Portraiture is something I’m still relatively new at (as if that wasn’t evident), but it’s still a lot of fun goofing off.

Here are a few portrait outtakes from down in the garage studio. Thanks to Max for lending a hand (and sometimes a face).

Self portrait with guitar and umbrella
An outtake from my “GQ” shoot. Most of these involved shooting through an umbrella off camera left, but I was getting frustrated with it at one point because it was too close to my face. So I yanked it off and made it an impromptu prop.
Moody self portrait
I wanted to try out a few shots using the continuous ring light I put together with it coming down on the subject like a spotlight. It wasn’t a hugely successful attempt, but I got a few moody, high-key shots like this one.
Dramatic ring light self portrait
This was another using the ring light as a spotlight. The whole thing was quite precarious, as I had the ring light clamped to one the boom that holds my reflector. Not the sturdiest setup, so I think this look is less contemplative and more “holy crap, it’s about to fall on me.”
Shock and awe portrait - Max
This was one of the test shots taken right after Max and I constructed our continuous ring light. We found that with the light being rather weak, it needed to be pretty close to the subject in order to properly light it (and give that circular catch light in the eyes). I think this was closer than Max would have liked.
Moody intense portrait - Max
This was from the same day, lit with the ring light off a ways to Max’s right. It doesn’t provide a lot of light (and there’s a considerable amount of spill despite it being hooded), but it can give some pretty interesting directional light. Very moody.