Getting technical....

Theoretically, working with flash outdoors is relatively simple, set the flash to the aperture, meter the ambient and Bob's your uncle. Actually being able to come up with the goods is a different matter, especially if there are many technical factor's to take into account. So to help out a group of students who were fairly new to environmental portraiture, I got them outside with a flash, brolly, triggers etc and we sessioned setting up the kit, metering etc. We got through the technical stuff reasonably quickly and we were able to set about a shoot. This bit is always difficult because I asked the students to be the models on this occassion. I wanted them to get a sense that it was down to them as to how they wanted the model to 'be' rather than rely on someone who could turn on an 'act' just like that !

I gave them a guitar as a prop and wandered them off down a side street and set about some 'improvised' environmental portraiture. Given the location and the guitar, the guys had to come up with a theme or scenario and we settled on an 'urban minstrel' thang where the location had to play a part as a background. The great thing about this approach is that we could use just about anywhere, regardless of its state, and still come away with an 'editorial' feel to the shots. The first shot we utitlised a storage container that was on site. Depth of field wasn't an issue as she lent against the doors. A single flashgun (Nikon SB28) was fired through a brolly placed on the right-hand side at metered to give f8. As it was a dull-ish day, the shutter speed came in around 1/45th sec. Just before shooting, I suggested she thought of herself writing a tune about the end of something such as a long journey or relationship etc. and how that might make her feel. The juxtaposition of the steely, industrial container with the fallen leaves lent itself well to this and she responded with this rather sombre and introspective pose. The last shot we went for was to have a Happy Mondays/Oasis 'Mancunian' feel to it. There isn't really such a 'look' but they knew what I meant ! The shot looks somewhat grim especially as the colour and contrast levels were toned down in Photoshop afterwards.

The whole exercise was over in about 90 minutes and revealed some potentially strong shots. Initial, technical problems such as metering and balancing daylight soon gave way to thinking about the actual portraits themselves and gave an insight on how to handle such a job which would come their way.