and I’ve made many portraits with it.
The lens I used to make this portrait of Pam was the redoubtable EF 85mm f/1.8 USM, a consumer level lens that’s has a plastic body and a metal mount that I paid $499 for when new and is still selling for $549 new but used for not much less which is a testament to the quality and the longevity of this lens. The lighting for this photograph was provided by two Home Depot LED light bulbs used with Gary Fong’s Lightbulb Adapter Kit ($44.95) with an exposure of 1/50 sec at f/2 and ISO 800.
There are lots of bargains available in used or refurb cameras that you can purchase from camera stores, eBay, Craig’s List and even from the manufacturer itself. A while ago, I wrote a post about a portrait shoot I did with an entry level mirrorless camera. A newer (Mark IV) but refurb version of the Olympus E-M10 that I used for that post is available, as I write this, for $699 with a 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.
If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to treat me to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), please click here. And if you do, thanks so much.
My book Joe Farace’s Glamour Photography is full of tips, tools and techniques for glamour and boudoir photography and includes information on all of the cameras used as well as the complete exposure data for each image. New copies are available for $39.65 with used books starting around thirteen bucks.as I write this. The Kindle version is $19.99 for those preferring a digital format.