On Location: Create a Vintage Surfer Portrait on the Beach

Step Three

I always start my lighting simple and introduce more lights into the shot as needed. I wanted a nice, soft light to illuminate Stray. For this task I used an SB-900 shot through my Lastolite TriGrip diffuser. I didn’t bring stands or clamps with me on this trip, but my wife (who’s also a photographer) volunteered to hold the diffuser and flash. Coming up with a pose for Stray was fairly easy. I asked him what he normally would be doing hanging out on the beach, and his reply was watching the surf. This matched the mood I was going for, so he leaned up against a kayak and looked out onto the turquoise water. Some portraits I direct my subjects extensively, other times I let them roll with natural expressions. The goal is to get a pose and expression that captures your concept. The diffused flash looked good on Stray, but the background looked flat.