I kinda wish I had my one space now… You know, for my portrait work. I am getting old, and having to rent a studio or an entire apartment, moving all the gear, set everything up… I won’t be able to do this often much longer. I realized while updating my website how much I did this between 2016 and 2020. So many locations, and for some of these photo shoots I am spending much more time unpacking and setting up than actually taking pictures.
But enough talking, I have learned so much the past 2 years, changing my workflow, my methods, the gear that I am using. Nobody has mentioned my choice of working with the GF 50mm f3.5.
I assume that a lot of you forget that I am using the GFX100s which means that this lens would be a 39.5mm f/2.77 on a full-frame body. So let's round it off at 40mm. I still see a lot of portrait photographers use Full frame cameras with an 85mm lens or a 50mm.
Mary Lou (Toulouse - France)
Fujifilm GFX100s - RF 50mm f/1.2
1/125sec f/1.2 ISO 50
I forced myself to use that GF50mm for months because my eyes, my brain wasn't used to it. I had to shoot extensively with it to finally understand it and adapt it to my style and vision. I wasn't a huge fan a few years ago, now it is often the first lens I use on a shoot.
I love using it for portraits in small spaces because it still gives me space to move, I can still get close to my subject without having strange body distortions or warping.
For this session, 3 to 4 lights are used. Since I didn’t have a lot of questions about my lighting setup I decided not to make a more detailed breakdown of these sessions.
The last portrait shot is a flash version of a setup I used to love. You just place 2 lights on either side of your camera directly facing your subject and an overhead light. Usually, I do this with continuous lights, but thought I would try with strobes.
When looking at the pictures I would change 2 things. 1 I would shoot from a slightly lower angle, and 2 I would add 2 black panels on both sides for negative fill. I guess that this will be for a future session.
What is your favorite portrait lens? Do you go wider than 50? Please tell us! I believe there is a new dance video on my 2nd channel, February is going to be a busy month so I might not post 2 videos per week, hopefully at least one.
Follow me on IG, and please don’t be shy there, because with the new algorithm update that happen recently I can barely see the content of the people I follow, and my numbers have dramatically dropped. So I am not really looking for new followers, but if you are following me for a reason, you might as well see what I do.
You’ll be posting loads of engaging content, so be sure to keep your blog organized with Categories that also allow visitors to explore more of what interests them.
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