Howto: B&W portrait indoor with no extra light source

As I have said before, I’ve been asked to share my thoughts about the techniques and super-duper hardcore skills I’ve used during the last session with Emily. Well, and here’s the problem, as… There was nothing special there. No gimmicks, no extra lamps, no super-sharp lenses or assistants/make-up artists. The effects in my opinion are not so superior as they should be, yet still very, very acceptable (and let me get it straight: if there’s anything wrong there it’s on my side, not on the model, as working with Emily was a great experience). Whole session took under three hours and at the end I’ve had more than 300 files to choose the right pictures from. Still - as you were asking for some information, here it is.

I was thinking about giving you a screenshots with all the Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw dialogue windows, stuffing you with useless numbers and similar data, but… Hey, I’ve realised that there are millions of tutorials about “how to convert colour picture to black and white” thing already. Because of that, all I want to tell you will be just how I did it and how am I doing it every time. That’s all :) Feel free to comment and to ask the questions, and I’ll try to answer them. And please remember that I am not a photography superhero and I am sure that my approach is not the best… Still, I don’t really care as it works for me. Hopefully it will work for you too. So…

What will you need to make good, black and white portrait without any extra resources?

Your model

Ha ha. Yes, model can be beneficial. How to find one? Well, I’ve found Emily in the park, on Sunday afternoon and I’ve asked her if I can take some photos of her. She was happy about it and that’s really all I did - I’ve asked. No persuasion necessary - and never persuade. It’s not an easy thing, to pose for pictures, and some people may not be so keen about it; you need to respect that :) Just talk, show some pictures you’ve recently did (if you don’t have yours, show the pictures which inspire you but always emphasize the fact that they’re not yours but just an examples!) Usually - if the person you are talking to is open minded and not shy of herself/himself it will work. Or you have another way of doing this; previous models I’ve worked with were “recruited” from websites like Model Mayhem or Net-Model. These girls are usually more “up” for the thing by default and it’s easy to get their attention on your project. Just don’t get horny in any case, your model is your model, not the object of sexual desire. Single manifestation of pure, stupid animal lust and it’s all gone, it will be embarrassing and childish. If you can’t coop with it, forget it and start working with something else, but not people photography. First rule of Walcaw Wantuch - my personal hero ;) - is “during the session, think with your head, not your…” - and I agree as strongly as I can. Concentrate on the shapes, on the form, on the light. Think, don’t dream.

The space

This is my biggest problem and usually it is a big problem anyway. To find a nice interior without spending your money on a classy hotel room or studio with some arranged furniture is really difficult, especially if your own flat is smaller than the standard shoe box (I could say that this is, almost literally, my flat size :) Still, don’t let the space limit you; if you have good idea, you’ll do it anyway. Just find some area where you have some light from the window and the furniture you need (I needed a bed, so I did all the shooting in our bedroom). Clean it though, unless you are pedantic and your guests could eat from your floor without catching any bad flu or other germs ;) I am messy person so before session I’ve spend some time with hoover, running all around the place. Also, it may sound funny, but there’s no model who would like to work in dirty and unpleasant environment, especially with your socks and pants lying around! :)

The idea

In fact, I think this should be the first thing you should have. Without a good idea or at least without a good inspiration you’re more than unlike to produce anything better than a boring shot. My inspiration was somewhere between Janusz Miller’s photography and Gabriele Rigon’s work - find your own one. As I am generally interested in portraits and art nude stuff, the rest just came along. Don’t try to get potential model’s attention if you don’t know what do you want to achieve. It’s just wasting your time - and moreover, it’s just a waste of your model’s time and your reputation will suffer. Who would like to work with the photographer who does not know what he wants? I wouldn’t.

A camera

This is your individual preference; and I am sure you have one already, if you are reading this ;) Please remember that even the best camera is worth nothing without a brain and imagination behind it. Lenses? Most of the photos with Emily were shot on equivalent of 50mm with an apertures around 4-4.5. That’s what I was able to do with my Konica Minolta 17-35 lens. I could and I would use longer focal lengths, but… there was no space for it in my room (minimal focusing distance of my favourite 35-70 f:4 lens is 1m).

Any extras?

No. Yes. Yes, maybe one. Some time ago I’ve bought a reflector on eBay; it’s very cheap and very, very useful and easy to use - maybe except the fact, that it’s very hard to position it and to keep it steady with your second hand holding a camera :) Yeah, I could buy a tripod with arm for it, but I just didn’t had time and 30ish Pounds to spend. So I was holding it/placing it on different furniture or against the wall when I needed it. The most crazy configuration I remember was photographing Emily with this reflector being kept between my tightly closed legs. Rotfl. Use your imagination people! The reflector is very useful for lighting the areas of the picture which are not bright enough, such as the shadows on the face and small shadows in the scene in general. It needs some short practice to use it but the effects can be stunning. By the way, I have used the silver part of the reflector (there’s an gold one too).

Resources available. Start your shooting now!

Play some music. I like smooth jazz, drum’n'bass and electronic music, so my choice was a mix of LTJ Bukem and Bel Canto :) (just for your information as I don’t think it has anything to do with the quality of the photos, hehehe). Emily liked it, so it was cool. Just say “ok - now it’s on you, just relax and feel comfortable”. Naturally, you can also guide a model and sometimes I do that, but if the idea behind the shot is clear then you’ll get the poses you want anyway - it’s just a matter of communication. Always ask your model if she needs a break, or maybe a cup of coffee/water/anything else? Remember, that if she’ll get tired, all is done and no more shooting today, bro. It is your responsibility to keep your model happy, now you’re the man! :)

The most important bit is your imagination; try different angles, different perspective. It’s no deal to say “please sit there” and to shoot the standard. For all the time I was running and jumping around Emily; hanging above her, ducking, going down on my knees and performing various acrobatic tasks to do what I wanted to do. Don’t worry, nobody will see you! Just do it.

What I do for most of the time is underexposing my shots a little, usually by 1EV. Later it’s easier to get what I want from RAW than to work with overexposed images. Yeah, I am lazy. I work in an aperture mode mostly, setting the aperture to values around 4-4.5 (for studio work these values are of course much higher). I don’t do portraits with very small apertures as for first, I have no very bright lenses except my 50mm prime and for the second, I am blind as hell and it’s always very difficult for me to control the shallow depth of field. Vast amount of lenses will give you a nice bokeh and quite cool, sharp result around these values anyway. Shoot fast, and don’t be scared about gigabytes of data. As I’ve said before, after having around 300 files from this last session I’ve selected around 20 which were pretty good and four or five I am really happy with. Oh, by the way - do it RAW and your life will be easier, even including post-processing.

Post-processing

Nothing fancy really. RAW development with Adobe Camera Raw, with contrast and shadows manipulation. Black and white needs high contrast. It does not necessarily needs to be sharp in my opinion, especially for the portraits; but it needs to be contrasty. Without the right balance of lights it is, excuse me, useless crap. (That was the short theory of light and photography according to Wojtek Kutyla, lol). After development and black and white correction done with channel mixer - some fixes to the skin applied as non-destructively as possible with burn/dodge tools and masked contrast layers (let me know if you want to know more about that). The contrast layers are especially useful where you have the reflections of light, the “patches” caused by the skin make-up stuff. Just lower the contrast and then mask it the way so these bright areas are not so bright anymore… I also use a cloning and healing brushes sometimes, but I try to keep it minimal. After that, resize for web and sharpen/resize (if necessary) for prints. Done. Finito. Well, it wasn’t too hardcore, yep? :) Then… The last, very important bit:

Contact your model and give her the photos.

Never show the photos to the general public before sorting out the model release form. It’s the respect you need to pay to your model, it’s the respect you need to have to yourself as to the responsible artist. Should you show/give all the photos from the day to the model? I don’t know. I don’t do that - the model receives only processed shots I am happy with, the rest goes to the trash. Some photographers prefer to give the model all the source files even before post-processing. It’s not bad, as it saves time (you can do it straight after the session). Depends on you really :) Find your best way. Just make sure you’ll reward your model for her time, with photographs, money or anything else you have agreed on. She deserves that.

That’s all. No more mumbo-jumbo. Now grab your camera and do something. Yeah!

Any comments welcome. And once more, all the stuff I’ve been talking about is here.

3 Responses to “Howto: B&W portrait indoor with no extra light source”

1. photographyVoter.com Says:
   June 6th, 2007 at 1:38 pm

   Howto: B&W portrait indoor with no extra light source…

   This article explains how to achieve simple but nice results from the indoor portrait sessions using only available light. It also gives some tips on how to recruit and work with the model….

2. resizeable form with shadow Says:
   June 12th, 2007 at 1:39 am

   thanks!

3. Paul Says:
   August 16th, 2007 at 9:03 am

   Thanks for sharing this info. It’s always good to hear how other photographers work.

   Paul
   http://www.photographers-united.com/

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