Portraits of Faith

My sister Pam asked me to help update her daughter's portraits. Above is my favorite. click on it to see more.

Feathers were hung with fishing wire, using a lamp as a template for Faith's height. This was done before Faith arrived. I was hoping it was not a bust, and I would get the confident shot right up front. I'm glad it worked. I actually hung ten feathers, ten for her age. But using the 70-200 lens the feathers were too spread out. But what I got I think was good. It would have taken too long to move them.

(White) background is inspired by Zack Arias. Four gelled speedlights, two on each side. One speedlight high and one low for even coverage. Using speedlights gave me the benefit of variable output to get cool transitions. Mostly fired at 1/8th. The flash gel was changed up or removed to change the background colors.

Foreground was three speedlights. One camera right for key/definition. One camera left-center for fill. One (borrowed from BG) grided pointed at the main feather, also lucky to also point at her hand and arm. The foreground lights were positioned close to prevent spill onto the background.

Lighting pattern is inspired by David Ziser. My results I think were close but not exact. Flash used were Nikon S26s and Canon 550ex. Because I used the Nikons I could only shoot at the fastest sync speed 320 (1D Mark 3). Because my flash was not as powerful I also shot at iso 400. iso 400 is not a big deal for the 1D. Most of the shots were at f8 for maximum sharpness throughout.