I'm Getting Better

Graduation At The Adolf School. It's that time of year, and I returned to Hillsdale High School to photograph the students receiving their GEDs and High School Diplomas through the continuation school. My primary goal was to get a series of really nice photos of the graduates as they received their diplomas from the school's director. While candid photographs of the speakers at the podium would also be part of the coverage, the one posed handshake photo would probably be the most meaningful for the graduates, along with being a five-second window where I had total control of the photograph. 

Rehearsals: To prepare for the handshake photo, I got the sixteen graduates together and introduced myself and congratulated them on their achievements. Next, I gave the both instructions and a demonstration of exactly how I wanted them to proceed. First, the would shake hands with the director (right hand, below) while accepting the diploma (left hand, above). Next, I told them to stand on a blue-tape X I had placed on the stage, about ten feet in front of where I would be standing. Finally, I told them to stay put until I gave them the thumbs up sign, a signal for them to return to their chairs on the stage.

Equipment: Since I had so little time between graduates, the equipment needed to produce consistent results. I mounted a speedlight on a seven-foot light stand for a key light and aligned it with the taped "X" I had place on the stage. I triggered the flash using a radio transmitter. Then I went and stood on the X, and made selfies until I was happy with the exposure.  At the last minute, I decided to add a CTO gel onto the speedlight so I could use the same white balance preset when I photographed the speakers standing at the podium. With the gel in place, I reset my aperture to compensate for the light loss from the CTO gel. Finally (here's the genius part) I wrote down my final exposure settings (ISO, aperture, speedlight output) on a small card and taped it to the lightstand. This way I could effortless duplicate the setting when the graduates walked off  the stage.

I knew that when I returned to my usual aisle position on the floor, I'd be changing ISO, aperture size, and exposure duration "on the fly", so I was sure my settings would be very different than those selected for the flash-lit handshake shots.

This shot of the Valedictorian was made using only the house spot lights using a 28-70 equivalent lens on my Fuji T-4. I was shooting in burst mode, trying to capture one expressive moment during her presentation. This is the one I selected (60 frames just to get this one), and it's a winner.

When the last speaker had spoken I hurried back to my shooting position on Stage Left, an waited for the presentation of the diplomas. Only one shot per graduate was needed, and the whole process went quickly.

The exposures were very consistent, and no adjustments in post processing were necessary. I did erase an errant "Exit" sign,  since the images were not headed for publication so a little retouching is permissible.

The Takeaway: I believe that if you cannot add some form of light modifier (softbox or shoot-through umbrella), positioning the key light can greatly improve the quality of the image. In this cropping of the topmost image, you can see that the highlights are position higher on the face, although fairly close to the lens axis. If you look at the shadow cast by the tip of the nose, you will see that it's quite narrow AND does NOT CROSS THE UPPER LIP. This has been a hard rule for "normal" (read flattering) portraiture, as advocated by portraitist William Mortensen (1897-1965), a classic Hollywood photographer in the 1920s and 1930s. Like all rules, he and other photographer break the rule when an unconventional., albeit unflattering, portrait. Note too that the closer you light is to the lens axis, the better the chances you'll get some nice catchlights in your subject's eyes.

Congratulations, Class of 2026!