Portraits, Halloween on 6th Street 2014 – Austin, Texas
I went to 6th Street again this year for Halloween. Since it coincided with Formula 1 weekend, it was crazier than usual, which is really saying something. Not only did we have a larger than normal amount of wacky Austinites, we had an international crowd witnessing the spectacle.
No breakthroughs in photographic creativity for me this year. Since I like the “shot on the street” but “studio like feel” I created last year, I applied the same technique. If you want to give this a try, you can read about how I did this here.
Of course, it’s unpredictable who will show up. It’s kind of exciting and disappointing at the same time. I like the costumes I captured last year better but I think my technique has improved somewhat. I basically preset everything manually including the focus, exposure and flash power which makes it very quick. The only frustration? The camera settings occasionally get knocked as I jostle through the crowds. If I do this again, I might use gaffer’s tape to keep the focus and exposures locked in.
So here is the 2014 edition of Halloween Portraits on 6th Street. You can click on the image to see a larger version and hover over with a mouse to see the photo details.
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Great to run into you on 6th street! Thanks for taking our photo and hope you enjoyed the rest of your night!
Peter, great to run into you too. Hope you like the portrait.
Really great images — and the technique shows a subtle but noticeable improvement. Not that last year’s set wasn’t striking, just that this year’s is even better. Are you using any form of diffusion? I understand the need for hard edges and applaud them. But it looks like the incidence of reflective hot spots is reduced in this year’s group. Doing anything differently?
Michael, thank you. They do look a bit better, I guess. No diffusion and the equipment and technique is the same as last year. Perhaps subtle and unexplainable changes made the difference? Though my post processing is probably a bit different.
I really like when you do this series Andy! Nice work
Very nice post, Andy! I went back to your post from last year’s Halloween and it’s inspired me to experiment with your technique the next time I shoot a low light event.