Get behind the scenes- gypsy

On this new post, A quick look behind the scenes at my portrait photography.

I believe that the best way to learn portrait photography is by understanding the components that go towards creating a good image which also tells a visual story.
After counting all your votes on my Facebook page, this image of an old lady from a small gypsy community living in Central Asia received the most votes.

This is how the picture came about:

The Preparations:
On my trip to Central Asia, I met a hiker who also happened to be a photographer, we got talking and he told me about a small, very close nit gypsy community living in the deserts of Uzbekistan. While he’d tried and failed several times to find them, this sparked my imagination and I decided that I would try to find this mysterious community myself.
Bukhara in Uzbekistan is one of the most beautiful cities on the Silk Road, which is where I found Nilofh, a young woman who agreed to take me to the village. She also said that I may not be welcome because they are not use to cameras.
When we reached the village the next day, I spent a few first hours just getting to know the locals and, with the help of Nilofh, I was accepted into the community. To the extent that they even allowed me to eat with them and share a few laughs. Only then, when I felt the time was appropriate, I took out my camera. I personally, always like to approach people as myself first then, as a photographer second.
It had been a very long day but, just a few minutes before we were about to leave the village, a young man approached me and asked me to photograph his grandmother. I was tired and the taxi was waiting so at first I refused. He was very persistent until eventually, I agreed and he took me to meet his charming grandmother. She sat in the shade, near her house, made of mud. I felt she had the most unique and interesting face, as you can see in the image.

The equipment:
Back then, I was working with my Canon EOS 40D, with the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens, on 55 mm.
There is no doubt that this is the best lens I worked with on a crop factor camera.

Technique:
Although her grandson had introduced us, I greeted her and shook her hand (remember, a person first photographer second).
Sometimes I will ask my subject to move a few steps to the left or right, in order to get better lighting or composition. But in this case, I did not move her at all. For two reasons: one, I don’t like to bother adults who may have trouble walking. Secondly, all the technical aspects for this image were almost perfect as she was sitting in the shade and there was enough bright sunlight from behind me, her mud hut home in the background, added just the right amount of warm atmosphere for the story.

Lighting:
As I mentioned earlier, she was sat in the shade and there was strong sunlight behind me, lighting her face. To fill in the shadows, I held the camera in one hand and in the other; I had a small reflector (HAKUBA 12-inch) which I usually carry with me. Because it’s not possible to illuminate the whole body with this instrument. However, it’s so compact and light, it was ideal for such a close shot. The reflector, on the left side of her face, filled in the shadows enough, giving her face a bit of a 3D affect.

Exposure:
Manual mode, I chose to shoot at a shutter speed of 1160 and aperture of 4.5. Why? Although the lens can reach an aperture of 2.8, I got the depth of field (and blurred background) I wanted by moving in closer to her face. I didn’t want to create a depth of field which is too shallow, because then only a small part of her face would be in focus. The 4.5 aperture allowed me to shoot with a shallow depth of field, allowing for just enough background blur but, still keeping her wrinkles sharp.

Post edit:
I was very gentle with this image. I used the curves tool in adobe Photoshop to slightly sharpen the contrast and that was it! It didn’t need anything else.
So that’s it, interesting face, good lighting and we got ourselves a great image.

The full story of this community with my images was published on 2012 February issue of Masa Acher travel magazine.

Please let me know if this post helped you and, as always, if you have any questions, please get in touch.
Oded.

** I wish to thank Linda Burnette for helping me  in writing this post**