Migliorino - Alternative Portraiture Artistic Lighting and Design for Environmental Photography

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The goal of environmental portrait artist Benny Migliorino (Migs) is to communicate the personalities and emotions of his subjects. He has the imagination and ability to do this in dramatic images no matter the nature of the surroundings. Benny says, I almost prefer a situation that offers very little to work with. I love to create an image in which I can make an everyday location look like the setting of a big-budget production.

Bennys stylish, compelling images have graced the pages of Revolver, Alternative Press, American Photo, Popular Photography, Rangefinder, Photoshop User, Shutterbug, Nikon World, Field & Stream, and Outdoor Life. He was Named Photographer of the Year by PPA in 2010 and received the grand award in the portrait category from WPPI in 2006. Benny has recently added the roles of cinematographer, director, and director of photography to his repertoire. Benny says, Photography is my life, and I love it.

Copyright 2015 by Benny Migliorino

All rights reserved.

All photographs by the author unless otherwise noted.

Published by:

Amherst Media, Inc.

P.O. Box 586

Buffalo, N.Y. 14226

Fax: 716-874-4508

www.AmherstMedia.com

Publisher: Craig Alesse

Senior Editor/Production Manager: Michelle Perkins

Associate Editor: Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt

Associate Publisher: Kate Neaverth

Associate Editor: Beth Alesse

Editor: Harvey Goldstein

Editorial Assistance from: Sally Jarzab, John S. Loder, Carey Miller

Business Manager: Adam Richards

Warehouse and Fulfillment Manager: Roger Singo

ISBN-13: 978-1-60895-821-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014944597

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise, without prior written consent from the publisher.

Notice of Disclaimer: The information contained in this book is based on the authors experience and opinions. The author and publisher will not be held liable for the use or misuse of the information in this book.

CONTENTS

C oming from a wedding photography background, I was faced every weekend working with only one assistant, working in tight and not very pretty places, using small, more portable lights with me every place I went, and most importantly, limited time to get the special images I needed.

I was not going to give in and photograph everything with an on-camera flash; my clients were paying for a professional photographer. Being a professional is being able to adapt to any given situation, whether it is photographing a beautiful brides home, on the beach at 12:00 noon, or a cluttered 1010-foot living room.

My saving grace, that has always helped me deliver a professional product, is my knowledge of how to use light. My go-to gear for on-the-fly tight photography is the Nikon Speedlight System; it is small and easy to carry. When I became more involved with location/environmental portrait photography, I simply applied my knowledge of wedding photography to a different genre: environmental portraiture.

This book on environmental portraits will be great for someone new to photography or a seasoned veteran. It will show how to create great portraits without a large crew or a truck-full of lights. I will explain how I use just one to five Speedlights. as well as monolights and Speedlights together, or constant light sources, to achieve my desired results. This book will also explain how to use the location to your advantage to help tell the story of your subject.

Benny Migliorino

Make Use of Tight Spaces

This image (facing page) was made during a workshop on Long Island; this location is a hotel bar room storage area where the excess chairs and tables are kept. I used the corrugated garage door behind the bass player as a background. The bass player is a friend of mine who agreed to work with me in this workshop. Most of my subjects are not models, but people whom I photograph doing what they love, in an environment that suits them.

There is one Speedlight on the floor in the lower right-hand corner with a blue gel over the light.

Camera and Lighting Information

This photograph was made with a Nikon D3 camera, using a 70200mm lens set at 150mm. My exposure was f/5 at second, at ISO 1250. My subject and the background were lit using two Nikon SB-900 AF Speedlights. There was one Speedlight on the floor in the lower right-hand corner with a blue gel over the light, pointed up toward the corrugated garage door, giving me a blue hue on the background. The second Speedlight was right above the subject with a LumiQuest Promax SoftBox III, which was a 12-inch portable softbox. These lights were triggered with an SU-800 Wireless Speedlight Commander.