My Sunday Series on Available Light Portraiture gets back on track and continues today with a photograph I have previously described as “my favorite portrait” and it features the beautiful Dusty Dawn.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.—Steve Jobs
Over the years I’ve had some memorable portrait sessions with some wonderfully talented models and I’m often asked about what is my favorite portrait is from any of these sessions. That’s a tough question to answer. Initially I wanted to pick one of the images of my original muse, Tia Stoneman, but I’ve posted so many portraits of her and she’s since retired from active modeling. Although I must confess I live in the hope that one day she’ll return and I’ll photograph her again.
This Portrait is My Favorite
During all this time that I photographed models, I have worked with some other fabulous women, including the amazing Pam Simpson and you’ve seen many images of her on this blog. as well as the number of comments I get about Shea “The Face that Launched a Thousand Ships.” every time I post an image of her. But I’ll never forget working with Texas-based Dusty Dawn who I photographed three three times, including twice for a calendar shoot. Every time I post any of her portraits, it always elicits comments from readers
How I made this photograph: I’ve often written abut the use of available light for portraiture and especially using window light to create interesting glamour and portrait photographs and I still like using it even though my current home lacks the kind of large North-facing windows to make portraits like the one at right.
This portrait of Dusty was made using mostly available light from the North-facing bay window supplemented with a Canon EX550 speedlight with a Sto-Fen Omni Bounce attached. The camera used was a Canon EOS 10D—I’m not sure which one—and an EF 28-105mm lens at 53mm. The lens was affordable, quite good and I’m sorry I ever sold it back when I was wrapped up in a “newer is better” attitude that I’ve since gotten over. The exposure was 1/90 sec at f/4.5 and ISO 400 with a plus two stop exposure compensation.
This portrait is a composite that combines parts of two image files using the Cut & Paste Portrait technique that I’ve explain elsewhere. I don’t consider this cheating because these composite images combine parts of photographs of the same person that was made at the same time using the same camera, lens and lighting. Your may think differently and that’s OK with me. After compositing, the Vignette Blur filter from Color Efex was used to soften the edges.
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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 $39.88 with used books starting around thirteen bucks.as I write this. The Kindle version is $19.99 for those preferring a digital forma