Carol Spinski

I thought you might enjoy a little behind the scenes look at the photo shoot I did for our Vintage Rental business that I posted on the Raised In Cotton blog.  Along with the photos I’m including the camera settings for each particular shot. I for one love to look at beautiful photos and it is especially helpful when the photographer shares the settings that they used to capture the image.

To start it was midday and the sun was super bright overhead. Many photographers will try to avoid this time of day because of the harsh shadows the sun creates. I had scouted the location out ahead of time and knew there was a large weeping willow tree that not only would be central to my photos but also a great light diffuser.

This is what was in my camera bag the day of the shoot:

1. Canon 5d MK 2

2. Extra CF cards

3. Canon 50 mm 1.4 lens

4. Canon 100 mm 2.8 lens

5. Canon 24-105 mm lens

6. Tripod (really did not use this much)

7. Small step ladder

8. Silver reflector

9. Canon film camera (yes I even did some film shots)

Camera Settings: Exposure- Aperture Priority, Lens 50 mm, Aperture f/4.0, ISO 400, Shutter 1/1600 sec

My niece was our “vintage bride” model and was simply a dream to work with.  I locked focus on her more dominant eye looking toward me which in this case was her right one. I also used the streaming weeping willow branches to frame her face for interest.

Camera Settings: Exposure- Aperture Priority, Lens 50 mm, Aperture f/4.0, ISO 400, Shutter 1/8000 sec

For this shot, I stood on a small step ladder and looked down at her to capture a different feel. I had Denise (my assistant for the day) bounce some light off of the reflector on to her face to help diminish any possible shadows under her eyes.

Camera Settings: Exposure- Aperture Priority, Lens 50 mm, Aperture f/4.0, ISO 200, Shutter 1/1000 sec

I had my niece turn her head slightly to the side and then we used the reflector to capture the catchlights in her eyes. The sun was to her right and slightly highlighted her hair.

Camera Settings: Exposure- Aperture Priority, Lens 50 mm, Aperture f/4.0, ISO 200, Shutter 1/2000 sec

For another angle I had her sit on the back of the sofa but what you can’t see is Denise holding her up so she didn’t tumble off backwards! Also, even though my niece is tiny, I still had to use some duck tape to secure the back of the vintage wedding dress together;)

This is from my film camera. Straight out of the camera using 400 speed film.

I hope you enjoyed the behind the scenes look at the shoot. Let me know if you would like to see more photos with the camera settings included in the future. Keep shooting:)