BioDesign Professional Portraits

Funny enough, Bianca and I were complete strangers around two weeks ago, and yet here we are, taking pictures. Of all places to meet, too, we met at an orientation for our jobs at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, due to a small-talk comment. But, with the world being as small as it is, it turns out we both know my roommate and that she and him are co-workers.  

 

It turns out she needed some professional portraits done for her applications to med schools, and me being a photographer, I offered to take them. After deciding that Biodesign itself would make a good backdrop, here we are. I originally planned to take these photos in the warmth of the evening sun during the golden hour. However, clouds blanketed the sky, unsurprising considering that for the past week we've had some pretty serious monsoon weather, including several haboobs, Luckily, there was still plenty of light, so we went to the sunny side of the building to take these portraits.

Since she also needed a passport-style photo, we headed indoors to find a plain background. Also, it being summer in Arizona with added humidity, the AC was a nice treat. But, with all of those TV displays, we couldn't help but take a few extra pictures.

We definitely went inside at the right time because as we took pictures and talked, the winds outside picked up to monsoon levels, with trees flailing wildly in the wind. So, at that point we decided it was probably a good time to end the photoshoot, until we walked back around the building. Since the wind was calm for brief periods of time before picking back up, I thought the back of the Biodesign building would make an excellent backdrop, and in between spats of wind, we took some more pictures. At least the wind was blowing the right way ("fluffing up" her hair as opposed to throwing it onto her face).

After randomly noticing another cool looking backdrop of the path that leads to a sculpture, we talked some more before heading on with the rest of our evenings, with the world ever so smaller.

Study Break- Tempe Town Lake Night Portraits

Being a full-time engineering student is super busy. However, it's important to make sure to go and have some fun when you can, which is what a friend and I did one night towards the end of the spring semester. Since it was tradition for us to snap selfies and pictures of each other whenever we went out to go do something fun, and we had some cool photo ideas but the only camera available was my phone in a dark room, we decided to recreate the pictures in better conditions.

First came testing settings, framing, etc., since I would be in some of the pictures so I would have to make sure everything was set up first. But, after snapping a few pics, I decided I didn't quite like the location we were at due to the lighting, so we moved closer to the lights nearby.

The light poles nearby make for some good props for photos, and the lights meant I didn't need to use my speedlight, which I couldn't really use when the camera is sideways, anyways. After we determined sitting on them wasn't possible, we tried some other poses while also messing around with how much leggings were shown. I thought that the combination of her outfit, the nighttime, and the lighting added a sense of mystery to the serious photos.

Eventually though, "sitting" on the pole was achieved, leading to some of my favorite photos from the night. The background, lighting, and positioning all came together really well. For these shots, I thought that having more of the leggings and skin exposed would  add to the mood of the photo (and also because it wasn't really physically possible otherwise thanks to the stretchiness of her dress), plus it matched the poses well.

My friend decided we should get some group shots again, and after demonstrating and determining that my phone-based wi-fi remote wasn't going to work with the poses we were trying, I resorted to setting up the camera and speedlight (due to the increased distance to get us both in the shot), setting the timer, clicking the shutter button, and then running in a panic to my spot. 

To get full-body shots, I had to rotate the camera and tripod, meaning no more speedlight, and set everything up again, giving my friend some more time to have fun before getting some more group shots, including a fun one and one of us being badass looking. We don't mess around.

To be honest, as of right now I find it more difficult to be creative in editing with portraits than automotive photos. However, something I think portraits really lend themselves well to are black and white conversions, which is what the following two photos are. They add this feel and emotion to the photo that can't really be put into words, and that is what I'm after when I take pictures. For some reason, when I look at these pictures, the Jaykode remix of the song "New York City" by the Chainsmokers pops into my head. The first photo involved black and white conversion, followed by adding in cloud and rain effects, while the second was a black and white conversion and darker contrast/blackness settings.

It's always fun to hang out with friends and decompress when life gets stressful. As much as it seems like that isn't possible when life gets busy, time can be found and made. 

Site Update!

Hello everyone! I will admit I have been inattentive to my website for the past two months, but I will rectify that starting this week. I've been keeping busy with various events, which you will see soon! Here's a preview of some of the photos I've taken in the past two months that need to be published:

Old Main Formal Portraits

On a Tuesday night (I took these last week), my roommate asked if it was possible to take portrait shots of him so that he can upload a profile picture for his research lab he is working with, which he needed by Friday. Luckily, thanks to me changing my major back to mechanical engineering, allowing me to drop a class, I had plenty of free time, so we decided to take pictures the next day by Old Main in the evening. He needed a close up head shot for the profile picture, so we knocked that out first. We decided the plants by Old Main would make for a good backdrop, especially because the green would contrast the colors of his suit and the light from the setting sun. I offered to Photoshop out his bandaids that he forgot to remove, but he said to leave them, so that's what I did.

Just to make sure he had a variety of professional photos to use in the future, I took some more photos of him in different poses. The fountain makes for a good backdrop, although at this time it's shaded from the sun. However, it causes the plants and Old Main in the background to be highlighted. I didn't try it at the time, but I wish there was a way to use a lower shutter speed to make the water behind the fountain look more "flowey". I probably could achieve this by combining multiple shots, but since we were on a bit of a time crunch I didn't try doing this. Maybe some other time in the future, perhaps?

Lastly, I decided to get some shots at angles and that showed more of his full body so that he would have more variety with the photos he has. I felt these images came out well by using Old Main as the background.

I edited his favorites that night so he would have the pictures immediately, and then I worked on the rest over the course of the week. I'm definitely glad he asked me to do this, since I've been looking to do some more portrait shots, also with male subjects to show that hey, I can take pictures of guys, too. 

Tempe Town Lake Night Portraits

I decided to edit these pictures first before the qipao photos (which would be the Part 2 of the Chinese Cultural Center Portrait shoot) because a) I've never done a night portrait shoot before and I was anxious to see the results and share them, and b) I really liked these because I thought they looked badass. So here we are. After the daylight left and we messed around some more, my friend and I decided to brave the cold (more her than me since she was still wearing her dress) and try some night portraits. Tempe Town Lake is pretty at night, as long as you don't look at the water, and I thought the bridge lights, artificial lighting, and her jacket would all match very well together in photos. Leaning against a pole looking badass was the first round of shots here. I used my speedlight on a low light setting and a very high angle (like 60 or 70 degrees) with a bounce card to shoot these in addition to a low shutter speed (from 1/40-1/20 seconds), with the camera of course mounted on a tripod. 

Of course, all these shots were far away, and my friend wanted to try some ones that were closer. I have to say, these are my favorites, they really make her look badass, in my opinon (not that she isn't already). 

Moving on from the light pole, we decided to just do standing shots. Also, since all the other ones were serious, we threw in some smiling pics into the mix. For these, I didn't use a flash, instead I used a much lower shutter speed (1/15-1/10 sec or so), which I didn't think would work but the results speak for themselves. I'm not sure if I like them better or not though. Trial and error will tell me what to do in the future.

Oh, and because I also had a leather jacket, she wanted me to pose with her in our leather jackets so we can be badass together. These used the same flash settings as the first pictures, with me using the camera's timer to take the photos. We're about to drop our newest mixtape, yo.

Of course, I couldn't just let the images go without some artistic editing. Here's my artistic license applied to the pics.

Here's to hanging out and taking more pictures in the future. Thanks for your help, my friend!