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PORTRAITS Damien Lovegrove 1 Portraits by Damien Lovegrove Words and photography by Damien Lovegrove. Design by Luke Knight. Published by Lovegrove Photography Ltd. Copyright © 2016, Damien Lovegrove. All rights reserved. It is strictly forbidden to use or copy all or part of the contents of this publication other than for your own personal and private use. It is also strictly forbidden to distribute, reproduce, represent, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, translate or sell all or part of the contents of this publication without the prior written consent of Lovegrove Photography Ltd. version 1.02 Special thanks to Fujifilm. Damien Lovegrove is an official Fujifilm X photographer and Fujifilm UK ambassador. 2 About the Author Damien Lovegrove is considered by many to be one of the world’s most influential contemporary photographers. He is best known for creating portraits that make women look fabulous. He is a confident director and great fun to shoot with too. Damien’s lighting style is distinctive and his picture composition unique. Damien is an official Fujifilm UK ambassador and a renowned Fujifilm X photographer. © Ioannis Tsouloulis ‘‘ If the light is good, use it. If not, modify it or make your own. Never settle for bad light. Damien Lovegrove 3 Contents Introduction 7 Urban Portraits 115 The perfect location 116 Portrait Foundations 9 Finding locations 119 Have a vision 10 The recce 122 Great locations are key 13 Styling the shot 130 Background in or out? 16 Lighting 131 Connect with your subject 18 How to achieve the look 142 Intimacy 21 Create the moment 23 Hollywood Portraits 147 Have fun 26 The golden age of film 148 Capture a narrative 28 5 steps to create the look 154 Crop for impact 31 Kit list 156 “Action” 32 On a budget? 162 Relaxed posing 36 Turn it upside down 43 Boudoir 170 Aspect ratio 46 Background 171 Change your viewpoint 48 Profiles 54 Location, location, location 175 Shoot a sequence 56 Keep it real 180 Lighting Matters 58 Nudes 203 The direction of light 59 What’s in a name? 204 Sunlight 64 One light magic 70 Figure in the Landscape 243 Two lights 79 Multi-light setups 86 Studio 290 White balance 90 The perfect studio 291 Manipulate the light 94 Size matters 293 Quality over quantity 97 Ambient light 294 Shoot at 90° to the light 100 Simulated sunlight 103 Studio zones 296 The sky’s the limit 108 Studio walls 300 Break the rules with exposure 111 Lighting support 305 Photographic light 307 4 Contents Lighting Equipment 308 Colour Calibration 343 Lighting without lights 309 Image quality essentials 344 Continuous light 311 Calibrating your monitor 345 Flash 316 Printers 346 Reflectors 322 Using Lightroom 348 Lovegrove Flash Bracket 326 Cactus V6 II & RF60 326 Glossary 354 Lupo 1000 326 Workflow 327 6 stages of Creating Portraits 328 Capture 329 Import 332 Image Data Management 334 Develop 337 Export 339 Archive 341 Thank you for buying this book This book represents 5 years of my [email protected] photography and 2 years of writing. Please respect my copyright and kindly Thank you again for purchasing this book do not share this copy in any format. and I hope you enjoy it. If you would like to reproduce any content Best wishes, found within this book please contact us Damien. by email at: 5 Fujifilm X-Pro1 • XF 18mm • ISO 200 • 1/125 sec • f/8 I used a Speedlight on full power and zoomed right in to 105mm rigged high on a stand to capture this shot of Natalia at a beach lifeguard station in Spain. I had to use a x 4 ND filter to get the 18mm pancake lens from f/16 to a more sensible f/8. The wind was blowing in the wrong direction so I asked Natalia to hold the bottom of her dress, and her hair from her face. I then put the hazy sun behind her and concentrated on my shot composition. 6 themselves to greatness, and they fell by the wayside. It takes continual practice and improvement to get the most from photography and there are many obstacles along the way to overcome, including Introduction boredom, lack of progress, lack of fun, distractions and back pain. I say back pain because many photographers get fed up The secret of making consistently good lugging all the gear around and just give up photographs is to stay inspired and be altogether. That’s one of the many ways the passionate about photography. Inspiration Fujifilm X system made a difference for me. fuels the learning of new techniques, and passion generates the motivation needed You don’t need a Fujifilm camera to to continually practice. The excitement of benefit from this book. It doesn’t matter taking photographs has stayed with me what camera or lenses you shoot with. for the past 35 years. I’m naturally a slow Just remember that you are the most learner and it took me a while to get going at important element in your photography. first, but I’ve never stopped improving. The Then comes the lens that converts the photographs in this book are quite simple three dimensional scene that you have lit to take. Among them you will find shots with and crafted into a two dimensional image. faults, a few with a poor choice of settings, Finally the camera just records the scene. and photographs that are not quite sharp. Despite their faults they all deserve their A great many photographs in this book place here in my eyes. Two key things I have were shot on the Fujifilm X-Pro1, a camera learned about this photography malarkey considered out of date and slow these days. is not to be too hard on myself and to be It can be bought in near mint condition wary of competition judges’ opinions. for just a couple of hundred pounds on the secondhand market. No-one will be Being a good portrait photographer able to tell what camera you used to take requires key traits like having integrity, fun, a picture, but they will notice the lighting, respectfulness and a personable character. composition and connection with your It wasn’t until I was in my early 30s that I sitter. Having said that it helps to have a began to get that all important confidence camera that doesn’t hinder your progress. needed to hone these skills, and I shot So whatever you use to take your pictures, my first portrait in 1996 at the age of 32. stay inspired, be creative and have fun. Some of the leading photographers I met early in my career had confidence and craft skills in bucket loads, but somehow they lost the desire or focus to really push 7 Every photograph in this book was taken between 2011 and 2016 by myself, using Fujifilm X cameras and lenses. At Fujifilm X-Pro2 • XF 35mm • full resolution, the JPEG files exported ISO 200 • 1/500 sec • f/1.4 from Adobe Lightroom at quality 10 are usually between 6Mb and 14Mb for Sometimes it just all comes together the Fujifilm cameras that I have been when you least expect it. This shot using. Although they are shown at a high of Margaux on a railway platform resolution, the photographs in this book in Switzerland was taken while are well below 2Mb each. As a result we sheltered from a torrential there are several instances of heavy downpour. We used a pair of compression or edge artefacts in the files. sunglasses as a make shift Alice band and I directed Margaux to This body of work represents five years grip her jacket collar tightly. The of my creative life and now it is time to 35mm lens used wide open gave move onwards. I love to keep evolving and me that wonderful subject isolation. finding new challenges in life. Photography As you will read throughout this is the catalyst that makes this possible. book, one of the most important parts in the process of making Thank you Fujifilm for supporting me a portrait is to create a moment on my photographic journey. or an emotional connection. ‘‘ “Everything I know about photographing people is in this book and I hope it helps you to achieve a lifetime of enjoyment from your photography.” 8 1 Portrait Foundations 9 Have a vision Think things through and understand the mood that you want to portray in the image. Use this vision to choose a location and a lighting strategy. I work with either complimentary environments, for example a client wearing an evening dress in a sumptuous hotel after dark, or contrasting environments, like a man in a dinner suit in a rainy back-alley. I also use lighting to match the look. The softer the light, the more delicate the portrait and the harder the light, the more dramatic and intense the effect. 10