First of all, let me introduce Suuthe. It is an all organic skin repair cream company which started with Mari searching for ideas to cure her son’s eczema problem. Without being able to find a solution from doctors for her son Peter’s aching problem, she decided to look further and work on something natural and effective. That’s how Suuthe came to live. As a mother of two children who suffered from eczema for a while, I wish I have met Mari earlier! If you know anyone like that, tell them to check out this wonderful product.

Here is how the photo session unfolded. All of the images were taken with the Nikon D700 body and a single Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens (my favorite as always).

This is Mari with her son Peter. I positioned them facing towards a large window to take advantage of the beautiful light pouring into the room. I usually shoot between f/1.8 and f/2.8 with the 50mm, so that the background looks nice and creamy.

I didn’t use any flash for these portraits this time, since I had plenty of light available in the room. In the above image the window is to Mari’s left. Hence, you can see a nice catch light in her’s and Peter’s eyes.

The above portraits were shot while taking advantage of Colorado’s winter sunset. I really like the yellow hue on Mari’s face. Both images were shot at f/1.8.

Initially, I was there to take some headshots, but we decided to add some products to make it a little more fun. I didn’t have anything fancy at my disposal, except for a 40 inch umbrella and one Nikon SB-900 speedlight. So, I tried to use the ambient light as much as could. The below image was shot on a black table at f/2.8, ISO 1000.

Love that depth of field! Shot wide open at f/1.4, ISO 400.

I wanted to do something a little different with some of the images and asked Mari if she had a small mirror for me to play around with reflections. For the above shot on the right, I used the 40″ umbrella along with the SB-900 to concentrate the light on the subject and overpower the ambient light a little. The off-camera flash was triggered by a PocketWizard Plus II unit on the D700 (more on them on our upcoming flash photography articles), with the second unit connected to SB-900 via a PC sync cord. Exposure and flash power were both set manually.

Word of advice to beginners – practice on smallest of the ideas and do not be afraid to experiment. You will learn a lot in the process!

I used my trusty Nikon D700, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 for wide-angle shots, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G for detail shots, two SB-900 Speedlights, three Pocket Wizard transmitters/receivers and just one 30-inch umbrella. Everything was shot in Manual mode to give me consistency and control over flashes and the entire process.

It was an on-location photo shoot and I was informed beforehand that the apartment would have glass and concrete walls all around. The only light available was the 3 chandeliers that you see in the first left image. I also had very little ambient light coming from the far kitchen, to the right of the chairs.

Since there were no moving subjects in the first left image, I could have probably gotten away with having my camera on a tripod and setting a slow shutter speed to shoot in ambient light. Instead, I decided to set up my flashes and take a couple of tests shots of the set before my subjects occupied the photo shoot arena. I really wanted to get some reflections and some direct harsh light from my strobes on the chairs and other objects. So, to give it a more “modern” look, I set up my main light using an SB-900 on a stand with a single umbrella in a shoot-through configuration on the opposite side, about 3 meters away from furthest chair.

With having just one side of the set illuminated, I still needed to introduce one more flash to the right. Since I had some ambient light coming from the right, I didn’t want the flash to come off too strong. I set up another SB-900 on a stand with the diffuser cap to serve me as a fill light (or a rim light, considering I would have a subject sitting on that chair). I increased ISO to 400 to let some of the ambient light to come in to the picture. Both flashes were connected to PocketWizard units, with another one on top of my camera.

For the product shoot of the top right image, I used the same umbrella + SB-900 speedlight set to my right at about 45 degrees, a little higher than the product. Increased the depth of field to f/2.5 to have the business cards in focus and everything else in nice bokeh.

The toughest thing to do during this photo session, was control the light spill that was giving me all kinds of nasty reflections on the glass. I did not have any cardboards or other accessories with me, so I had to arrange the light in a way that minimized the spill. The rest had to be cleaned up in Photoshop…

In the above image, I introduced subjects into the set. If you notice, I removed the strobe from behind Kent (the gentleman who is wearing a white shirt). In order to minimize flash on his white shirt (his entire shirt was getting severely overexposed), I had to move the umbrella to my left, above Hani. You can see some rim light on Hani’s hair. I did not move the light on the right as I still needed it to serve me as fill light on Olga’s body (customer on the right) and on Hani’s face.

The product shots were all done with one main light (umbrella). For the above image, I placed the light slightly to my left, above the objects. You can see how the light drops on the product by properly illuminating it and providing me enough light to be able to capture the reflection, too. For the second image below, I removed the rim light from the right and moved the umbrella from my left to my right. Now, Hani’s back and her hair are not lit. I wanted to focus more on the pedicure process.

For the above image of Hani, I set up two lights. One behind Hani to give her a nice rim light and pop her from the background, and another one slightly to my left. Nasim thinks that there is too much rim light, but I kind of like it :) Again, reflections were impossible to avoid but I had to make best of what I had.

Both images above were shot with a rim light behind Hani and the main light to my left. If you are looking for information on my exposure (shutter speed, aperture, ISO, etc), it is available through EXIF on each image.

I hope these examples can give you some idea of how you can use your Nikon strobes creatively and have some good results.

Post-processing was very quick – I simply imported everything into Lightroom, then cropped and aligned images a little. For the black and white image below, I used Lightroom’s built in functionality for converting to B&W. Under the HSL/Color/B&W panel in Develop Module, I used the following values: Red: 0, Orange: +3, Yellow: 0, Green: -20, Aqua: -35, Blue: -30, Purple: +5, Magenta: +5. To give it a slightly “chocolaty” look, I used “Split Toning” with a slight coloring to Shadows and some tweaks to Hue and Saturation. Then, I used “Strong Contrast” under “Tone Curve” to make B+W look punchier, but it was not enough, so I increased the “Blacks” to 25 under “Basic” to bring up more blacks.

The day was sunny and nice, but the sun was still rather harsh, so I moved the kids under the porch to move away from direct sunlight. As usual, I shot in aperture priority mode and used an aperture of f/3.5, since I was standing rather close and I did not want to blur their faces. At the same time, f/3.5 was small enough to bring the bodies into focus and large enough to blur some of that background :)

This time, I decreased the aperture to f/1.8 to have a shallower depth of field, so Maz got out of focus a little…Plus I was more interested in Uma’s facial expression rather than snapping another shot of them together in focus.

For the rest of the images, I used an aperture of f/2.5 (I like to stay between f/1.8 and f/2.8 on the 50mm for good-looking bokeh), which delivers sharp images in the center, yet blurs the background enough to make the portraits look pleasing.

As you can see, all of the images were taken in a shade – I rarely work with sunlight, unless the light is very soft early in the mornings or late afternoons.

That’s how we decided to pica boo with Uma!!!

…and Maz decided to join :) but then he didn’t like this game much! He is a big man now, with a shovel :)

When it comes to photography, some children are very eager to pose in front of a camera and others are somewhat difficult to work with. Trust me, I know how it feels to work for hours and not get one decent picture. I have two sons of my own and up to this day I do not have a single good picture of them – nothing to be proud of, since both Nasim and I are photographers :)  Maz was no exception – boys like mine and Maz would rather go do some interesting stuff than pose in front of a camera. Nothing helps, unless you are equipped with extra toys, balloons and lollipops that I usually carry. My heavens, when I was photographing Uma and Maz, I forgot everything at home! To get these kids to look at me, I had to get creative by blowing a bubble with the gum in my mouth! Yeah, children do not mind if you chew bubble gum in front of them :) Whatever you have to do as a photographer to get their attention…

We had a blast while photographing Sofia. It turns out, she is a very busy bee!  Nevertheless, she posed for me in between collecting sweetness around her  and made me one happy photographer :D

As I went along photographing, I found out that Sofia changes roles from a bee to a little fairy. Isn’t she adorable? :)

Love her! I hope you enjoy the images as much as I did.

We used couple of flashes for some of the images. If anyone is interested in the techniques we used, please let us know, so that we can shed some light on the subject :)

All of the images were shot with the Nikon D700 and Nikon 85mm f/1.4D lens.

This image was shot with natural light, early in the morning in the beginning of the session:

When you are shooting during the day with the sun directly above, spotting nice shady locations and utilizing a reflector to reflect some light into the subject’s face can work wonders. Most of the images below are shot with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G that we are giving away tomorrow.

Another image shot with the help of silver reflector:

The above image is my favorite from the entire photo shoot.

Malika, I will miss you dearly and I can’t wait to take your pictures when you come back to Colorado!

Time for the technical stuff. All of the images below were shot in natural light. Luckily, the weather cooperated and we had some nice clouds diffusing the sunlight for me. Where the sun was too bright I looked for shaded areas – mostly under trees and near buildings. Having a fast prime lens also helps a lot when you have to shoot in the shade without artificial light. So, for this shoot, I mostly used the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G mounted on the D700. ISO was pretty much kept at 200. Shutter speed varied according to availability of the light. The EXIF Data is preserved in all images, so feel free to explore the settings and let me know if you have any questions!

Post-processing is minimal, imported with standard settings and made very quick changes in Lightroom for some of the above images.

This particular picture was shot with the Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D @ 1/3200, ISO 200 at f/1.8, almost wide open. I really love the bokeh and contrast the 85mm f/1.4D produces and it really is one heck of a lens for portraits! Along with the 50mm f/1.4G, this is my top used lens for what I do. I took this picture early in the morning using natural light, so no reflectors or off-camera flash were used.

Stay tuned for more tips from this photo shoot and for more amazing pictures of Isadora!

Shot with the Nikon D700 and Nikon 50mm f/1.4G lens.

Corporate Portrait

1) Indoors Corporate Portrait Photography

Indoors corporate portraiture can be a challenging experience, especially when the task is to photograph people in their work environments. When presented with a glassy room with white walls and dim light, many photographers get lost, because they do not know how to deal with light spills, reflections and outside light. It can also be challenging to photograph a simple business portrait for a company profile or for a magazine/newspaper article. How many light sources do you need? How do you position the light? What kind of background do you use? What type of flash should you be using? What is the ultimate portrait setup? We will answer these questions by looking at two case scenarios – one in a regular office environment and one in a studio-like environment.

But before I jump to the photography side, let me go over the business side first. I won’t talk about how much you should be charging your clients, since there are too many factors to consider just like with any other type of photography, but I would like to concentrate on what you should be doing before the photo shoot. Here is a quick compilation of general tips for corporate photography:

1. Create a relationship – your first objective is to establish a good relationship with the client and convince them that you are the right person/company to work with. Meet with the client face-to-face and start building a relationship by showing your interest in their company, showcasing your work and asking the right questions. Think of it as an interview process – you will only get hired if the company likes you and finds you competent for the job. You must present yourself as a reliable businessman and partner, who is looking for a long-term relationship with the company. Keep in mind that if you get hired once and prove yourself worthy, the company will most likely come back for your services in the future.
2. Find out exactly what the client needs – most of the time, companies know what they need when they call a photographer, whether it is a simple business portrait for their website or pictures for their marketing material. In some cases, however, you might get people who are clueless and just want some pictures of their employees. No matter what the situation is, you should find out exactly what the company is looking for. During your first meeting with the client, find out what they are looking for and show samples of your work to see if they might be interested in other opportunities. Do not forget to ask if the photo shoot will be indoors or outdoors (or perhaps both). When you leave the meeting, you should have a clearly defined list of objectives for your upcoming photo shoot.
3. Scout the location – if the client does not mind, scout the location and take some sample shots to see what challenges you might have later. Pay close attention to windows and glassy surfaces, in addition to walls and ceilings. Also note the size of the facility and find out how much space you will be given at the time of the photo shoot. For office environments, ask if the outside scenery should be included in the photograph.
4. Provide a quote based on the needs – once you know exactly what needs to be done, you can evaluate your time/labor/equipment and provide an accurate quote for your upcoming work.
5. No contract, no work – if you do not already have a contract, work on creating one. If you do not know where to start, there are plenty of contract samples on the Internet that you can download and modify for your needs. If you can afford hiring good legal advice, look into that option first, preferably with someone who has already worked on contracts for photographers. Contracts are needed for a reason – they are there to protect you and your work from potential lawsuits.
6. Guarantee satisfaction – companies love when you guarantee satisfaction. Why should they pay you if you suck and cannot get the work done? Guaranteeing your work and having a 100% money back policy would give an additional boost of confidence to your client.
7. Schedule early photo sessions – always try to plan for early morning photo shoots, about one hour after start of the business day. Late afternoon sessions are never fun, because people look too tired and you might not get much cooperation from them.

1.1) Office Environment – Ambient Light

As I have pointed out above, when you go through the location with your client, you need to pay very close attention to the environment and how it is illuminated. If there are large windows on the sides and you can see plenty of light entering the room, you might be able to use that available light for your photographs without the need to use flash. You will have to turn off the indoor lights and fully rely on the light coming from the window, so you need to make sure that there is enough of it reaching your subject. If you are shooting in ambient light without flash, you need to make sure that your camera can deal with noise in case you increase camera ISO. For corporate photography, high level of noise in images is unacceptable and you need to make sure that your images are crisp and beautiful, without any color casts and heavily overexposed/underexposed areas.

The diagram for shooting with window light is very simple – you just need to make sure that the light source is coming from the side or front of your subject:

Window Light Diagram

Obviously, you need to make sure that your subject does not get hit with direct sunlight, or you will end up having nasty shadows all over the place.

1.2) Office Environment – Flash

If the windows are directly behind your subject, using ambient light with no flash will result in a completely over-exposed background, due to the fact that it is brighter outside. If you want to retain the outside scenery, you will have to use flash. When it comes to flash, there are many different ways to light up the environment. You can either use expensive professional lighting gear with high-powered lights or a simple strobe with a light diffuser such as softbox. I personally use the latter and the setup works quite well in almost all cases. Here is my off-camera lighting kit that I use for corporate photography:

1. I use the Westcott 28×28″ Apollo Mono Softbox with Recessed Front for most of my corporate portrait photography and I’m in love with this softbox. It is very compact and I carry it with me all the time. If you want a bigger light source, you can also get the 50×50″ version here.
2. A set of trusty PocketWizard Plus II Transceivers. You will need two of these babies – one will go on your camera hotshoe and the second will be used as a “slave” in your off-camera flash.
3. A good camera flash that accepts PC sync cords. I am currently using the Nikon SB-900, but you could also use the older SB-800 if you can find one at a bargain price. If you shoot Canon, I recommend the Canon 580 EX II flash units (if you are shooting with PocketWizard transceivers, the brand actually does not matter).
4. Manfrotto 5001B Light Stand – I have a couple of these and they are very compact and sturdy light stands. There is also a much cheaper alternative by “Impact” that I have used in the past and they also work very well.
5. Manfrotto 026 Swivel Umbrella Adapter to connect the Apollo softbox.
6. Stroboframe Shoe to connect the umbrella adapter with an external flash.

The nice thing about the above setup is how compact it is. I can fit the whole kit into one bag and assembling/disassembling literally takes minutes. I do not have to worry about plugging my lights into a wall outlet, because everything is battery-operated (which also means that I can easily move the setup around the room). Once you get everything assembled and ready to go, put one of the pocket wizards on your camera and connect the second one with the flash inside the softbox via a PC cord. Set both pocket wizards to the same channel and fire a test shot on your camera to see if the flash is getting triggered.

So, what is the best way to photograph a person in an office without over-exposing the background window?

1. To decrease the amount of reflections on the surrounding objects and windows, use a minimum number of flashes (preferably just one).
2. Using a softbox instead of an umbrella is better, because you can easily direct the light and control it without much spill.
3. Angle the softbox so that the light just reaches your subject and does not spill around the room (especially on windows).
4. Position the softbox on the side, so that it does not stand directly across the windows and make sure that it is not visible in the window reflection. Another thing you can do is position the light higher, pointing it down at a 45-60 degree angle and shoot with your camera down on the subject. That way, the flash won’t show up on the window.
5. Place it several feet away from your subject – the closer, the better.
6. Set your camera to Manual mode.
7. Meter for the window light and take a sample picture. Make sure that the outside scene is correctly exposed.
8. Start with 1/4th of power on your flash inside the softbox and see what you get. Are you getting your subject correctly exposed? Is the room properly illuminated? If your subject is properly exposed but the room is too dark, decrease the shutter speed to a lower value to let more ambient light in and either decrease the flash power on your flash or move the lightbox a little further away from your subject.
9. Experiment with an assistant and see how well the subject and backgrounds are lit.

Here are a couple of lighting diagram examples for different setups:

1.3) Studio Environment

Photographing portraits in a studio environment with a background requires more lighting equipment for best results. There is really no magic formula for setting up the lights and everybody does it differently. Let me show you a couple of common examples and what works for me. I encourage you to experiment and try out different things to get a real feel on what works and what doesn’t. This part will be easy for you if you already have experience in a studio environment, except you will have to work with a small number of lightweight portable equipment. Let’s first start with the equipment:

1. You need a good portable studio. I have been using the Savage “Port-a-stand” support system for both corporate and home studio photography and I absolutely love it! It is very cheap (around $100) and yet super flexible and compact – I carry it in one bag.
2. Savage 107″ x 12yds Black Background Paper to be used as a black background.
3. Savage 107″ x 12yds White Background Paper to be used as a white background.
4. Pony Spring “A” Clamp to hold your paper. Get at least two of these.
5. Either the Westcott 28×28″ Apollo Mono Softbox or the Westcott 50×50″ Apollo to be used as your main light.
6. At least three PocketWizard Plus II Transceivers. One will go on your camera, one on a softbox and one on a lightstand behind the subject.
7. At least two flash units like Nikon SB-900 that accept sync cords, but you could also use the older SB-800s (for Canon, use Canon 580 EX II flash units).
8. At least two light stands such as Manfrotto 5001B or Impact.
9. At least two Manfrotto 026 Swivel Umbrella Adapters – one to connect the Apollo softbox and one to mount an external flash/softbox.
10. At least two Stroboframe Shoes to connect the umbrella adapter with an external flash.
11. Optional: a set of umbrellas and reflectors. Other useful items are color gels, bounce cards and snoots for controlling and modifying the light.

Some quick definitions:

1. Key Light – your main light with the most power that you place to the side of the subject.
2. Fill Light – typically placed on the other side of the subject at lower power to lighten up the dark shadows on the opposite side of the subject.
3. Rim Light/Back Light – placed behind the subject to separate the subject from the background.

And here are just some of the ways you can set up the studio with just two lights:

Two Lights

Three Lights

The first setup only uses two lights – key light (softbox) on the front of the subject with a back light that stands high above the background, pointing down on the hair and shoulders of the subject. Since there is no fill light to the left side, you have to place the softbox just a little to the side or you will end up with shadows on the other side of the face. If you do not have another flash and you are getting nasty shadows, simply use a white reflector to bounce some of the light coming from the softbox to the other side of the face.

The second setup on the right is what I use the majority of the time. The key light illuminates one side of the face, while a less powerful fill light removes the shadows on the other side and the backlight separates the head from the background and adds a touch of light on the shoulders.

Two Lights - Umbrellas

Four Lights

You can also use umbrellas to get some nice results when using a white background. If you try this with a black background, some of the light from the umbrellas might spill on the background and lighten it up. If you see that your background is not completely back, move your subject away from the background, which should help with reducing light spill and keeping the background black. If you need to make the white background whiter, set up an additional light right behind your subject and point it at the background. In this setup, one of the lights should have more power (key light) than the other (fill light).

The example on the right is with four flashes. You can get some nice images with this kind of setup, but it is an overkill, in my opinion.

Again, the best thing is to experiment and see what you and your client like the most.

Key softbox, right fill light and one high backlight

2) Outdoors Corporate Portrait Photography

Outdoors corporate portrait photography is no different than regular portrait photography in terms of lighting and composition. While you can always utilize the available light without flash and perhaps add some light reflectors to eliminate the shadows, using off-camera flash as fill-light during the day can actually add a nice punch to your images and highlight your subject(s).

Start off in a shady area and set up your main light just like you would in a studio. Because of abundance of ambient light, you should not worry about setting up side lights or rim lights in most cases, so a single light should work great. Leave your camera in manual mode and meter your exposure off the background rather than the subject. Your subject is going to be lit up with flash, so you only need to worry about underexposing/overexposing the background area instead. In some cases, the amount of ambient light might be intense and you might need to add much more flash power to even see the effect of your flash on the subject. You should also move your light source as close to the subject as possible.

3) Camera Body and Lenses

If you are shooting strictly with flashes, any DSLR should do the job. If you are shooting in available/low light, you might need a camera that can handle noise fairly well, since you will most likely be shooting at higher than normal ISO values. I have used the Nikon D90/D300/D700/D3 cameras for corporate portrait photography in the past and they all work extremely well.

When it comes to lenses, my personal favorites are:

1. Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR – one of Nikon’s best for portraiture/headshots.
2. Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G – when wider angles and full body shots are needed.
3. Nikon 50mm f/1.4G – if you cannot afford the above.

Canon has a similar selection of lenses:

1. Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
2. Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
3. Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM

If you are shooting in available light, the Nikon 70-200mm VR II and Nikon 50mm f/1.4G will produce beautiful, creamy bokeh.

4) Camera/Flash Settings

What camera settings should you use and why? Here are some generic settings that I suggest you set on your camera:

1. Image Quality: RAW. Read why you should use RAW.
2. White Balance: Auto. I do not mess with White Balance and deal with it during post-processing.
3. Auto ISO: Off. Set it to camera’s base ISO (200 on Nikon and 100 on Canon).
4. Focus Mode: AF-S “Single” mode.
5. Camera Mode: Manual, for consistency reasons when using flash. Start at 1/100-1/200 shutter speed and f/4.0 and go from there.
6. Metering: Doesn’t matter, since you are shooting in Manual mode.
7. Active D-Lighting: Off (Nikon only). If you are shooting RAW, there is no need to have it turned on.
8. Key Light Flash Power: 1/4 Power. Turn other flashes off, start at a quarter of power and adjust as needed.
9. Fill Light Flash Power: 1/32 Power. After key light is set and configured, add fill light and set between 1/32-1/64 and see how you like the results.
10. Back Light Flash Power: 1/16 Power. Adjust to your liking.

Watch your flashes and let them recycle and cool off before firing again. If you are shooting at full power for whatever reason, make sure that you are giving enough time for your flashes, as recommended in the manual. Many photographers end up burning their flashes, because they do not pay attention to this. I highly recommend not to shoot your flashes at full power and decrease aperture or increase the camera ISO instead.

5) Group Shots

Group shots are tougher to photograph, since you need more/bigger lights. If you have a small group of three to four people, you might be able to get a good exposure with just a single softbox or umbrella (you will just need to make sure that they stand close to each other and you might need a bigger background). If you have a large group, plan on adding more lights or using much larger and more powerful light sources. The best thing to do is to shoot groups outside in a shady area, because you will not have to worry about setting up the light and making sure that it is distributed evenly. If you are taking a picture of a group outside, then your biggest issue is going to be putting the group together and making them all look good for your pictures. Talk to your group, come up with a nice joke or two to make the group laugh naturally. Do not just ask for a “cheese” moment, since you will end up with fake smiles and stupid faces. Take lots of pictures and shoot in bursts. That way, if some of the group members blink, you will still have something to work with.

If you are shooting a group in an office environment, the best thing to do might be to bounce the light off the dropped ceilings. If you have a small or medium-sized group with 8-10 people standing close to each other, you might get away with a single flash, as long as you can bounce it off a white ceiling. Try to keep the group as tight as possible, which means asking the group to stand in multiple rows and close to each other.

If you have a relatively large group of people in three rows, you could set up two or three light stands with external flashes, put them in manual mode to quarter or half power and point them at a 30-45 degree angle towards the group. The flash power will obviously depend on the amount of ambient light in the room, so you will have to play with that beforehand and make sure that you are providing sufficient amount of light to bounce off the ceiling onto your subjects. If you are not getting enough power from your flashes, try increasing the camera ISO. Make sure that the light bounces off and hits the center of the group (middle row), not the front or the rear row. That way, the light will spread evenly across the group and illuminate everyone. If the room is lit with florescent light, you might need to use some gels with your flashes to match the light.

Here is a simple lighting diagram that you can use for group shots:

The above diagram is for rooms with dropped ceilings. The flashes are pointed up at a 30-45 degree angle to land on the center row.

In terms of lenses, this is when you need to switch to your wide-angle lens, because you need to fit the group into the frame and need the most depth of field. I personally use the 24-70mm f/2.8 lens for these kinds of shots and I really like the results.

Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments section below.