Danielle, Drink and Click Portrait – Austin, Texas

For my third and last Drink and Click portrait of this mini-series, we have Danielle back in another black and white. Here’s Danielle from two and half years ago, when I started doing these monochromatic portraits. Softer and grainier, I was going for a film-like effect using the in-camera Mono Profile 2 JPEG profile in the Olympus PEN-F.

Today’s sharper and cleaner RAW from the Fujifilm is different — though not necessarily better. It’s all part of my creative effort. The aperture was fully open at f1.4, to maximize the shallow depth of field. I purposely arranged for the out-of-focus round “bokeh balls” to float over Danielle’s head. Ordinary string lights were rendered this way using a big aperture.

Because of the lack of image stabilization, I use supplemental lighting with the Fujifilm. Sometimes, I use the available lights set up at the Drink and Click event. However, I like to move away from the pre-staged areas where it can get crowded with other photographers. I prefer instead to work one on one with my subjects to make a unique composition.

Here, I used a LED light wand, held in my left hand, while I controlled the camera with my right, trying to nail sharp focus on the eyes at f1.4. Not always easy, especially with the older Fuji X-T10 — which has modest, at best — eye detection. I used the Savage LED Light Wand that I got at the Precision Camera Light Painting Class in the autumn of last year. Not necessarily the ideal lighting setup, but something I’m playing with for the fun of it.

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