Reuters: Pictures of the year 2008

Back in August of last year, I was out on location doing a shoot. I had been shooting a lot with a 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens, and frankly, I was getting a bit lazy. I’d stand (more or less) in one place, and zoom in and out to vary my composition. Might as well have pulled up a chair and had a beer!

When I was getting ready to shoot this set, it was late afternoon one day, and I was truly reaching the height of laziness…I was thinking, “you know, that 70-200 sure is getting heavy.” Lol. So when we got to this spot, I put on a fixed 85mm f/1.4, and started shooting with it. The photo to the right shows what the location looked like; there was a small boat dock I was sitting on, and the lovely Amy was sitting on a rock in a little alcove.

At the time, if I put on the 70-200, I probably would have sat there on the dock, zooming in and out, changing composition, and making Amy move around a lot. And in doing so, I would have missed some of the best shots of the day.

See, what happened when I was using the fixed 85mm lens was, I had to get up off my butt. I had to walk around, find new angles, find new shots. Want a closer crop? I had to walk closer. Looser? Further away. And while I was doing all this walking around, I noticed things. New angles. New ideas. New shots. A new background didn’t necessarily mean changing locations – it just meant changing the way I was looking at the existing location. It meant opening my eyes.

There was also more energy on the set. I was jumping all around, finding new angles and new shots. Amy picked up on my obvious energy, and it really helped make a connection with her and draw her personality out – especially important, as we hadn’t met before this particular shoot.

I also shot these images at around f/2.2 – something that’s clearly not possible with a 70-200 f/2.8 :-). But as I was walking around, looking for new angles and new shots, I could stop looking at the “background” as it were, and start looking more at colors, tones, and shapes. What worked for the shot? What didn’t? I took a lot of shots that didn’t work well, believe me.

But by the end of the session, I knew I had the shot I wanted (on the left). And I can tell you, with some certainty, that if I hadn’t changed lenses, changed what I was doing, and stood in the water, I never would have gotten this shot.

So in the end, I learned an important lesson on a hot day one August. And that was, get up! Move around. Look for the hidden gem wherever you’re shooting, and don’t fall back on “old reliable” techniques. Change something – try something new – and you might come up with something you really like.

[via Style Bites]

• Model – check
• Makeup – check
• Hair – check
• Wardrobe – check
• Assistant – check
• Studio/set – check
• Another blizzard in Denver – check

Yep, had to cancel the shoot because of weather. So instead of doing a fun shoot right now, I’m sitting at home, just came in from shoveling snow, and looking at a picture of a snow-covered branch that a friend sent me.  Ahh, you gotta love Denver’s weather!

So to remind me of warmer days, the picture on this post is the fantastic model Amy, shot on an island in the Caribbean earlier this year.

Some excellent and thought-provoking images.

[via Thoughts from a Bohemian]