Today’s post is a sort-of replacement for my ongoing Sunday Outdoor Portraiture series because yesterday post was about how readers can get access to my Password Protected posts—one is scheduled for tomorrow, for example. So on this Monochrome Monday the post is a look at both outdoor portraits and monochrome photography.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. —Milton Berle
The title for my book, “Posing for Portrait & Glamour Photography,” as written, was the “ABC’s or Portrait Posing,” so the publisher did what they typically do in these cases and totally ignored my title. To their credit they did use my suggested photograph for the first time in my book publishing history.
D is for Doorway.
When it come to outdoor portraiture, I must confess that if you give me a doorway I’ll use it as a prop. I think that’s because doorways give subjects something to do with their hands as well as providing a natural frame around the them while adding some interest to the overall portrait. Rustic doorways are even better because they have character and offer a hard-edged contrast with the soft-edged subject. This doorway belonged to a 1920’s armory in Brighton, Colorado that has since been -restored to a performance space.
The Model: Tia Stoneman has appeared on this site many times, including some from this very session and like most of those images, they were made using available light. Every time I look at the images from this particular session I get nostalgic about working with Ms. Stoneman because she was my first muse. Even now after all these years, if she ever moves back to the Denver Metro area and decides to return to modeling, it would make me incredibly happy.
How I Made this Portrait: Here Tia Stoneman gives me her best retro Joan Crawford look and throws her hip into the pose. This is something I always like to suggest but some subjects are often too timid to give it a try. I think that the pose adds some dynamics to the photograph. Even though her hands are more-or-less on the same level that is a no-no according to some contest judges, the sweep of head and body adds an “S” curve composition that combined with the portrait’s asymmetrical nature makes it look different from one of my typical doorway shots.
This portrait was captured as a JPEG image in direct Monochrome mode using a Canon EOS 20D with EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens. The Program Mode exposure was 1/250 second at f/6.3 and ISO 800 with a plus one-stop exposure compensation. An EX 550 speedlight with Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce diffuser attached was used as fill. The image was slightly cropped with Photoshop’s cropping tool using a 4:3 ratio, then tweaked in Vivenza with a dab of Glamour Glow from Color Efex to finish it off.
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 Creative Digital Monochrome Effects is available from Amazon and (I think, anyway) is a fun read. There’s even a chapter on infrared photography. It’s available for $11.46 but bargain shoppers can pick up used copies starting for less than four bucks. No Kindle version is available at this time.