Focus: Nighttime Portraits

Focus: Nighttime Portraits

I decided to write this after my experience with doing a portrait shoot at night.  I wasn't planning on the shoot being at night however by the time the makeup was done and we got to the location, the sun had already punched-out for the day.  I just want to go over some of the things I learned and maybe you have already learned these things but if not here you go.  So, my setup.

So I had one light stand and umbrella with me since there was a lot of walking involved.  Because of this I had my SB-600 on the stand and the SB-900 on my camera as a master/flash.  I used my 50mm, 105mm and the 17-55mm during the shoot.  

First off I was using my SB-900 for a AF assist light with the IR light or however that sensor works.  You can use your external Nikon (maybe other brands but I only have Nikon flashes) flashes to shoot a beam or red light at the subject to have your camera focus in darkness.  It is a great function and tool to have however it still is very hard to pin-point someone's eye through your viewfinder in the darkness.  The red light helps but it is still difficult however I got much better with it from practicing.  

After a couple of shots my SB-600 started making some funking beeping sound that didn't sound so good.  So I assumed because it was the very cold that night getting to it, so I turned it off and just used my SB-900 on camera.  This worked and I didn't need the SB-600 for what I was doing anyways.  Nevertheless I was still disappointed in the SB-600.  Moral of story, I'm glad I bought the SB-900.

Something that I didn't have that could have been nice was a flashlight.  Since I wasn't planning on it being dark I didn't bring one however I am sure it would have been nice.  I didn't need it per say however if you do not know your kit well and need help finding things then a flashlight of some kind would be good.  I am lucky enough that I know where everything goes and have a good routine of where I place lens caps and batteries and other small easily lost pieces.  

As for things I learned shooting was one to use the lights in background.  I am sure if you have seen other nighttime portraits you have probably seen the out of focus lights in the background.  It creates a very cool effect that I have always liked however this was the first time I had done it in a portrait.  When I first saw the effect of my 50mm at f/1.4 and the bokeh, I loved it.  Here is an example of what I mean from one of the photos I took that night:

Nighttime Portrait - 50mm - SB-900 on D90

Personally I have seen this effect a lot in many photos from christmas trees to street lights but I have never done it in a portrait and I loved it as I mentioned.  So because I knew my model was a creative person I decided to try something fun that I thought would look cool.  So I got her to blow "bubbles" with the out of focus lights being the bubbles.  

Blowing "Bubbles" - 50mm - SB-900 on D90

Another thing I learned is pick someone who trusts you to take photos of at night in the fall.  I say this because it was absolutely frigid that night and I was very lucky that a) I got the model to bundle up in a warm outfit and b) that she was a trooper and didn't mind walking and standing outside in the cold to get these shots.

Now for just personal points, I loved the effect of the lights in the background at large apertures.  However be careful because if I was at f/2.8, the circles turned into octagons (or however many edges it had) and had edges to them... therefore not as cool looking.   I personally really like being in control with the light.  Yes, it was very hard to see what on earth was in your viewfinder but very worth it in the end.  Also I got used to making out the model in the dark with the red light from the SB-900.  I liked the pitch black background you can get with shooting at night.  This shoot was at a park where there was enough open space to not have my flash's light hit anything.  For this shoot I wanted the model in a normal black peacoat however it didn't contrast with the black of the environment.  If you did want to have a strong contrast between colours of your subject and background this is a easy way to get that.  If I got my model to wear a red peacoat for example, she would definitely stick out a lot more. 

So yeah, I just wanted to share my experience with shooting portraits at night because I found I learned a lot in the process.  Therefore why not share what I learned and experienced.  

I hope this helps!