A recent shoot for an aircraft leasing company, Seraph Aviation who are based in Dublin, Ireland. Ireland has become an important centre for the international aviation leasing business. The shoot involved shooting staff portraits over 2 days at their HQ in Dublin – a commercial photographers typical assignment.
The offices are bright and airy which meant I was able to utilise the option of combining ambient light with flash. I alternated between having each as a main light and the other as a ‘fill’ light. This can be quite tricky when you are under time pressure. I think it worked out nicely here.
I used a Bowens monobloc on a Wafer 140 Softbox, a piece of kit imported from the U.S. Its a fairly large light-fitting and gives an incredibly soft light to whatever you’re shooting. So its ideal for environmental portraits and rooms. I also used reflective umbrellas and barn-doors where needed, with several different reflectors.
The client wanted a general view of the offices, with portraits of people in their work situation. I lit these in advance and just let everybody get on with doing their tasks, interacting with the natural flow of what was happening.
For processing I applied a desaturated tone with a slight increase in contrast in Adobe Lightroom. I also reduced the levels of certain colours in photographs across the range and did some individual retouching on specific photos removing some blemishes.
