I recently shot in the Cathedral of Learning, located on Pitt campus in Oakland. The photographic possibilities are endless in a place like this. Walking inside immediately takes you to another time. On this shoot, I happened to be working with Tyler Jetter, a senior Musical Theater major at Point Park University. Like all theater students, Tyler was looking for headshots! I know Tyler from high school so I'm familiar with how much energy and enthusiasm he can bring to anything. I thought that he would make a great model for the images that I planned to make. Like I've said in a previous post, I go to a location with a general idea of what I want, but I like to let my subjects naturally fall into the shot. To do this, I take my time to get them comfortable in front of the lens. Tyler on the other hand was ready from the get go and ended up being a fantastic model. Here are some of the shots we got.
To light each of these images I was Primarily working with a Nikon SB-910 diffused by a 24 inch Lastolite softbox. I pair these two pieces up a lot because of their convenience to carry around and set up.
The image above was achieved with a flash on the background covered with a CTO gel to emulate church candle light. If i hadn't used it, the background would be lost in shadow.
We only worked within the main study hall area of the cathedral but I was able to capture a nice variety of shots by just shifting the setup around a bit. Tyler is someone who can give you the most sincere smile on command. I laughed a few times as he was able to turn happy into sexy in the blink of an eye. I made sure to get Tyler his headshots, however I was mindful to get multiple poses and lengths to really take advantage of the environment in a way that worked with him. As important as the background elements are, its important not to let the subject get lost in them.
I like to travel as light as I can but still take whatever lighting gear I need to make the shot, so with that in mind I will be signing off with three simple works.
Keep it light!