Assignment

Late evening light for location portraits

Jackie Zapata was all decked out in her costume. All I needed to do was find a good spot to place her to highlight the costume in the fading daylight.
Jackie Zapata was all decked out in her costume. All I needed to do was find a good spot to place her to highlight the costume in the fading daylight. Canon 5DM2 ISO 400 1/750 sec @F2.8 80-200zoom set at 170mm

Sometimes the best portraits of people can’t be created in the studio.

Sometimes, they can only be done on location.

By the time the props and the matching backdrops are brought in, the whole photo shoot becomes a huge production.

So, it’s easier to take the picture on location.

Here's another portrait of Jackie Zapata lit solely by the late evening sun. There was even enough fill light from the white wall on the right.
Here’s another portrait of Jackie Zapata lit solely by the late evening sun. There was even enough fill light from the white wall on the right.

During the 10th anniversary of Day of the Dead celebrations in Riverside last year, I came across just that situation.

I saw Jackie Zapata with her incredible costume and so did many others.

They were crowding her and grabbing pictures of her with their phones and DSLRs.

Her costume was so stunning but on the street itself, all possible backgrounds I saw were terribly cluttered.

So I looked around and spied a portion of an alley close by that was in partial shadow.

I waited till everyone was done shooting then I introduced myself and asked if she wouldn’t mind accompanying me to that nearby spot.

The light was so gorgeous and Jackie's costume so stunning, I couldn't resist being photographed with her, so I handed her friend my camera. Author Peter Phun with Jackie Zapata.
The light was so gorgeous and Jackie’s costume so stunning, I couldn’t resist being photographed with her, so I handed her friend my camera. Author Peter Phun with Jackie Zapata.

Once I positioned her in the spot, I didn’t even need to use a reflector on the right.

The gorgeous light on the left is from the late evening sun.

That light was so brief I made perhaps 10 to 15 exposures.

Then it was gone.

Besides this portrait, I also made some other pictures of the festivities.

Take a look at the slideshow below.


Peter Phun Photography

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