Packing up for next week. One set up, static location and also a roving documentation. Working light but with control.
Last week I scouted for a photo shoot at a seminary school here in Austin. It's a client I've worked with a number of times in the past but haven't engaged with since just before the start of the pandemic. Now they've decided it's well past time to update the website, spruce up the faculty pix and document the new building projects and general upgrades to the campus.
In the past we did the portraits outside, using the campus landscaping and buildings as backgrounds. Inevitably the days we got scheduled to do the portraits presented with high winds, high temperatures or sporadic rain showers. I'm still haunted by having observed rivulets of sweat dripping down one subject's face as he stood in the 105° heat of an early September afternoon. Hard to retouch that one was.
But a lot has happened in the almost five years since. One of those things is how advanced PhotoShop's selection tools have become. This year we'll set up a portrait area in the school's brand new, million dollar video studio, run the air conditioning like I don't have to pay the utility bills, and photograph comfortable, non-sweaty faculty members. I'll take the selected portraits and composite them into background images from a small library of campus landscapes. Wonderful.
We'll spend the rest of the day dropping in and out of: classrooms, lectures, religious services in the chapel, faculty meetings, the new library and much more. To do this all efficiently on the day I proposed coming by the day before the shoot to drop off gear, set up gear and test gear for the portraits. We'll light the studio and leave the lights, camera and tripod set up all day long. We couldn't schedule everyone to come in at one part of the day so we'll schedule appointments in clumps and then do our mobile documentations in between the portraits.
I'll use battery powered lights for the studio portraits and use smaller umbrellas than I usually would as key and accent lights so I can better match the sunlit backgrounds I'll end up pairing with the people. The smaller umbrellas will make for a bit contrastier lighting which should match well.
I can leave a camera set up in the studio, complete with an 85 or 90mm lens and circle back to it when needed. The rest of the time I'll have just the bare minimum of gear with me. The Leica SL2-S with the 24-90mm lens, a Godox V1 flash and a 45 inch umbrella with a stand. An extra battery in a pocket. The idea is to be able to cover a lot of ground with minimal time lost to equipment handling.
We're scheduled to be on site from 8-5 on Tuesday and I'm looking forward to it. The client is nice, kind, organized and fun to work with. I get to play with cameras and lights all day long. What could be better?
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