Emily, Drink and Click Portrait – Austin, Texas

Shot at the Scoot Inn, in early February, a portrait of Emily. The interior was particularly dark, luckily we had radio triggered strobes in a soft box. I make my Drink and Click portraits in all kinds of light. Perhaps half have some kind of external lighting setup, however, often they are dim, requiring me to use my low light techniques.

Certainly, upping the ISO is always an option, but with a risk of decreasing image quality. Using a large aperture lens always helps. That’s where my f1.4 Panasonic Leica 25mm comes into play. Finally, there’s image stabilization. In marginal light, I instruct the models to stay steady and I may shoot at a slow 1/13s to 1/25s shutter speed. A combination of these techniques usually yields a portrait in far-from-perfect light.

I’ve showcased Emily before, in a downtown 6th Street portrait. That kind of, on the street portrait, certainly looks different but also requires very different shooting techniques. I prefer and probably do better on the street. Using a classic soft box with strobes is not one that I do often.