I'm flattered that this set has been so well received! I guess other blue-with-a-white-F social websites just don't really have the kind of appreciation this kind of set needs.
I figure for my first blog post, I'll just go ahead and give a little insight into the photo session. I'll post in Q&A format, as I've seen several comments and questions I'd like to address already. I am also dropping some images that didn't quite make the original set with @jadestoner
I hope you enjoy!
"Why is it called Happy Accidents?"
Well, to be honest, I didn't come up with the name, Jade did. I can appreciate the reason she did though. Our time in the studio didn't have a lot of direction. All I knew was that I wanted to get some shooting practice in, and decided I was going to limit myself on only using one lens. To make it difficult, I decided to limit myself to my 70-200mm telephoto zoom lens. The shoot came out so ridiculously good that Jade wanted to submit it. I guess because the intent of the session was just for practice, and not actually a SG session, it became a "Happy Accident".
"Do you get nervous shooting this kind of content?"
Yes, but no, but yes. I will say that during the actual shooting and editing portion of the session, I have this odd ability to just turn off my brain (both of them) and purely think through my camera. I've been working to develop my skills with my camera to be instinctual, so I don't have to think when adjusting my settings. So in that instance, no I don't get nervous. What does make me nervous, however, can be the build up in the days before the shoot. Wondering if I'm envisioning the session the same way my client/model/friend is. Hoping they'll be happy with the results. Hoping my gear holds up to the shoot.
"Why are there so many close-ups?"
As I stated above, I challenged myself to only use my 70-200mm. I do admit that I failed the challenge, as the first and last images were actually shot with my 35mm (which is why they are full body shots). My thought process during the photo shoot was this: if a woman is removing her clothing for you, are you more likely to take in the whole image? Or bits of it at a time? I wanted to highlight every little thing about the process. The way her stomach looks as she's pulling her shirt up. The way her skirt lays just so while she kneels. Sure, I could've just shot with a wider lens and cropped as necessary, but I wanted to preserve as much quality as possible.
"How do you get your colors to pop so much?"
Well, that's a fairly complicated answer, but to keep it short, I use my camera in a way that a lot of photographers are scared to. I utilize my ISO properly. Many other photographers will complain that doing so will result in a specific type of image distortion. The funny thing about that specific type of image distortion, is that the only people who notice it are those who know what it is to begin with. 90% (or higher) of the people who know about it are photographers.
So instead of worrying about things that are only noticeable by other photographers (read: not my clients), I focus on the fact that raising the ISO also gives my images a bit of a color boost without going overboard.
"Did you really only use one light?"
Yes, I did. One off-camera Godox AD200 strobe, with a 20" diffused beauty dish. I personally like using the single light to highlight and isolate my subject from the background in sets like this. That doesn't mean it's the only style I have, but it's one of my favorites. I have methods of shooting for setups from 0 to 4 flashes, but I find one flash to be the most portable and versatile setup to work with.
"Will we see more of your work on SG?"
I certainly hope so! Jade and I have been cooking up a couple ideas we think everybody is going to love.
If you made it this far into the blog post, thanks for reading! If you have any further questions please feel free to drop them in a comment!
