Moody Portrait with a Vintage Aesthetic...
Jillian and I shot this natural light photography series around the Ransom Canyon and Buffalo Springs Lake areas of West Texas. I originally wanted to shoot a cowgirl themed photo shoot in mid-day sun; this location was the perfect site for what I envisioned. Unfortunately, it took Jillian and me two attempts to make this shoot happen, as the first scheduled attempt occurred during a very, gray, rainy day. Thankfully we didn't shoot then, as I'm afraid we wouldn't have obtained the desired effect of a warm, sunset, themed series of portraits.
The second attempt yielded much better results. Jillian, her husband, and I met at the Bruno Steel House within the area, and immediately commenced shooting. The sun was high above us, casting lots of direct sunlight and shadows. Any photographer will tell you that shooting mid-day is a hard pass due to these mentioned reasons. However, I always look for challenges to conquer, and I wanted the concept of shooting mid-day to be one of them. Thankfully Jillian brought her husband along for the ride. He was a huge help in creating the following portraits.
As a photographer, and especially shooting mid-afternoon portraits, use a diffuser if you're shooting under bright sun. By placing the diffuser between the model/client and the sun, photographers and clients can obtain some really great images during mid-day. I've included some behind the scenes [BTS] footage of this very act. What do you all think of the following results? Additionally, I added some grain to these images during post-processing, using Adobe Lightroom, to achieve a slight vintage effect.
Thank you again for your time and for visiting my site. Whether you're in West Texas or somewhere else in the U.S., if you're looking for a photographer to do your next shoot, contact me to reserve your next portrait session. Enjoy your day =)
Jillian's husband holding a diffuser, above his wife, to filter the harsh, afternoon sun.
