Shutter Mike Photography

In the interest of equality among species I have to give equal time to the cat after yesterday’s dog portraits.

This photo collection is quite a stretch from my usual architecture and nature shots.  This was actually an assignment for a Commercial Photography class I am taking.  It was shot at John Covington Studios in Phoenix.  This studio is designed for large scale product photography such as motorcycles and cars.  There is a large scale custom-made soft box unlike any you have every seen and all the lighting you would ever need.  The intent of the assignment was more to capture the bike and the model than to figure out lighting.  So all the lighting was set up prior to our arrival.  But we still got to work with and see how the soft box, hot lights and strobes interact to light these subjects perfectly.

The motorcycle is a Steed.  What naturally goes with a motorcycle like this?  A pin-up girl of course.  Check back tomorrow for part two of this collection that features a model with the bike.

I have never been much of a portrait photographer.  In fact, I am a bit intimidated by it and don’t really enjoy doing portraits.  But I also think it is a good idea to push beyond your comfort zone in order to broaden your overall photography skills.  Even if you never intend to make a living with a particular type of photography and even if it scares you.  So I have tried my hand at portraits now and then.  But self-portraits are a whole other ball game.  I am behind the camera because that is where I am most comfortable.  I will go so far as to say that I hate being in front of the camera.  However, in the spirit of becoming a better photographer it is a good idea to put yourself in the shoes of your subjects.  Knowing how hard it can be for those of us that are not naturals in front of a camera by first hand experience can only help you work with subjects better and make them more comfortable and natural when being photographed.  For that reason, and because it was an assignment in a commercial photography class I am taking, I put myself in front of the camera and took a shot at self-portraits.

Let me tell you, this was not easy.  Being both photographer and model is a difficult task.  To begin with you have to compose and expose for a subject that is not there.  Then you sit yourself and take a guess at where your head should be so that nothing is cropped off and click the shutter.  Review the image and start again.  I did figure that tethering the camera to the laptop and using the remote preview feature was very helpful.  But this is still not easy.  So I did not sell myself on becoming a portrait photographer much less a self-portrait enthusiast.  But in the end I was satisfied with my results.

The cropping in this image was intentional (not a result of not being sure where to place my head).  I was attempting something different with a very close up and tightly cropped image rather than showing my whole face.  Also a bit more incognito this way.

Although I have done a little bit of portrait photography in the past (for both humans and animals), it is not something I do very often.  But having 9 nieces and nephews someone is usually willing to act as a guinea pig for me so practice on.  My latest victims did pretty well and the location of this portrait shoot, the Mesa Art Center, performed very well too.  This is a fantastic location for my favorite architectural photography as well as for portrait photography.

I did some “standard” posed photographs with the kids.  But I prefer the more “candid” (although still slightly posed) portraits where they are kids being kids.  I think it is more real and represents the subject better.

I label myself an architectural photographer simply because that is what I love to shoot the most and that is what I focus most of my photography efforts on capturing.  That is also what I am attempting to build a business around with Mike Small Photography.  However, I do want to, and do not think I should, limit myself to just one “genre” of photography.  So every once in a while I branch out into an area of photography that I am less comfortable with in an attempt to improve.  I have done portrait photography on a small scale in the past including portraits of my niece, portraits of children and even portraits of my dogs.  So this past weekend a friend wanted to update her photographs for Facebook and what not so I did another portrait session as a favor and to practice and hone my skills.

These images were edited with Portrait Professional 10 which I give high marks to for ease of use, options and features and price.  If you do portraits even on a limited scale this might be worth the small investment.