The Photo I Wanted To Make

The Photo I Wanted To Make: The event was the 2024 5K Run/Walk that promoted Mental Health Awareness Month. It was held at Ryder Park in San Mateo, a venue where I've photographed past events. The distinctive foot bridge made an interesting backdrop, so I did my best to include it in my composition. This photo is the photo I had in mind, although there are some technical issues that need to be addressed.

The construction of the bridge is interesting. A large arch spans the length of the bridge. It is anchored in concrete at each end. Cables connect the arch to the bridge itself, providing the necessary support. For these shots, I sat at the base of one of the concrete supports while pointing my camera towards the other. In this way, the runners would be coming toward me. It isn't necessarily bad, but it would render poorly on newsprint.

This sketch photo (right) clearly shows how essential the flash was for this particular series of photos. Without it, there is absolutely no detail in the shadows, and my subjects are reduced to silhouettes.

After I started taking some sketch photos, I realized that since the bridge was a two-way street, all of the oncoming foot traffic would be on the left. I altered my composition somewhat, since the right half of the frame would essentially be empty. I also adjusted my flash to favor the left side of the frame, and tilted the head up slightly to keep from overexposing the bridge where they stood. In this photo the runner had to be very close before I could make he exposure, due in part to the limited output of the flash and the 10mm setting on my APS 10-24mm zoom lens.

This photo is probably the one with the best exposure, a lucky accident of being in exactly the right place at the right time. Keep in mind that all of these shots were made with the flash on-camera, so they are somewhat flat in appearance.

This runner was wearing a heart costume, and I thought this would be the money shot. When I took a closer look, the subject was just too small in the frame, and I had caught him at an oblique angle which hid his facial features. I did have other runner photos, so I got up from my shooting position and prepared to leave. 

Subject To Frame Ratio: I was never really happy with any of the original concept photos. The problem was what I call the Subject-To-Frame Ratio. I prefer to have the main subject occupy more than 25% of the full frame area. This is important to remember because I have no control over the published size of the image, and if it is reproduced in a typical column width (approximately 3" wide), the faces of my subjects would be too small to recognize. 

The Photo I Got: As I prepared to leave the footbridge I saw these two ladies from Star Vista, one of the event sponsors, with a homemade "frame" for people who wanted their photos taken in this makeshift photo booth. I got their attention long enough to make this photo, thinking that I already had a suitable photo. This photo also illustrates my preferred subject-to-frame ratio. The frame, containing my two subjects, occupies about one-third of the full frame. 

It occurred to me that I could improve on the shot, so I went back to look for them. I found them photographing a pair of runners and their dog, so I introduced myself, explained what I wanted. I had them turn to face the sun, and after making two exposures, I had what I needed.

©Joe McNally. Photo source here.

Something For Next Time: While speedlights (small, battery-powered electronic flashes) are convenient, they are not as powerful as one would like. There are several work-arounds: You can position two of them together and trigger them simultaneously, or you can move the speedlight/s closer to the subject. During a video presentation, photographer Joe McNally said he often places his main subject near the edge of the frame, as he did in this image. If one could magically see past the left edge of the frame, they would see a large soft box high and to the left of the model.  The trick is to include some visual content in the right half of the frame, which Mr. McNally has clearly done.

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda: Next time I'll secure a speedlight the rail using a combination of gaffer tape and a ball bungee or two. In this rather clumsy mockup, you can see that positioning the speedlight on the rail decreases the light-to-subject distance. And while the beam spread might not be wide enough to provide full-height illumination, it could be just enough to illuminate the most important parts of the subject. Then too, the rail-mounted speedlight could become the key light, and the camera mounted speedlight could become the fill. Of course I didn't pack either a ball bungee or a roll of gaffer tape, but that situation will be remedied immediately.