Eric Hamilton – Celebrity / DJ / Nightlife Photographer

Archive for June, 2009

When you’re out shooting, it’s important to understand how the technical choices you make effect the look and style of your photography. All of these photos carry my general style signature – light that sculpts and defines as opposed to flattens, well defined subject isolation, strong contrast and color saturation. These are all elements that can be found in a lot of my photos, but there are still big style differences from one photo to the next, depending on the subject and the mood I’m trying to capture. My friend Keldwud said it best: “The Lens sees what the heart sees.”

Soft Light for Soft Features – Most professional studio photographers use soft light to shoot portraits, because it creates a smoother look. It’s more flattering to skin than hard light, which can emphasize skin textures a little too much at times. I pulled out a small umbrella for some of the shots above. I was particularly interested in using it for the shots of Julliette, to emphasize her femininity.

Hard Light for Drama – I used hard light for the male DJs to create dramatic contrast. Hard light casts sharper shadow edges, and I used it here to create excitement.

Paint With Light – I used a couple different light painting techniques to incorporate the neon lights in the background of the photos and make them an integral part of the composition, rather than a distraction. To reproduce this technique, you’ll need to use a long exposure (my times were hovering around 1/8th – 1/15th), and combine it with flash to freeze the features of the photo you want to be clear. Once you get playing with this technique, you’ll see you can create many styles with it, as well. For Julliette, I used smooth, directional camera strokes for the light painted elements. For the male DJ’s, I created sharper lines by moving the camera in more jerky motions – twisting and zooming the lens with jerky stops.

Change Focal Length – As you can see in some of the DJ photos, I got in really close with a short focal length in order to create perspective distortion – like Scott Evol’s long arm in the bottom photograph. With Julliette, I did the opposite. I used long focal lengths to keep her facial features looking natural and elegant. I wanted to emphasize her beauty and femininity. She’s all woman, playing in a male-dominated playground. I wanted to tell the story visually that she brings a special vibe to the mix.

There are a million ways to shoot any subject. Let your heart and your moods guide you to select the right composition, the right light, the right focal length, and the right style. Don’t bother trying to be objective. There’s no such thing. We all see the world differently. Don’t be afraid to show us what you see.

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Don’t miss my location portrait workshop in Southern Utah June 25th-28th

With the economy looking bleak for a while I’ve decided to expand my horizons a bit and get into personal fine art portraits – particularly bridals and boudoir. With that in mind, I’ll be shooting a lot of both for a while. If you’re interested, contact me to schedule your shoot!

For the Photographers

Don’t be afraid to use your flash outside, even on sunny days. For these shots, we used two flashes and a reflector to supplement the plentiful sunlight.

Get creative with the reflector – On a typical outdoor shoot, you’ll often see photographers using reflectors to bounce light straight back into the model’s face. For these shots, we had the reflector back and to the side, to create the golden highlights on her cheekbones, and in her hair.

Use hotspots to emphasize features – In the bottom frame, I used a snooted strobe to highlight the bride’s eyes and cheeks.

Mix hard and soft light – In all of the photos, I mixed soft light from the reflector and umbrella with hard light from the sun and the extra flash I used to create hot spots.

Have an assistant on hand – Shooting outdoors with large reflectors and umbrellas can get unwieldy. Take an assistant to help battle the random gusts of wind – and don’t forget to weigh down those stands so the lights don’t tip over!

Here’s the setup from the last shot:

Full Set

I had a couple private parties to shoot Friday night, but they weren’t enough to satisfy my shutterbug cravings, so I decided to go out bar hopping for a while. I ran into some good friends, and generally had a blast. You know you’ve picked the right job when your idea of relaxing after a hard day of work is to go do more of the same!

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