Shoot at downtown has pros and cons. Many good spots to pick from and they are relatively close to each other. That’s the only pro and everything else are cons. Traffic, parking, and too many people. I picked water front for my photo shoot with Jennifer not because it’s the busiest place in downtown it’s because I got this open space with city backdrop. Finding large open space in downtown is not easy, unless you are by the water. Why need a open space? The sun. We all like to shoot when the sun is low but not when there are lots of buildings blocking it. There will be pool of light here and there but you’ll have to keep chasing them let along the fact the back ground has to be right.

I chose to start at 5 pm, around 2 hours from sunset. That’s when the sun is still from southwest and line up with side of Canada Place building the place where my photo shoot will take place. Picking the right time and right location is a crucial for any photo shoot. That’s not only apply for landscape photography. We need the sun from the best angle possible so it adds more dimension to our shots.

Let’s talk about the gear I used for this photos hoot. One lens (Sigma 50 Art), one light (Profoto B2) with a small modifier (24” collapsible silver beauty dish) and portable light stand. This setup requires little time to setup and it’s easy to move around. For light stand, I don’t recommend bring heavy duty light stand on location no matter you have an assistant or not. They are overkill for small light setup and not portable at all. Do yourself a favor and keep your C stands/roller stands in your studio.

First test shot, a bit warm but I kind of like it. I picked angle so Jennifer’s hair get back lit by the sun, against dark background. This makes her more stand out.

Move her away from the fence totally change the background. I kept a little bit of skyscrapers in the so people can still tell where this is about and let more shiny pavement tiles to take over the background. The feel totally changed. Jennifer is no longer the brightest part of the image but she’s the one that has most contrast. Her curvy contour line and flowy hair stand out pretty well against the straight lines from the buildings, the fence and the pavement tiles. Another way to create contrast.

Of course we can always using leading lines to create more dimension.

How about let more sun hit the lens to add some halo? Multi coated ND filter is crucial for this type of situation. Otherwise, we’ll see a lot of flare. Why using ND filter? I have a Youtube video which explains everything in detail

I have to say time moves 10 times faster when we are doing photo shoot. The sun starts disappearing behind the buildings. One of the reason I didn’t choose to shoot during the sunset. I love the fact that everything is casting long shadow. That makes my background more interesting but soon, all the interesting light will disappear when the sun is behind the buildings. Time to call it a day.

Portrait Lighting on Location - Photo Shoot at Water Front with Jennifer

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