Kicking off his headlining tour for Night & Day, Luis Dubuc – AKA The Secret Handshake – rocked the Firebird with A Cursive Memory, The Narrative and Speak.
Before the gig, I caught up with Luis for a portrait shoot with two looks – one outside nearby the venue, and another in the venue itself.
Photographer’s Notes:
First off, I have to say that Luis was really a pleasure to work with. Super nice, really accommodating, and a great overall subject. While he mentioned that he felt he was a little awkward, I thought he was a natural and I did my best to convince him of that. I’ve shot awkward musicians in my time – Luis Dubuc isn’t one of them.
Also, I have to give it up to Luis for braving the 45º weather outside. Guy is a trooper.
Cameras Used:
Lenses Used:
For this shoot, I went in with the intent of shooting with all primes. While I generally shoot with my Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 for group shots and possibly the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 for individuals, I wanted to create a slightly different look working with Luis.
My main lens for the look outside was the Nikon 85mm f/1.4, which provides a nice level of isolation thanks to the fast aperture and short telephoto focal length. I love this 85mm focal length for half-length portraits and even full-length portraits, where it gives a really nice degree of separation at wide aperture.
Inside, the new Nikon 24mm f/1.4 was the clear winner. For this second look, the main game plan was to pick up on some of the existing lighting – a table lamp – and compliment that with a beauty dish.
By focal length alone, I could have shot this with the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, but the beauty of the Nikon 24mm f/1.4 is that the fast aperture allowed me to still shoot at base ISO (200) for maximum quality while still letting in enough light from the incandescent bulb to provide some atmosphere and look natural.
Lighting Gear Used:
Lighting:
The key light used for all these images is my Chinatown Special Beauty Dish, which was held by my assistant Allyssa boomed on a monopod.
For the outdoor shots, I also used two bare Nikon SB-900 flashes for accent with the heads zoomed to 200mm for a tighter spread.
End Notes:
Big thanks to Luis, Allyssa, Jason, and Paul for helping make this happen.
Comments & Feedback? Let ‘em rip.
Questions or comments? Leave a comment below, and let me know what you thought of this post.
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This entry was posted on Monday, November 8th, 2010 at 10:04 am and is filed under Portrait Photography and tagged with 2010, alley, day & night tour, location, luis dubuc, outside, Portrait Photography, secret handshake, soft light. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Beautiful Todd, I’m not a massive fan of super wide open shots ( I assume your shooting at f/1.4 on the 85mm) but they are really nice to look at.
Everything is perfectly balanced in the outdoor ones.
Great stuff.
Hey James,
Thanks for the feedback on this set. I was shooting between f/1.6 and f/2.2 for the outdoor shots (and the interior shots, too, actually). Been pursuing a slightly different look in these images, combining the lighting I’ve been using for more group shots shot at small aperture and the more atmospheric one-light sets I’ve been using for individuals.
Thanks for your thoughts on the images.
Superb set Todd!
I especially love the ones outside with the ultra defocused background! Brings a very intesresting atmosphere!
Hey Alexis, thanks for your thoughts on these images of Luis. Glad to hear you like the atmosphere of the outdoor shots. Thanks again for the comment.
Todd,
Great portraits. Was wondering when you’ll come around to showing off your primes!
John
Hey John, thanks for the comment. Been digging primes more for individual portraits like this.
Great work!
I am impatient to see the show shots because getting the focus with the 85mm has always been my Nemesis :D
“Secrete Handshake”? Haha.
Also, loving the seated shots inside the Firebird.
Fast primes & the Chinatown Special beauty dish – Portraits: The Secret Handshake http://bit.ly/cXBEgM
RT @toddowyoung: Fast primes & the Chinatown Special beauty dish – Portraits: The Secret Handshake http://bit.ly/cXBEgM
On the last shot where you’re shooting up at him, it’s kinda producing a weird lighting pattern on the neck, don’t you think? It’s like there’s a line that cuts through the neck up to the chin. I’m thinking maybe you left the same lighting pattern as a previous shot, then just changed angles? Just curious. Great job on this session again man!
I’m late on this one. These are terrific. I really want to get that beauty dish made.
Hi Todd, I’m curious about your lighting setup for the table side shots. How many and what kind of lights you used? Did you still use the DIY beauty dish for the main light or just use the table lamp already there? If you use the beauty dish what shutter speed you choose to control the ambient light? As always great job done Todd! Great work.
Wow i love these! Great shots Todd :)
Thanks very much, Kevin.