A la creatif: A project on creative portraiture.

Oh yes this is what you think is, a long longed project of mine that I am always speaking about here and there (but people seem to be ignoring me, hmmmm think am not tough enough for ya, huh!). I like simple setup and chase high end results. So here it comes, the simplest setup for creative portrait photography. I have tested these techniques and took photos for past one and half years (yeas, that is how long my photographic career is! I wonder sometimes), and now upto create something unusual with them. I will try few basic things with the new strobist setup I made myself. Yes you are right, another addition to the freaking strobist community. I think that is where I belong. Here is the list of my module I will be accomplishing with time in next few months with the models coming from all over the world. Most of my photos are shot outside the studio and my objective of this project is to show, how one can create a collection of nice thought provoking portraits without having a state-of-the-art and suave studio setup. Few photos are there which are shot indoor and with studio strobes. I will mention them and also tell you the technique by which you can create the same with a portable strobe.

• Night shots with ambient light and strobes balanced.
• Outdoor day shots with strobes balanced with sun.
• Dimensional lighting with one strobe (i.e. no-fill lighting).
• Bokeh (if you are wondering what bokeh is then go here) and portrayal of gradual fall in DOF.
• Long exposure.
• Light painting (please go here to know about light painting).
• Multiple exposure in non-multiple exposure cameras.

I will be posting photos and my blog archives with the details on how to shoot them. Don't think that I am here to teach or lecture on something. It is only a project of mine where I want to share my thoughts with all my readers and friends here (please bear with the obesity of brag sometimes). Now I should tell you about my setup that I use. First of all let me tell you that I am never pleased with my own photos and always want some more perfection in it (I hope I am not a freak, because that's all of us want for ourselves right?). I do not crave for mullah munching brands of equipment. I think the man behind the camera is more important than the make or model of the camera. I can give thousands of references of photographers who still shoot in B/W films and make people go mad with their photos (don't worry you won't have to consult a physician after seeing my photos, am not that insane). If you feel that whatever you have with you is sufficient to take good photos which will please you (atleast 50% pleasure is yours), then you are on the right track. However, if having several high end equipment and camera bodies is your prime interest and your efficiency also depends on them, then you need to contact the local camera retailer, not a photographic agency.

My gears:

• Nikon D60 DSLR
• Nikkor 18-55 mm AF VR lens
• Sigma 70-300mm DG lens.
• 1 Nikon speedlight SB-400 (which does not work off camera)
• 1 Vivitar 285 HV vari-power with an optical slave.
• Velvon PH-8 tripod for my camera.
• off brand tripods for my portable strobes.
• 42" Photopro warm/white hard light, hand-held, round reflector. (Phew!! lots of adjectives for one thing, take your pick.)
• 1 Small 40" diffuser umbrella.
• 2 Small 40" white hard light reflector umbrella.
• 1 Nova 2'X2' softbox.
• 1 Simpex 20"X20" softbox.
• 1 Nova Digieye-3 studio strobe.
• 1 Simpex-pro 3500N studio strobe.
• Nikon View NX software for raw file conversions.
• Adobe photoshop 7.0 for retouching and correcting glitches.
• AND etc.

I have put these facts here not to brag about what I have but only for you to understand that how simple my setup is and how you can also simplify your setup and still take beautiful photos with an ease. So good luck to me and good luck to as well. I will be start uploading the first lot of photos very soon.