Shoot with Intent - Fun Portraits

[Robert Watcher]

I was invited to an adult dressup party where my son was performing with his band later in the evening. I decided to take my camera along to document the different outfits. Out of the 70 or so couples who would be there, there were probably a dozen who I have photographed for previously - whether that be weddings or portraits. Most were aware that I was a professional photographer . . .


. . . and so I anticipated an issue where when I asked them to come to my predefined area for a quick shot, that they would expect me to take a nice formal portrait - - - and that is not at all what I wanted. I wanted to capture an instant (I only took one or two shots at the most, of each couple) where they were being crazy or spontaneous. To provide a bit of impact for the style of image that I anticipated, I took along my lightstand and a TTL flash that triggered wirelessly from beside me.

It was a packed yard with all of the people and decorations and so I was restricted to one small area that had a lot more color from flowers and tents and more background comotion than I would have prefered. As well I could not back up much so was forced to shoot with a wider angle of lens. But it all worked out great for me and I "had a successful shoot that followed my intention". Here are a few of the shots that I have further processed to a grungy style that I wanted in the prints.

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[Robert Watcher]

These shot gives a bit of a sense of what things were like. I have my back up against the neighbours fence. There were probably 150 adults all dressed up - socializing, listening to the music, and later playing a few team games. Like this event where groups of 3 people were assigned numbers and worked as a team. The first person would have to lasso the horse and then ride it to the other end of the property, where the next person would be waiting to throw a ball in an attempt to knock a tin can off of a stand and when that was done the third person jumped into a grain sack and hopped his/her way to the finish line.

[ksgal]

These are just so perfect to capture the spirit and fun of the party!!! the only nit I have is I wish the backgrounds were a bit more out of focus.. the trellis is a bit distracting...But for event photography quickies, these are super super fun!!! everyone will like them!

[Robert Watcher]

Thanks for your reply. Lots of fun - but more importantly for me - lots of usable images for my portfolio.

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My son Ryan took my camera and grabbed this shot of Anne and I after I took his. We're old and not as extravigant and exciting as the young ones with the effort they put into their costumes - but it's still fun to at least throw a hat and shirt on so that we didn't feel totally out of place - - - nice having a photo of us for a change as well.



BTW - if you are wanting to get a similar look for your images - - - I did it with the online Pixlr-o-matic editor that I provide on my Web Tools site. With the needle in the red (to the left), I selected Antonio for the effect - - - - then for the border turn the needle to yellow (to the right), and I selected Sloppy.

Pixlr-o-matic - Online Image Editor



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[Robert Watcher]

the only nit I have is I wish the backgrounds were a bit more out of focus.. the trellis is a bit distracting

It wasn't going to happen with the way that I wanted/had to shoot.
I was using flash which restricted my shutter speed to a maximum of 1/250'th.
With the bright backlit sun, I had to stay relatively close to the flash so that it triggered wirelessly
As well I had only a small area to use and no room to move - so I was restricted to using wide angle to normal angle of view. Most I managed around a 35mm to 50mm full frame equivalent.

Exposure settings were f8 to f10 @ 1/250'th @ 200ISO

[Rain Lily]

Lots of crazy fun! Enjoyed this series, Robert!

[thcofer]

Neat fun shots with interesting processing!