Behind the shoot - Coffee with Aisha

Hey Guys! This week I wanted to talk about a shoot I did a couple of days ago of a friend at a coffee shop, and what was the processed behind shooting in a public space with no artificial lighting or control over anything, expect my camera. 

Approach to Shoot

Background story really quick, Aisha is a girl I met at a college course and turned out to be a great writer, so I decided that for this shoot my approach was going to be as if the images were going to be featured in a magazine interview of her and her writing. Which by the way, she and a couple of other writers were published in a collective book called Un Nuevo Pulmon so if you enjoy reading go check it out by clicking on the title, I’m sure you wont regret it.

The Location: Coffee Shop / Library

So I’ve never been to this library before and it was a bit stressful, because I usually like to know what the place look like before hand, just so I know what I can do during the shoot. But as soon as I got there I was amazed by how the place was put together, the lighting was perfectly balanced, with warm soft lights dispersed across the roof and enough windows on the wall to use as key light specially because they were covered with plain white blinds (which also softens the suns light). I immediately knew that the light was not going to be a problem, but if a lot of people came by I had to do something about it with my composition. Luckily we planned in advanced and got there as early as we could, to avoid the excess of public around.

The Set-Up

For this shoot, since it was going to be a simple portrait session, I took my X100t that has a fixed 35mm and the 50mm converter. Shot at F/4 (as most of the time) ISO 400 and Shutter around 1/45, not minding the possible motion blur since, for me, really static portraits can look fake or dead and I don’t like that aesthetic.

Lighting

• For lighting it was different, before I even told her, Aisha (The model) sat right next to a window, which I already thought of using as a main light because it was soft and it could create a nice balanced light across her face. 

• The other thing that work great was a hair light or back light, which in here was very subtle but actually made an impact, and that was the windows behind the Aisha that were also soften by the blinds in it. 
• The only thing that I didn’t saw coming was the glass table, this thing worked great because it was literally below the model, and was big and rounded enough to create a sort of fill light. 

Taking Frames

Even though Aisha is a friend of mine, it does not mean she will not get camera shy and feel awkward with a guy taking pictures of her over and over again, so you have to soften the situation. So after she bought coffee we started talking about books and stuff, while at the same time I was setting up the camera. I didn’t take as many pictures as I normally would but personally it felt great to do so, because it felt more like a hangout than an actual shoot. I think that doing so made the situation way more relaxing that I thought it could be for her and for me, after all, talking about Star Wars movies is always a fun if you’re doing a shoot.

Shots in Mind

As a photographer you must always have certain shots in mind before doing a shoot, because it gives you direction. Even though, the shoot felt more like a hangout, it was still a shoot and I still had some shots in mind I wanted to take…And so I did. 

• I took a horizontal and vertical portrait both with direct eye contact.
• A shot of the table were I knew were going to be books and coffee.
  
• A shot of her just having fun and enjoying herself.

One shot that I did miss, was one of her just looking for books, I wanted to have a shelf out of focus and her in the foreground near the books in a vertical frame, but the library got full and I couldn’t get it because of all the other people in the frame. But hey, I got 4 out 5 shots I had in mind, so it was a great shoot.

Having Fun

It doesn’t matter who you’re taking pictures of, they are not robots, have fun with them, have a conversation. Even though you’re working, there is nothing better than a customer who enjoys being around you, and knowing that they enjoy that small bit of time they have working with you. So here’s a tip, always try to have fun, joke around, have a meal after the shoot or take a small break in the middle of the shoot to just talk. It’s amazing how many friends you can make out of photography, so for your next shoot change the approach of work to, taking photos of a new friend.

That is it for this Wednesdays post I hope you enjoyed it, remember to comment, share and subscribe down below. Until next time!