Behind the Scenes...Circus I

Circus I from Diego Huerta on Vimeo.


Exhausted, dehydrated and happy that is how we felt when we finished the Circus photo shoot. The humidity in the environment made the sweat run in our face and our clothes sticky. Yuck! Horrible feeling! However, it does not compare to the feeling of being inside an Italian style Big Top on a temperature of 107F.

We unloaded the truck with our equipment around 4pm to set up and have everything ready 25 minutes later. In the meantime, Dany talked with the Circus people to schedule the shots while I did a couple of lightning tests. I do not know if this is karma but something happens to me; I have a lot of productions when I have a lot of different shots to make in very little time. Seven different shots in seven different sets in less that two hours before the 6.30 pm show...a lot of stress!

In my shots I like to show the ambiences and the environments that surround me. In this case considering the Circus characters, I think that you can make a picture a lot more impressive when I can play with the environment and the light that they are used to. The only thing that matters is that such GREAT places will give you a GREAT value. If you wish to have the person and the environment correctly illuminated, old tricks have to be re-considered to have the front and back with the correct light and avoid using Photoshop at the post-production.

My old trick is the following: when you are going to shoot in a big place, try to see where can you get the lightning on site that can help you play with the final composition. Place the person in such way that the lightning of the location helps you light the person/character. This will make your picture a little bit warmer and natural. And, a plus is that it will save you a lot of time and money from assembling and putting together additional strobes or lights. And for the final touch, shoot with slow speeds...always with a tripod. The results tend to be surprising.

It does not matter if it is hot or cold, if you are tired or hungry. Enjoy it and know that it may turn in to the best photo shoot yet.

BdeM

Officially, this is going to be my first post in English. I promiste to start translating my entire blog.

Yesterday was a really awesome day for Dany (my producer) and me, a good friend who is the Marketing Director in the Ballet Company gave me a call to invite us to take a few shots for the new campaign (yeah right, a few?? hahahaha, 493 shoots in 2 hrs)

We started in the dressing rooms, wow imagine the CHAOS, people entering and leaving from everywhere. Light, Makeup, Run and Showtime! I LOVE MY LIFE!!