For every session that I partake in... I truly swallow my thoughts, because I get super nervous before every shoot. Usually, when I am on the shoot.. I may say a corny joke to laugh out the nervousness, lol. Periodically a snort may come out and it is always to late to stop it from coming out.


The part about processing your skills is advancing your skillset by studying how to become better. The tool in increasing your abilities to the next level. I am an honest Photographer, so if I have not and never done a specific session, I will inform my clients before proceeding. Honestly, I have done pretty much a variety of different sessions. But this here.. RIGHT HERE.. WHOAH CHILEEEEEE!



Let's say that this was a challenge. The great part about this shoot is that, this is my relative. So, it put so much ease on me. However, I did inform my relative and they trusted me. So, of course, I wanted to take the challenge.

AND I DID!


It was a beautiful night in Washington, DC to be around such a flawless couple. Clients also brings the energy to the session. It helps the session to go smoothly.


Playing with Light

Lighting in Photography will forever be your best friend! I mean honestly, can you use your camera without seeing some speck of light? Specifically, lighting at night can be challenging. However, you have to play with light. Before going to a shoot, you need to know what is your known resource of light available for you to use. Such as street lighting, restaurant lighting, building lighting, water fountain lighting and so on. These resources of light does help you be able to control your camera in shooting for specific looks. For me, I brought my one source of light, speed-lite.


Camera Settings

For night sessions, the best camera settings to use is a High ISO. This is with an aperture of about F/2.8 -F/4. But, if you are daring, you can go lower if your lens allow you to such as F/1.4 with a longer shutter speed. But also, it just depends on the lighting that is already given in the environment in which you are capturing your subject at.



For an example...


This image was shot in Georgetown, main street. I was able to play with lighting. As a reminder, my goal for this year is to play with color! I am pushing my abilities to play with color more. This session truly help me to become greater than normal.

This image was captured at Aperture: f/2.5, Shutter speed:1/80, ISO:1000. The f/2.5 gave me a focus on the client in the front. However, as you can see the client in the back is out of focused. The 2.5 aperture also gave me that crazy bokeh (blurred circles) effect in the back. The shutter speed is handled by the type of lens that you have. If you are shooting without a tripod, supposedly you can shoot at the lowest of 1/60. But honestly, it depends on the size of your lens. So, if you have you a sigma 85mm lens, then the lowest you will want to allow your shutter speed to be is the lens size, so for here it will be 1/80 and up. If you choose to go lower in your shutter speed, good luck. You will then receive a unfocused image. Some unfocused images aren't bad, just depends on the vision it gives to those looking at it..


Your camera settings all depends on the effect that you want to display. It is highly important to know what your clients need and add creativity to enhance the photo. Camera settings goes beyond just the normal knowledge. It can also allow you to do incredible tricks in camera.


Tips on Night Sessions

With Night Sessions, never be afraid to take on that extra sources of light. You may need it as a filler for the dark spots on the opposite side of the clients unlit body frame. If you can visit the location before the shoot, if you truly do not know the location.. Check the area out. Knowing what you need before the session is important. For me as always, I am a minimalist. I love less equipment. However, there is nothing wrong with taking an extra equipment just in case. Always try different settings, so if you are at a specific aperture, do not be afraid to test out the shutter speed.


I know for sure, night sessions will have to be revisited in the future! I am definitely up to bettering my weakness. This was a first for me and truly not bad for a first timer.


-Jen