Location Location Location as they say.
It’s amazing how many different looks you can get from one good location. The secret is to isolate and show only what you want your viewer to see.
Here’s some examples. All taken in the same place but turning around and moving here and here can produce many different viewpoints for your subject’s background. The first images are taken in a local park. Lots of looks from the same small area.
I love urban city backgrounds on Sunday afternoons when it’s not busy with shoppers. So many great finds when you look for colours, textures and shadows, light, reflections, stairs and posing props.
These are taken in Bowen Hills.
Another place I love to shoot is Emerald Lakes on the Gold Coast. It’s tucked away from the glitter strip and is a step into a whole new world. Some images taken here shows how diverse the area is when you walk about with your subject, and see what you can find in the way of a place to pose with good light and interesting backgrounds. The opportunities this place offers is incredible.
A beach location can be busy to shoot in, so you have to look hard for your uninterrupted backgrounds.
It helps to go early in the morning or late afternoon. But the options are endless.
Not just near the water but in the bushy areas too.
These are all in the same area.
I also love Juxatposition in images. Putting things into a frame to say something about your model or mood. Things like signs and whatever else I can see visually to create an image. Here’s some examples:
In camera double exposures are fun too. My old film camera used to do them by exposing two photos onto the one frame of negative.
These days a few pushes of the right buttons can achieve the same but you can check your results immediately and reshoot if needed.
Dark plain backgrounds work best.
Other great places I have photographed people over the years include – Miami Marketta, China Town, Eat Street, woodlands, canal properties, private gardens and native bush areas, Boggo Road Gaol, Boomerang Farm, Yacht Clubs, train stations, tunnels, cities, in waterfalls, West End, swimming pools, various islands and beaches, wharves, Powerhouse Museum, underground in Spring Hill, and numerous other places.
They all offer something new and different.
It’s a good skill to be able to walk into a fresh new place, look around for textures, lighting, reflections, colours, design elements, stairs, flooring and backdrops and work with what you can see. You develop this by practice. Get a model or two, your camera and just go on a ‘photo walk’. Stop when you see the light nicely illuminating your subject or use flash. Try returning to the same place several times and explore areas you didn’t use the previous time. This way you really get to know your place. Things will be different if you return at a different time of day. Work with what you can see and just practice until it becomes second nature to see photo opportunities with your eyes.