Winter Olympics 2010 Day 9: Portrait, Portrait Portrait.

Shot a portrait of gold medal Olympian Kristi Yamaguchi today for ZUMA press at the P&G Family Home.

Since time was limited, I enlisted the help of a Boston Globe video journalist and our liaison from P&G beforehand to aim my strobes and dial in the settings so we would not waste Kristi's time.



Trying to step up the portraiture here, I decided to use a David Honl speed grid on from the back over the balcony on a second 580EX to add a nice rim light - in front I used a 580EX with an Omni-Bounce to add the front light and diffuse. Shot it with a 50mm f/1.2 at f/1.6.




Olympic gold medal figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, spokesperson for the "P&G Thanks, moms" program, during a portrait session at the P&G Family Home in Vancouver at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. © Patrick T Fallon/ZUMA Press

While the lit portrait was nice, I also had the advantage of being able to shoot on ambient light as well, which was perfect when I was getting set up and Kristi started laughing naturally with some fans greeting her on the stairwell to our right.


Kristi laughs as some fans chat with her before the start of our portrait session
This was my favorite frame of the whole shoot because it was natural, rather than cold or staged - I like shooting candidly whenever possible, so I was happy to have the balance in my take between the two.

Shot with just the 50mm at f/1.2


Had a great time working with the P&G Family Home staff, they got a great setup for the athletes and their families, hope to return soon to do some more portraiture.

Winter Olympics 2010 Day 6: Portrait In The Rain

Didn't get to shoot much today, had to handle a lot of image editing from photographers and work here in the Main Press Center. However this evening I was able to shoot the press conference for two time gold medal winning snow boarder Seth Wescott.



Seth won the gold twice now for Snowboard cross - out of the two years it has been an Olympic sport. The press conference was a normal presser - but he was cool enough to let me take him outside in the light rain for 2 min. for a quick lit portrait behind the bay here. Awesome to work with and totally fine with getting a little wet.


Seth was lit by a single 580EX II strobe with a 1/4 CTO gel and Omni-Bounce - shot on a Canon 1D MkIV @ 6400 ISO. The blue lights from the International Broadcasting Center made for a great rim light and a splash of color.


The beauty of using speedlights, being able to shoot quickly, even in the rain, without causing any trouble or hauling a lot of gear around like big strobes.

Tomorrow should be an early start, but more shooting hopefully and if I get a chance, I will start working on my multimedia project about Canadian fans.

Assignment Archive: Wedding Portrait Lighting

About a year ago, my father got a phone call from some family friends, their photographer had bailed on them the day before they were supposed to re-shoot their wedding portraits [they had rain on their wedding day].


With the expense of flights to get everyone together, Tux rentals, and renting the location again, there would not be a chance to do this again. With not much time to prepare, we got together a lighting kit that would be flexible enough to work quickly, but also would allow some creative control.

The couple had a specific concept in mind for the main picture, underneath the main big tree on the golf course, overlooking the ocean. The golf course was not terribly cooperative, telling us that there was only a short time for one of us to go with the couple down to the tree, meaning I was had to work alone with the bride and groom via golf cart. A great couple to work with, they valued our time and brought a good attitude to the shoot - always helpful on a murky day!



Usually my dad, Bernard Fallon and I work together as a team, he keeps a good eye on the subjects clothing, hair, body positioning - and other little details that really make a difference, while charming them with his British accent. I tend to focus on the tech, exposure, lighting, etc. No assistants meant I had to do both jobs.

Unfortunately, it was a very cloudy, flat day, with little sunset light coming from over the ocean. However, this made the strobes more effective. The couple was still back lit, however.


With a backlit bride and groom, flash was the only way to show the color and detail of the couple and the tree, while also maintaining a well exposed background.

Using speedlights, including the Canon 580 EXII and the Nikon SB-800 [On SU-4 Mode], I could add light under the tree and into the faces of the couple, balancing the exposure to allow some of the nice ambient light off the ocean, while also minding the white of the dress and not blowing it out.

The effect of using strobes to add fill light

I could check the details I needed and make sure the couple liked the main frame, with enough time to try a few other setups before we had to leave the course.


Once we got back to the main putting area at the course entrance, we were able to set up the two strobes on stands, with translucent umbrellas, to take some more formal portraits on the putting green. We had the two flashes, on Bogen stands and umbrella swivel heads.

At this point there was almost no light out, so I was dragging my shutter to try and get every ounce of light I could from the background, without completely blacking out the background.


Looking back now, I would like to get radios and a 3rd speedlight, so I can start to add more hair lights and rim lights to the subjects, to create more depth and make the pictures more dynamic.

On Assignment: Speedlight Lighting

This afternoon presented me with an interesting challenge - a sports feature about a new tradition within the Parks family - tattoos.

The initial assignment sheet was confusing, since the 'climax' of this story - getting the actual tattoo - had already happened. This looked like a portrait situation was in order, but little time or gear was available. The concept was to feature the tattoos, but to also show a sense of family.


Rock Bridge senior forward Logan Parks and his sister Morgan Parks display their matching tattoos of a Chinese symbol meaning "family", Thursday evening, Dec. 10, 2009 in Columbia, Mo. Parks got the tattoo on his right shoulder as a symbol of the bond he has with his sister, who first had the symbol tattooed on her wrist. (© 2009 Patrick T Fallon/Missourian)
Shot with a Canon 1D Mk. IIN at 30mm, 1/250th sec., f/14, 50 ISO

With Nikon SB-800 on the SU-4 Slave Mode, I could get a second speedlight off camera, with no extra pocketwizards or radio triggers, just the flash from my Canon 580EX II on a TTL cable.

Stopping down the lens and using low ISO, with the flashes close, I aimed to create a studio look inside a living room with lots of distractions and clutter in a small working environment. Knocking down the ambient light made my flashes the only source of light.

Since this was in a tight space, the "strobist" style lighting was perfect, Dynalites would have probably been too big.

I would have appreciated some additional light modifiers like grids and gobos, to block off more of the light and the addition of a reflector perhaps to try and get an additional hair light.


Shot with a Canon 1D Mk. IIN at 35mm, 1/250th sec., f/22, 50 ISO

Rock Bridge senior forward Logan Parks displays his tattoo of a Chinese symbol meaning "family" on his right shoulder. (© 2009 Patrick T Fallon/Missourian)

Ultimately I think this was a success, though looking through the take, I am seeing how I would like to try some things differently in the future and improve my lighting in the new year!


Rock Bridge senior forward Logan Parks displays his tattoo of a Chinese symbol meaning "family" on his right shoulder. (© 2009 Patrick T Fallon/Missourian)
Shot with a Canon 1D Mk. IIN at 35mm, 1/250th sec., f/14, 50 ISO

Advanced Techniques: Classmate Portrait

Classmate Studio portrait assignment.

Single Light Source:

Portrait of Jimmy Maritz in the studio, Thursday night September 25th, 2008. Photo by Patrick T Fallon.

Multiple Light Source:


Portrait of Jimmy Maritz in the studio expressing his feelings towards a recent speeding ticket, Thursday night September 25th, 2008. Photo by Patrick T Fallon.

Portraits with Strobist Advice

Wedding Portraits In Chicago - After the jump:



So I went to my uncle's wedding a few weekends ago. It was loads of fun, I was in the wedding party - tux and all - so I was not able to shoot - and could not set up a cool remote like I planned due to time and nowhere to put it.. but I got to try some lighting techniques out beforehand with some portraits. If you want a fun portrait as well. Come by McDavid 224 and I'll hook ya up with one gratis . =]

It was just one 550EX at 1/4 power shot through a translucent umbrella [not bounced]. My uncle's bedroom had a wall almost 18% GRAY!!! It was perfect! Haha.

Here are some more:





Just a little burning on the edges...




Thanks to Strobist's David Hobby and his great workshop at the Southern Short Course. If you don't check it out daily already: http://www.strobist.com

Also Thanks to Laura Madden at Samy's Camera for getting me my lighting stuff ASAP shipped right to Chicago. Saved me big!