When I traveled back to Virginia I ended up in a city park to take photos of a childhood friend and her mother, but this blog is not about that photo session. Instead I am writing about the test shots that came before the actual session. I will often show up to a new location in advance and try a few different vistas. lighting scenarios or lenses.
My mother, sister and nephew were with me so I was able to use them as guinea pigs. There are cases where I have had to photograph myself in various spots but that is much more difficult to do with a remote control and tripod. My sister is a few years older than me, but that did not stop her from scampering up a tree. She was pretty high up there. I thought about throwing her a banana. Her son, Tyler soon joined her.
I had several cameras with me and believe or not, my pocket camera had a faster frame-per-second rate so I used it to snap Tyler jumping out of the tree.
I was keen to check my 70-200 lens since I thought that there might be a focusing issue.
I created tight portraits and checked the eyes to confirm that the lens is tack sharp.
Though reluctant, Tyler did allow me to move him to different settings and snap away.
This kid is getting taller by the minute.
Lastly, my Mom who is more difficult to photograph than Bigfoot, sat still for a 1/2 second... just long enough to steal a single frame. I already know that she will hate it, but I don't. This is how I think of my Mom... surrounded by light.
Soon the real subjects showed up and the job began, but having help developing my modus operandi was excellent.