Brian Mauro/Cameron Govan

My last shoot proved to be my worst experience with shooting. I arrived early enough to set up my workflow. I propped up the tripod and sampled some shots where I knew I would start. I changed my WB for direct sunlight and set my speed at 200, with an f/stop of f8 and shutter speed of 500.

The biggest difficulty was directing my subjects. Both of which had two personalities. Cameron just plain didn't want to have a picture taken, and Brian might as well be Swanzey's cousin, because he just couldn't do a straight shoot. I wasted about 15-20 minutes just being flustered and trying to adapt to the two personalities. Finally, I realized the more direct and to the point I was about what was going wrong and why I am still trying to take more pictures, I was able to get somewhere. While I don't think this was the best shoot, it allowed me the experience of this type of situation. I hope that next time, I will come right out of the gate with a more direct approach to nip in the bud the slow first 20 minutes of unproductive shots. For some of the indoor shots, I was using the flash and dropped down to 320 shutter, and f8 and 5.6. I did lose track of my settings as I started to see some positive results coming in......

Brian Swanzey

The sun was harsh for a 4:15pm shoot. No golden light as I thought it would be. The sun was still around 1pm. Springtime threw me off. My shutter was 800 with an f/stop of f11 and also used 640 shutter speed with the f11 f/stop.

WB was set for direct sunlight. No tripod or flash was used.
Tried to use the shade, but again the sun really burst through and created ugly shadows that made the subject look like a tiger...

Amber Charlebois

I used the flash, bounced off the side, not the ceiling.
Shutter was 125, f/stop 4.5 with my WB set at FLASH.

Not much to say. It went well. The lab wasn't really spectacular as labs go, so the challenge was the right background.

I arranged beakers and tubes etc., prior to the shots.

Bob Wang

The day was cloudy, and I adjust my white balance as such for the outdoor shot on the steps of the mansion.

I used a friendly shutter speed of 125 with an f/stop of 4.5

For the indoor shots at the chair and window, I was using the tripod. Shutter was set at 30 and the f/stop 4.8. We were shooting with overcast cloudy natural light at 3:45pm, so the natural lighting was certainly not like I like it. I think I nailed a nice serious shot. The one where he is not smiling, but in serious thought waiting for me to set up.

I sometimes take a shot just after I set the camera, for two reasons- one, to catch them less contrived for the shot and the other because you almost always get a great unexpected shot from it. I was bouncing the flash off the wall for this as well.

Joel Harmon

Part of my workflow now, is, that I arrive well before the shoot and check my light source and camera settings. I usually find a passersby and ask them to pose for me.

For Joel Harmon I was at f/stop 5.3 shutters 30, 40, 60 with flash and tripod.

I am finding it has been easier now for me to engage the subject more. The more I make them at ease, the easier and the quicker the shoot. The less painful it is for the subject, makes for an easier transition to the next setting and pose. They don't feel rushed.

Libov, Howard

Used a tri-pod with strobe and wink light. Also used a diffuser on the wink light.
Ultimately the wink light looked better with the diffuser on it. Still picked up flash reflection in his glasses. I asked Howard how to avoid that and looked slightly down with eyes looking up towards me. I will remember that for the future as I know I will have subjects wearing glasses.

I failed to write down my settings however and I shot these two weeks ago.

I am pretty sure I adjusted my white balance to fluorescent lighting and ISO at 400. I can only guess that I was in the 125-250 range? But maybe lower to around 60 with an fstop of around 5.6

Rene Steinke

I was able to set up before Rene arrived. I even shot a few faculty members that were passing by.
I used the tripod for the seated window shots.
White balance was mixed, I tried sunlight and fluorescent settings....
Shutter speed of 60, fstop/4.3 & 5.6
On the stair stoop in the mansion I used the wink light with a diffuser. Getting the right light was hard. Shutter was about 125 with an over exposure of .5, I was getting dark images before this.
Outside was better using white balance of direct sunlight and shutter to around 400, fstop 5.6

Alice Shumate

Wonderful subject, great to work with. Used both tripod for indoor shots and wink light with diffuser. Indoor, shutter speed 60 with an fstop 4.5,5.6
Outside no tripod or wink. My shutter was between 500 and 1250 depending on the position of the sun and subject. The sun was pretty harsh for 11:15am. I realized at the time I was getting the butterfly effect. I hoped later they wouldn't be too much of a distraction in the shot... I made sure to change my white balance a little more consistent this time. It was becoming more of a natural ritual now....

bruce peabody

First off my batteries were dead in the strobe. This was realized before the shoot as part of my checklist. Wasn't able to use the strobe, so I had to rely on the tripod and natural light.
I think I was able to get "one" good shot with natural light and it is posted as #1 place at flickr.

Shutter was at 60, white balance was fluorescent and sunlight. I tried both as both were either dominant or present depending on how I was placed, with natural sunlight in front the subject or from the side.
Fstop was 4.5
I cannot escape my natural inclination for the 3/4 rembrandt style lighting... but I will work on this habit.... it just feels great for me...

M. Avaltroni

I met with Michael Avaltroni on Tuesday and Thursday, the week of February 14th.
My first set up was in his lab, although, to be honest it was not the best lab for taking shots. Nothing really displayed "scientist" or "chemist" to me, not even "mad" scientist... but I took some shots to gauge the lighting. His office is relatively small, not enough room to swing a cat in, so I knew maneuvering around while taking pics wasn't going to work. Overall most shots in his office were with the strobe. I found myself at 5.6 with a shutter speed of around 250, with strobe and no tripod. With a the tripod and with no strobe I tried a few between 60-80 shutter speed and f4.5.
Of course some these meant a little more work in Lightroom or Photoshop. We moved out into the lab and the lighting was even, but still felt stiff. I wasn't happy with the surroundings and I did move somethings around and had my subject both standing and sitting, but these just felt too contrived.... I immediately scheduled another shoot before I left knowing it just didn't feel right and that I wasn't done.

Thursday was a nice day at around 55 degrees. We shot outside Lenfell under the columns. I changed my white balance to reflect direct sunlight. (by the way, I did adjust for fluorescent lighting while in his office and lab) After two shots, I knew I had something worth submitting.

These shots consisted of f7.1 and between 250 and 400 shutter speed, no tripod or strobe required. The higher my fstop, the richer, deep blue I received in my background sky. I also, tried to crop the photo with the camera rather than afterwards in LR or PS.

Krista jenkins

My photo shoot with Krista was for 10am, I arrived about 20 minutes earlier to look for another possible venue for the shoot. I took some shots at the stairwell just outside the office. I was using a strobe and my setting seemed to be around 80 shutter speed and f5.3.
Krista arrived at her office and we began the first shots on the stairwell. I think it went well, the lighting was good, no cast shadow from behind.
We moved into her office and I noticed the window would be directly behind her creating a darkened silhouette, so I again made use the strobe. My settings were around 80-125 shutter with fstop's ranging between 4.5, 5.3, 5.6 - these varied to a certain degree and I can't remember each shot, but these were the general area.
There was a nice chair that I though would be perfect and it was. I was standing, looking down and shooting....
My last shots consisted of the tripod and no strobe. I enjoy a nice light and dark portrait as can be seen with the pictures near the window on the second floor of the mansion.

Dan Cassino

Arrived and took some time to familiarize myself with the strobe. To no avail. It shut off after a while. I had no natural light to work with and had to use the on board flash. I knew this would create the annoying hanging shadow effect cast behind the subject, but had to get something.

I was at 1/25 with an fstop of f8.

Dan Cassino was a difficult shoot. He was a very tightly wound subject and could not get him to smile. It seemed as if he would break apart if he were to show any emotion. The most natural expressions just would not come... What he thought was a smile was nothing different from his regular expression...
I did manage a few breaks and captured some versions of a smile. But again these were overshadowed by the cast of shadow.

If my grade is below a B for this batch, I will again shoot and hopefully with some natural light, as I feel this is my strong spot - exploiting the natural lighting through the windows... not necessarily my "window" shot, but at least having some natural sunlight.....