ShutterSpeed

This is the finished product in all it's glory. We were able to avoid all the distractions and poses that helped the other shots lack in goodness. In my opinion, this was more difficult than training for six hours a day. Just ask Stacy.

Stacy Farman is more man than me… but only in the figurative sense, of course. She has completed an astonishing 30-plus triathlons since 2006 when she finished her first event. Since 2006, I’ve ran 11 miles, walked 13 and swam 100 meters (the current carried me 94). As for bicycling, not since the early 90s when my Schwinn’s brakes blew out.

Anyway, Farman’s badness aside, I shot a portrait of her. It was a difficult 15 minutes dealing with bad skies, wires, buildings, bushes and grease on my favorite pink(ish) shirt.

We started the shoot in Farman’s back yard because the dramatic gray sky I wanted was only apparent there. Unfortunately, so were power lines, bushes and her garage.

What is that? A power line running through her head? That doesn't seem safe and she's obviously upset.

After moving to the driveway, our results still lacked and I got a grease stain on my shirt after modeling with the bike… What a fool to think I could handle such a piece of equipment.

That garage does nothing for the photo and I'm about to become a training dummy for Stacy's next adventure -- MMA.

We finally gave up on the dramatic gray sky and went with happy blue… I hate happy blue.

We moved and the sky was blue. It ruined everything.

Finally, the sky clouded again and the gray was back. A few minor adjustments later, and we had our finished product. This one was close minus a happy Stacy (she was actually great, just nervous).

Oh, so close. Five seconds later, we nailed it.

Technical Info

subject: Stacy Farman

location: Her home (location withheld)

camera body: canon mark II
lens: 16-35mm (about 18mm)

ISO: 50

shutter speed: 1/250th

f-stop: f-9

strobes: yes — One Canon SpeedLight 580ex to the subjects front left. It was almost raining, so I opted to go with my small, portable lights rather than drag the enormous, and highly dangerous when wet, company strobes.

cons: Not too many other than the initial frames were not up to par. Stacy was great and the end product turned out well.