Lots. Back in june, I scheduled an engagement shoot with my clients, at the location where the wedding would later take place. Hardly betting on the fact that daylight would be the same almost 5 months later, I still wanted to get a feel for the d-day location, as well as some of the key pre-wedding moments.

The rig – Easy does it.
For this shoot, I decided to tackle the big ol’ sunshine with nothing but a SB 800 and a shoot through umbrella. This was shot all in manual mode (of course) as I have trust issues with TTL and all such automated “think for me” out of the box solutions. I figured 2 pocketwizards would do the trick. so with 2 pw’s, a small light stand and off we went. Also, nothing a little high-speed sync, bending the limits of my flash sync speed into something usable.

The location: Bright sunny field with green green grass, bright blue sky and lots of light. Not one cloud that day. As I do favor overcast skies for a photoshoot, I was a little worried about ugly light, a.k.a strong shadows under the eyeballs and nostrils, creating such zombie like images.

Enough with the talking, here are some of the out-takes from the engagement shoot.

Most of the lighting setup involve a camera-left or camera-right, sometimes high angled flash, set to manual, most of the time 1/4 or 1/2 power, depending on the distance to subject. Then, playing with your aperture (I recommend shooting in Aperture priority in cases like this – subject isn’t moving, not very fast anyway, so focus your control on the depth of field and other more important details)

The sketches, based on what I can remember from those shots:

Sun at that point is up high, pointing straight down causing huge nostril shadows. gotta control that.

In this example, you can see the sun, as powerful as it is, being used as a hair light

This out-take speaks for itself

balancing foreground and background and maintaining color integrity.

Coming soon: Outdoor super sunny images with flash balance – New web strategies for the webified photographer in a webified world – latest projects and assignments

1. How to run a photography business
I had no idea how to do this. I had to read in books, try to copy other business models, and 10 years later, I am still learning how to do this.

2. How to reject crappy work
As difficult as it may be, try to stick with your area of expertise and most importantly what you really love doing. For me, I love doing portrait, documentary and editorial work. But as it turned out, I was accepting work from all venues just to make ends meet. If you are not careful, this approach will destroy your love for photography. Careful there.

3. That digital photography would take over the world and all my film skills would become unappreciated by most.
This is pretty self explanatory. This is also why some of my upcoming project involve 4×5 view cameras, an old Bronica 6×7, a Nikon FM, lots of Tri-X film, lots of polaroid type-55 film (I am running out and I am afraid I won’t find a new box of this awesome stuff)

4.To keep doing what I want instead of taking corporate desk job. no matter what.
It’s already too late for me, but if you are starting out, persevere. Don’t take a desk job. You’ll get comfortable, and you will lose your drive to be an awesome photographer. I’m still fighting the consequences. It is not easy.

5. To live in a city where the market actually exist for photographers.
Truth is, there is probably a market in every no-name town out there, but it is challenging to make a name when nobody really cares about great images. It is even more challenging to make contacts that will want you so bad, they will have you travel for the shoots. Again, If you are starting out, and you have a choice, pick a big city where there is a demand, This is a field where competition actually drives the need for a unique style.