Separate Your Subject

When shooting location portraits, I like to find simple settings and separate my subject from the background yet show enough of the location so it's recognizable.  Oftentimes you can use a shallow depth of field and throw the background out of focus, other times you can use contrasting colors to help "pop" your subject--doing both is effective, too! 

NHC-454_Matt.jpg

This portrait of Matt, who works for one of my good clients in North Carolina, is shot looking down a long hallway of windows with direct sunlight streaming in over his shoulder.  The hallway is all white so there was a good deal of light bouncing around, which made the exposure a little easier to handle.  I did add a small strobe head off to camera right just to partially fill in the shadows on his face and to add a small catch light in his eye.  The graphic nature of the windows and their repetitive shape, along with the color of his shirt and his engaging expression, make this portrait a winner.