Behind the Shot…
This is one of my favorite shots from a recent senior portrait session with Kate, and I thought it would be cool to explain how we captured it.
(Above) While I was taking these photos, my younger daughter Sara was shooting some behind-the-scene images with my backup camera.
The location was an open field on the western side of Percy Warner Park in Nashville that is filled with tall grasses surrounded by large, old growth trees. We had been taking shots of Kate walking around in the field during “golden hour” (the hour before sunset) when my wife Olivia suggested this spot at the edge of the tall grass.
The sun had just set, so we knew our time was short. We quickly moved the light stand into place and experimented with different poses with and without her flute. I realized the ideal angle would be for the camera to be really close to the ground. This gives more depth to the shot with the short grass right in front of her. It also brought the sky into view, which added emphasis to the highlights in her hair, provided even more depth, and gave the image a sort-of dreamy quality.
I’m willing to do just about anything to get the shot I want…
I could have setup a tripod really low and angled the screen up to frame the shot. However, I greatly prefer to shoot through the electronic viewfinder (EVF), so I just decided to flop down belly-first on the ground and brace the camera with my elbows.
For the shot I used my Nikon Z 7II mirrorless camera with an 85mm Nikkor Z f/1.8 lens (my go-to portrait lens). My settings were ISO 400 with a shutter speed of 1/160 and the aperture open all the way to f1.8. I had just bumped the ISO up to 400 since the sun was going down quickly. To supplement the natural light, we were using a Godox TT685N speedlight flash inside of a 38” Godox softbox. To remotely fire the speedlight, I had the Godox X2 2.4 GHz Wireless Flash Trigger mounted in the hot shoe of my Z 7II. The speedlight was set manually to 1/16 power.
I’m really, really pleased with how this shot turned out, and it was a fun session even though it was nasty hot and humid. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
Like our work and want to schedule a session? Use the contact form above to get started.
