Yesterday, we had Daniela outside by herself with a classic car as a prop. The other two models, Claudia and Kamy, were inside the building. I brought each outside, sort of, onto a second-story balcony. You can’t tell much about the background in the first portrait. I framed Claudia tightly at 70mm, which all but eliminated the background and threw it out of focus. However, continue on, and you’ll see more of the environment.

In the second portrait, I shot at 34mm. I don’t recall if I moved back or took the picture from the same place. Did I zoom with the lens and with my feet? Hard to tell and remember.

Most of my portraits were in a vertical composition, which makes sense, but you see less of the surrounding neighborhood. I like that I made a few of Kamy in the horizontal landscape orientation. Though I shot this at 52mm, you see much of the buildings because of the framing. And, if you didn’t know this was Havana, would you have guessed it was somewhere in Europe? Havana does have a lot of classic European architecture, though mainly in a dilapidated state. However, with the background blurred, it looks romantically out of focus.

This last picture is the only one at 24mm, and I shot it from a distance. You can tell because the railing blocks more of the buildings than in the previous photo. I’m lucky that it was partially overcast, which makes it easier to create portraits in available light. Despite what most people think, full sun is a terrible condition for outdoor portraits, especially in midday.

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