Jason Christopher, LA Commercial & Fashion Photographer Bio

Don’t be afraid to shoot outdoors with ONLY  the sun !  I hear it so many times, photographers tell me they like studio light more because it is more beautiful or consistent etc.  Well what they are REALLY saying is that they are afraid of shooting outdoors in natural light.  If they knew how to manipulate the natural light I am positive they would agree with me that natural light can be so friggin beautiful !  I LOVE  shooting outdoors in natural light.  Yes the studio is more controlled, no wind, no clouds no dust etc.  But you know what ? Don’t always take the easy way out.  We must continuously  challenge ourselves otherwise we can’t move up that ladder of  success.

Imagine a client calls you and asks you to do a shoot outdoors on location and it’s a BIG payday. I’m talking 50k or more.  Wouldn’t you like to be able to take that job and produce great results with confidence ?

Ok so look at this shot.  The model is back lit by the sun of course.  So now you ask how did I get light into her face and body?   I wore  a white t shirt, that’s it !  Just a plain white Haines t shirt that cost me 10 bucks or whatever it was, lol.  I was acting as the reflector !  So the next thing I did was make sure my meter in camera was set for center weighted.  What that does is meter the center portion of your scene and takes into consideration the strong back light.  Now granted, her hair will be blown out but you can control that with your exposure.  If you did not want her hair to be blown out, you scrim her.  But then it starts to look like a portrait, blah boring !

Ok so now days you shoot digital so you can see if you exposed correctly right away !  You have NO excuse to get out there and try it.  If you don’t want to embarrass yourself by taking a model out there at first then here is what you do.  Find a tree, a big oak tree or any tree that is large in circumference.  It doesn’t have to be a tree but the color of the bark is close to skin color and it is not shiny or metallic.  So make sure the tree is being back lit by the sun and shoot away.  When you dial in your exposure with the results you like then your ready to take a model and shoot.  Make notes of your exposure etc. Please don’t be afraid to ask me more questions or share your thoughts !

So here is something I am very proud of. I used my Canon 100 2.8 macro and just two lights with one silver reflector under at chest level to give that catch light in the bottom part of the pupil.

I will say it over and over again, if your photos do not evoke emotion then you have not done your job as a professional photographer.  This is my friend Crystal Allen again.  We shot these after the beauty shots. With minimal make up and just a big sweater and natural light, these photos capture the many different sides of Crystal.  Aside from getting your lighting down, you must always be ready to snap that shutter !  That means keeping that camera up to your eye constantly.  You never know when your model is going to just give you that perfect face.

So I recently shot my actress friend Crystal Allen.  I shot this on the balcony of her apartment which overlooks the beach.  The walls and floor of the balcony are white.  Late in the day the light hitting the balcony is soft and beautiful.  I placed her just a bit out from the door jam so that the light from the white floor hit her face and eyes.  On an 85mm lens my exposure was f/5 80th of a second.  My ISO was 200.  Choosing an f stop of 5 allowed the background to blur out.  She was standing a good 12 feet from the inside living room so that allowed it to go dark thereby focusing all the attention to Crystal.  At this time of day you don’t have very long to get your shots so you need to direct your model very well.  Crystal is an actress so that made my job very easy. I just gave her adjectives to act out.  For example I would say, give me vulnerable, shy, nervous, strong, confident etc.  This image has not been retouched and it really does not need much because I exposed so well.  Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions or comment.