I wanted to take a couple portraits of my parents while visiting them for Thanksgiving in 2010. The stuff I got from the “official” session was representative, but my favorite image came from a lighting test I did with my mom:
Before our vacation I’d been chewing on an idea from David Hobby: whatever you use as a key light, fill with a large soft source directly on the lens axis, placed as close as possible behind the camera. My mom is sitting in a chair in the library/stereo room; on her right is a table with a standard lamp. I attached a speedlight with a diffuser dome to the shaft of the lamp, keeping all light-emitting surfaces under the shade; in essence, I just gave the light bulb more power. (Cue Tim Allen grunts.)
The fill behind the camera is a plain ol’ shoot-through umbrella. The results looked so-so in color but gorgeous and dramatic in black and white. To get the pose, I think I just asked my mom to do something silly, and she obliged. She more than obliged, actually; it’s not modest of me to say so, but this is the truest portrait of my mother I have ever seen.
Gear is helpful and cool lighting is fun, but if the final picture is dull and lifeless you might as well have not taken it.
Nicholas Haggin Photography 