Jerrad Johnson - Ideal Portraits: Three Years as a Portrait Photographer

Im a portrait photographer in Rapid City, SD. Ideal Portraits is the name of my business, which I started in 2016.

At about age 27, I decided to become a portrait photographer. In this book, Ill tell you about my progress across time and explain the major paths I took to improve my skill. Specifically Ill list books that I read, some websites I viewed for inspiration and information, and methods I used to practice what Id learned. However, know that this is primarily a picture book, not a how-to.

The pictures are ordered chronologically by session and by picture orientation. In other words, vertical pictures in each section begin with the earliest vertical pictures and they progress to the latest vertical pictures, and then that shifts to the earliest horizontal pictures which progress to the latest horizontal pictures.

The most interesting thing about my gear is that I have only prime lenses. Im a perfectionist, and Ive said before that Id rather have maximum quality and miss focus with half my shots (my Zeiss lenses are manual-focus-only) as opposed to nailing focus every time but at the cost of even 5% of the image quality. This was probably an overstatement, but my mindset is in this direction.

I do however recognize that I need to compromise quality for consistency when Im being paid; most clients prefer moments and variety over absolute quality. And if in the future I get enough offers to shoot weddings, I may get a couple of zoom lenses. Interestingly, Canons most recent 70-200/2.8 is far superior to their current 200/2.8 (prime). This is one case where Id prefer a zoom over a prime. I believe that the 200/2 prime is superior to the zoom, but its also very expensive.

With my emphasis on quality, its ironic that Im still using a 6D especially considering that my lenses far outperform this body. Ive wanted to upgrade to a 5Ds for a while, and I hope to do so in early 2020.

• Canon 6D (*2)
• T3i

• 135/2 Zeiss Sonnar
• 85/1.4 Zeiss Otus
• 85/1.4 Sigma ART
• 58/2 Helios 44-2
• 50/1.4 Sigma ART
• 35/1.4 Tamron SP Di USD
• 24/2.8 Canon EF

• BLAZ 300
• BLAZ 200 (*2)
• StreakLight 360
• Neewer NW570 (*2)
• Amazon Basics DSLR Flash (*2)

• i1DisplayPro
• ColorMunki Photo
• Ef-S Focusing Screens
• Cotton Carrier
• Manfrotto 190go! Aluminum Tripod with 3-way Head.
  

On Feb 2 nd , 2015 I ordered my first good lens. It was the Sigma 85/1.4 EX DG HSM. The primary reason that I chose this lens over the Canon 85/1.2 was for its relative sharpness at f/1.4 and its relatively low longitudinal chromatic aberration (LoCA). LoCA is the green or magenta halo around parts of the scene that have high contrast, such as the edges of black text on a white shirt. Another mark in favor of the Sigma, as I recall, was that it cost only about half as much.

Before this, I had been using cheap 50/1.4 and 24/2.8 lenses by Canon. I still have the 24/2.8 because I havent found much use for that focal length; for me, its not currently worth investing in.

When I try to decide between all of the lens offerings, this is what I do:

1. Decide on a focal length.
2. Find a list of all prime lenses at or near that length, and all zoom lenses which include it; dxomarks website provides such listings, but it can be dated, so I use other sources to check for new releases.
3. Compare each of those lenses, especially in regards to:
   1. Bokeh does it produce the onion ring effect? How many blades does the lens have? Are the blades rounded?
   2. Sharpness primarily when wide open (via dxomark, the-digital-picture, and less directly: Flickr)
   3. LoCA (via Flickr, or via or other webpages which specifically mention LoCA)
   4. Auto focus consistency, or length of ring throw if manual-focus-only.
4. Compare prices.

At this point I wasnt serious about portrait photography, though I had already read at least part of Light Science and Magic which is an excellent book that I highly recommend. The fact that I only rarely shot portraits at this time is why this books title includes three rather than four. Considering my then-present lack of interest in portraits, it should be of no surprise that the first four images in this book are of my family members (brother, nephew, niece, sister).

Sigma 85/1.4 EX DG HSM @ f/2.8 ISO 320

Sigma 85/1.4 EX DG HSM @ f/2.8 ISO 100

Sigma 85/1.4 EX DG HSM @ f/1.8 ISO 200

I had various disabilities, mostly musculoskeletal, which prevented me from a holding job. When my mother passed away (March 2 nd , 2016) is when I became serious about portrait photography. I knew that I couldnt hold an 8-5 job, so I had to be self-employed in order to choose my own hours, and I needed for my career to offer relatively high return for the hours worked. I was already interested in photography, and I understood that once I became skilled, I could earn a few hundred dollars for a few hours of work. So, I invested my inheritance into photography equipment with the belief that this was my best chance of getting off of social assistance. I leaned toward gear that worked best for studio work, because in studio I could use a tripod to help with my physical limitations.

Between February 29 th and April 16 th of 2016, I purchased:

• 135/2 Zeiss Sonnar
• 85/1.4 Zeiss Otus
• 50/1.4 Sigma ART
• Canon 6D Body (#2)
• Streaklight 360 (Strobe)
• And various other accessories, such as umbrellas and a printer.

When I bought these, the Sigma 85/1.4 ART hadnt been released yet. I love my Otus and I have no intention of selling it, but I wouldnt have chosen it over the ART. During its sales, the Sigma ART can be had for about 1/6 th the cost of the Otus. The ART seems to be inferior in only two significant ways: 1) The manual focus ring is short and relatively unsmooth, and 2) it has much worse LoCA.

Despite that, Im happy with the Otus; I just didnt have very much income at the time, and I could have used the difference to buy other gear. Once I do have good income, I may also buy the 55/1.4 and 28/1.4 Otus lenses.

I spent the next four months (March 9 th to July 11 th ) at a local zoo practicing composition, which was one of the most helpful things that I did. Because I didnt have to pose my subjects, and because birds and reptiles look good without correcting their posture (etc.), I was able to concentrate on framing of the background in relationship to the subject, the subjects placement in the frame (golden ratio), and so on. I believe I shot about 17-thousand images at that zoo; I was there so often that the staff knew me and stopped asking to see my entry ticket. I became good at finding nice scenes to place my subject in front of, and making small adjustments to my position to get it just right. I believe that these skills became almost automatic, which allowed me to later focus greater attention on learning other skills, such as posing.