BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – A PORTRAIT IS PRICELESS

In my view, portraits like this are priceless. This is my Dad, and this portrait lays everything to bare about who he is at this time in his life. It’s an iconic image for me and my family, and I was blessed to make it. Photography is truly a blessing and I am very thankful it is my profession. It wouldn’t have been possible for me to get to where I am today without the help of many, and my family most importantly. For all of those people I am grateful every day.

If you’d like to book a portrait session or a creative marketing consultation with me please contact me through my website www.portraits.paulbellinger.com.

About this photo: I made this portrait before a documentary film screening my Dad and I attended in downtown Billings. My Dad has been a willing subject as my portraiture has evolved over the last few years. He was one of the first subjects in my VIP series here. For this portrait, having only 15-30 minutes to set up and shoot, I decided to draw inspiration from one of my favorite legendary photographers, David Bailey, who is known for shooting very quickly. He is also known for using a white background and no fuss lighting. It was a very refreshing way to shoot, keeping things simple and getting a great result.

Tips for photographers: This is a very simple one light lighting technique that actually requires two lights. I think of it as a one light technique because there is only one light on the subject, a 22 inch silver beauty dish with white diffusion sock over it. The light is about three or less feet away from the subject and a foot or two higher than the subject’s head camera right. I’ve complicated matters slightly by adding a black flag in between the light and the subject, to block some of the light hitting his left ear (camera right). The flag is a piece of black foam core clamped to a light stand. The second light is on the background to make it a bright white, and some of that light is reflecting back onto the subject, creating a rim light you can see on his right ear (camera left).

BILLINGS MONTANA PHOTOGRAPHER – DOWNTOWN BILLINGS FROM THE LOWER RIMS

Every now and then I see a sunset breaking and run up the hill in time to make a few pictures. When I do, my favorite subject is downtown Billings. It looks so cozy and quaint from this distance. You can’t tell if the buildings are empty or not. You can’t see how dirty or clean it is, or how many homeless people there are. Billings is more than just a pretty city on the banks of the Yellowstone, but sometimes it’s nice to remember that we are blessed with geography if nothing else. My wife and I live very close to the rims and we love to explore the “no mans land” on the Eastern side of the rims with our dogs. Billings has so much to offer, we are fortunate to make this place our home.

Paul Bellinger photography is a full service portrait studio in downtown Billings Montana. We specialize in wedding and portrait photography, please visit www.paulbellinger.com for weddings, and www.portraits.paulbellinger.com for portraits and commercial photography.

Tips for photographers: This was one of those, “Wow it’s going to be a great sunset,” grab your camera and run kind of shoots. I didn’t bring a tripod, a sign I was more interested in the adventure of hiking on the rugged cliffs behind my house than I was in making serious pictures. But I guess when you’re a professional photographer every photo is serious. This image is a composite of four exposures, blended into a panorama in photoshop. This is a crop from an even wider view. I made the exposures with a Sony A7ii and Zeiss Loxia 35mm.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – OUR BOY SALA IS ALL GROWN UP!

He’s all grown up but Sala is still injury prone! He runs around the backyard like crazy, patrolling our fence line. He loves being outside and goes out for about 6 hours a day. He’s in great shape from so much exercise, but he’s constantly running into things and getting cuts and scrapes. He broke off his dew claw a few days before this portrait and we were on the way to have the bandage removed at the vet’s office when I thought it would be a fitting time to make his portrait. It’s fitting because being injured and playing though injury is a major part of his character. We found this crazy pup in the Piney Woods outside of Nacogdoches TX and he’s grown into a strapping young man! We’re happy we found him and adopted him, he brings a lot of joy to our family, even if his name does technically mean “Moron” in Hindi.

Beautiful, timeless studio portraits are a specialty of mine. I’ve put in countless hours of study and practice to truly understand the art of portraiture and I am constantly pushing to get better and evolve. When you book a portrait sitting with me you aren’t just getting me for the few hours that we’re together, you’re getting everything that I’ve put into my craft, culminating with my best performance to date, at your sitting. Let me put my passion into your next portrait, visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com for more information.

Tips for photographers: Well there is a lot of different lighting going on here. The first two portraits are a 3 light setup, with the key light a large soft box in front of and above my pup. You can see the catchlight in the top of the eyes. The bottom catchlight is created by a silver reflector on the floor in front of Sala. The other two lights are two kickers from the back on both left and right sides to create some edge lighting around Sala and help his dark fur separate from the black background. Both of the kicker lights are bare strobes with the standard 7-inch silver reflector on them, and are about two feet higher than Sala’s head, which is probably too high but the stands were at their lowest and I was too lazy to switch out for smaller stands. We had a vet appointment to make after all.

The third portrait is lit with a window to the camera right of Sala and few feet behind him. There is also a silver reflector camera left to reflect some window light back on to Sala’s face. The catchlight you see in his eye is the window. The fourth portrait is lit from behind with the window that has a piece of white diffusion fabric over it. Just behind me on both sides of the camera are two 8 foot high white reflectors as well as the small silver reflector camera right. It’s amazing how much you can do with a window!

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – FASHION TEST WITH CHRISTINE!

I mentioned on Instagram (@PJBellinger) that I should post a color version of Christine’s headshot, because her eyes are insane! Christine is a fantastic model based in Billings but who works around the world. She’s represented by Rocky Mountain Entertainment Agency and Images NYC, and probably a few more. We only had an hour to meet for a quick test shoot, so we’ll definitely have to plan a more extensive shoot soon. Stay tuned for that.

Fashion photography is one of our specialties at Paul Bellinger Photography. Models and actors frequently need new headshots and new images to add to their portfolios. Get in touch to book your portfolio or headshot sitting at www.portraits.paulbellinger.com.

Tips for photographers: This is a really easy lighting setup. Christine is facing a big window and has a white reflector behind her for a background. She’s surrounded by black on both sides, a black wall camera right and black 4x8 foot reflector on the camera left side. I’ve got black curtains on my windows so I can make them bigger or smaller to soften or harden the light or to move the light to one side or the other. The catchlights in her eyes give away the size and position of the window light.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – FASHION PORTFOLIO SITTING WITH LESLIE!

Meet new model Leslie! She’s recently returned from a trip to LA for an international modeling competition that she pretty much cleaned up at, with a number of first place finishes and lots of call backs. She’ll be signed with a major agency soon if she keeps up the good work! I always like working with inspired young people like Leslie. I wish her the very best of luck in her endeavors!

Yes we do fashion photography at Paul Bellinger Photography! Models and actors, book a portfolio building sitting with us today to get your career off the ground! Please visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com for more information.

Tips for photographers: Both of these images were made with window light. You can do a lot with a window! In the first image Leslie is facing towards the window that I am sitting in and she is only about 4 feet from the window so the falloff is pretty quick, highlighting her high cheekbones with darker falloff around the edges. She’s surrounded by black on both sides, a black wall on one side and two 4x8 foot black reflectors on the other. The black eats up the light, ensuring that no light is bouncing around to fill the shadows. In the second image the window is camera right and the curtains are closed down so that only a narrow strip of light is coming through. By shrinking the size of the window light I’ve made the light harder and the shadow cast by her nose is creating a defined Rembrandt pattern. Again I used the black 4x8 foot reflectors out of frame camera left to prevent the window light from bouncing off of anything else in the studio and filling in the shadows. By doing this I ensure the shadows are as dark as possible. I love the drama of dark shadows and I think it’s especially fantastic in black and white and with a model with such dramatic features as Leslie.

HOW TO GET A BADASS PROFESSIONAL HEADSHOT IN BILLINGS MONTANA! TIP 2: DITCH THE BLUE BACKGROUND!

A great looking headshot will make a powerful first impression for people who find you online. If your headshot looks professional, modern and stylish, you will make a great first impression. How do you get a professional, modern and stylish headshot in Billings Montana? Well of course you can come to us at Paul Bellinger Photography, and we can show you. But since we can’t service the entire city I’ve started a headshot tip series here on the blog for people that can’t get a sitting with us. Tip #1 is about looking your best, and you can find it on the blog here. Tip #2 is below.

Tip 2: Ditch the blue background! The blue background is all too popular in Billings these days and it’s ruining a lot people’s headshots. The speckled blue background with the extreme spotlight/vignette and hair light is the worst offender. It looks dated, plain and simple. It’s a look that was popularized by Lifetouch in the 80s and 90s for high school yearbook pictures with a ton of hair light to highlight the massive hair of the day. So the first problem is that blue background is not modern, it’s not stylish, no matter how professionally it can be done. In fact, any colored background will inevitably look dated and will be associated with a particular era (the brick wall background for instance, is very 80s). The second problem with the blue background is another problem that all colored backgrounds have: it’s distracting. When people browse your website or check out your profile on LinkedIn/Facebook/Twitter, etc. they are only going to look for a few seconds, and you want them to connect with your face for as many of those seconds as possible so they start to feel like they know you. As soon as they make that human connection, you’ve got a chance. But when you have a colored background the eye immediately gets distracted away from the face and onto the background, so no connection is made in those brief few seconds and they move on to the next candidate. So to reiterate a point made in Tip #1 nothing in your headshot should compete with your face for attention. No jewelry, clothing, hair/makeup, or background should attract more attention than your face.

So now that it’s clear you shouldn’t use a colored background, and especially the blue speckle (or brick wall), what kind of background fits the criteria of professional, modern and stylish? Keep it simple! There are only 3: black, white, and gray. There is a reason these are the background colors preferred over the generations by the great master portrait artists, they look timeless, which means they always look both modern and classic and can never be pinpointed to a single era. But why did the great masters start using black, white and gray to begin with? Because these neutral, colorless backgrounds do not distract the viewers attention away from the face, making the face the true centerpiece of portraiture over the ages. Pick up any fashion magazine today, and you’ll see black, white and gray backgrounds are ubiquitous. So in conclusion, when you’re looking for a headshot photographer in Billings Montana, make sure to request a headshot on a black, white or gray background, and ditch the blue background. Read Tip #3 here!

Tips for photographers: This is the same headshot lighting technique I discussed in the previous post here. The only difference is that I’ve turned the background light off, so now the white wall is going gray. I love gray! You can adjust how dark or light the gray is by adjusting the distance between the subject and the background. When you move the subject closer to the background you also move your lights on the subject closer to the background and the white wall becomes a lighter shade of gray. Move them farther away from the background and it’ll go a darker shade of gray until it eventually goes black if you move far enough away from the background. Enjoy!

HOW TO GET A BADASS PROFESSIONAL HEADSHOT IN BILLINGS MONTANA! TIP 1: LOOK GOOD!

Everybody needs a great headshot these days. Most new clients will meet you online before ever meeting you in person and your headshot makes the biggest first impression. So it’s very important that wherever people can find you online, your headshot looks professional, modern and stylish. I’ve been telling this to people in Billings Montana for over a year now, but it is apparent that what I mean by “professional, modern and stylish,” must not be very clear, because I’m seeing a lot of people with unprofessional, dated, and lame headshots. If you come to me for your headshots I’ll show you what I’m talking about and give you a headshot that will make the best first impression possible for you and your business. But I know that not everyone in town can afford the luxury of having me as their headshot photographer, so I’ve put together some headshot tips so you can still get a badass headshot. I’m dropping the tips one at a time and here’s the first one.

Tip 1: Look good! This one is on you, put some effort into it! Do everything you can to come in for your headshot session looking great and looking like you want to look. Whatever your personal style may be, make sure your clothes fit how you want them to fit, and are not wrinkled. If necessary, get a haircut, get groomed, or book a professional hair and makeup artist for your headshot session so that you’ll look your absolute best. If you book a headshot session with me you’ll have the option of having a professional hair and makeup artist in the studio, keeping a close eye on your hair while we shoot so your hair looks amazing. I work closely with my favorite hair and makeup artist Sydney Ross, who is one of the few true professionals in Billings at camera-ready makeup and hair. We do this all the time and we know how to make sure you look flawless on camera. We also do a pre-consultation with our clients about what to wear. In general I advise neutrals, gray, black, white, off white, and earth tones. Bright colors, patterns and accessories are distracting and we want your headshot to feature YOU, not your clothes. Your look should compliment your personality, not compete with it. That’s it! The rest is on your photographer! Unfortunately I see a lot of photographers doing headshots that either don’t know how to, or simply aren’t doing their damnedest to make their clients look good. I’ll tell you what to look for and what to ask when picking a headshot photographer in the next tips, but I’ll let you in on a little secret right here: a good camera doesn’t make a difference if it’s not in the hands of someone who has carefully studied the art of the headshot. Any photographer can give you a mediocre headshot, but only a headshot specialist who knows how to make a great headshot can truly make you look your best. Be sure to follow along! Tip #2 is here! www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

Tips for photographers: This is a four light setup, three on the face and one on the background. The light setup is the right triangle setup made popular by Peter Hurley, the headshot king. Using two stripboxes and a small softbox I make a right triangle with lights and shoot through the triangle. I use a stripbox and the softbox to create a 90 degree right angle with the softbox on bottom. A second stripbox makes the hypotenuse of the right triangle. Some people use this setup and keep the lights all at the same power, but I personally like to have a definitive key light so that the direction of the highlights and shadows does not get confused. The key light is the vertical stripbox (as opposed to the angled hypotenuse stripbox). In this case it is camera left and is about a stop brighter than the other the two fill lights. The catchlights in the eyes make the setup very obvious, so look closely and you’ll see exactly how my lights are placed. Bring the subjects as close to the lights as possible while still keeping the catchlights fully within the colored part of the eye (don’t let the catchlights leak into the white of the eye, it’s not pleasing). The background light is a bare strobe with 8 inch reflector right behind the subject. I light the white wall to the point that the white starts to get blown out on the histogram. Make sure to keep the subject about 10 or more feet from the white wall or the background light will bounce and backlight your subject.

BILLINGS MONTANA PHOTOGRAPHER – HAPPY SUPER BOWL!

Today is the Super Bowl and I’m up way earlier than usual on a Sunday! I’ve got fresh coffee, beautiful morning light, and a smoker filled with pork. I’d say that bodes well for the day ahead! When the pork is ready I’m off to Ken’s for a day full of football, family, and of course, abusing his massive photo book library. In honor of the football season, I’m posting one of the few football photos I made this year. This is an outtake from a helmet shoot I did with Ken Jarecke for Hail Varsity Magazine. The Huskers were unveiling an alternative uniform against Northwestern, and had been struggling, so I wanted to make something a bit ominous. We lost. But oh well, today is about the Super Bowl!

I love the super bowl, regardless of who’s playing, but it’s always a little bittersweet because it’s the end of football season. Strangely, I feel more reminiscent about the year that’s past on the day of the super bowl and not on new year’s eve, when the year literally ends. It’s the end of the 2015 season, so it’s kind of like 2016 starts tonight at midnight. The ball drops when the game ends and we look forward to a great year ahead. 2016 came early for Nebraska fans this year, as the season ended on December 26 when the Huskers beat UCLA in Levi’s Stadium where the Super Bowl will take place today. I started the year sitting at a bar in London, watching my beloved Huskers from across the pond. I missed the season opener for only the second time in 10 years, and we lost the opener for the first time in my lifetime. Of course I feel guilty about it, but just like the players, I have to put it behind me and focus on the 2016 season, and not missing another opener.

For the record: I want Denver to win the Super Bowl and make the AFC West proud, something that I hope my Kansas City Chiefs can do next year. I’m also throwing my good karma behind Denver because some of my best friends and family are Denver fans, so I want them to be happy. For people who would say that I should hate Denver because they are the Chiefs rivals in the AFC West, I just don't have the energy for that and I've always been all about loving my own teams rather than hating on someone else's. I do like Carolina a lot too, just by the way they play, I love teams with good defense and a running attack/mobile QB. What self respecting Nebraskan doesn’t? I’ve been rooting for them in the NFC all season (along with the Seahawks for my bro-in-law). I also like Cam Newton and I hope he gets a chance to dab against Denver’s #1 ranked defense. I think we’re in for a good one and I’m not making a prediction. Happy Super Bowl!

Tips for photographers: Photography can be so strange sometimes. Why did I light this helmet like this? I was heavily influenced by the modern masters Marco Grob and Dan Winters around this time in 2015 (still am) and was doing a lot of portraits inspired by them. So I lit the helmet like I was lighting faces at the time, with hard light and flags. The Huskers were going to unveil this helmet against Northwestern, whose colors are purple, so I tried to put a purple-ish light on the front of the helmet to signify the upcoming game. The red light is for Nebraska, since there isn’t a lot of red on this helmet I decided to add some. Nebraska was off to one of its worst starts in history so I wanted to keep the overall image dark and ominous. The key light on the N of the helmet is a bare strobe, flagged to create the pattern you see and only highlight the N, while keeping the rest of the helmet black, as it was a matte black helmet. It was kind of fun playing around with this helmet and I’m thankful to Ken Jarecke and Hail Varsity Magazine for the opportunity. www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR! AND HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MY WIFE!

Happy New Year! January 1 is a special day for me because my wife and I were married in India on January 1, 2010. It’s been six years and I have to say that convincing her to marry me was the best decision I’ve ever made. She makes my day, every day. We spend a lot of time together and yet we can’t get enough of each other. We’re blessed. We had an amazing 2015 and 2016 will be just as awesome. 2015 was a year of travel and adventure and I accomplished a lifelong goal to visit all 50 US states with a roadtrip to Alaska. I also visited 5 different countries in 2015, and that is a personal high for one year but I look forward to breaking that number routinely in the coming years. 2016 has a tough act to follow, but the possibilities are endless when you face everyday with the love and appreciation of a lifelong partner. Thank you to everyone who has made this dream life possible, and most importantly, my amazing beautiful wife Nisha!

Tips for photographers: Looking at the nearly 60 blogs I wrote in 2015 it’s obvious that I’ve got my game face on when it comes to improving my technique and vision. I’m shooting constantly and fine tuning my skills. I can’t be satisfied and I won’t be. I’m coming close to mastery of the tools at my fingertips but I don’t think my vision will ever stop evolving and right now it’s still advancing quickly. I’m speeding out of control on the “road to seeing” to use Dan Winters’ phrase, but my foot is still on the gas pedal. I’m looking forward to the road ahead. Cheers to 2015 and making 2016 the best year yet! This picture? She’s facing a big window behind me at my studio. www.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – SNOWY MOUNTAIN ENGAGEMENT SESSION

I had a blast running around in the Beartooth Mountains with Elizabeth and Scott for their engagement session in East Rosebud! I’m always inspired when my clients have as much love and respect for nature as I do and want to head the mountains for any kind of photography session. But East Rosebud is a special treat because it is truly one of the most beautiful places on the planet. I have traveled far and wide, and seen many of the most famously beautiful mountain ranges, and I can tell you that East Rosebud is as pretty as any of them. Thank you Elizabeth and Scott for a wonderful day in the mountains!

It’s the end of the year and it’s been a busy one at Paul Bellinger Photography. Thank you to everyone who helped us make 2015 amazing and we are looking forward to another outstanding year in 2016! If you’re getting married in 2016 and looking for a great Montana wedding photographer please visit www.paulbellinger.com for more information on booking. Our studio is located in downtown Billings Montana and we travel worldwide for weddings.

Tips for photographers: This picture was made with the Sony A7ii and Zeiss Loxia 35mm f/2 at 3.2, 1/320 and ISO 400. My standard tip for shooting in the mountains is to use a long lens, so this is an interesting case where I broke that rule. I usually shoot with a 70-200 lens most of the time when I’m around the mountains because I like the way the compression pulls the mountains in and makes them look gigantic. But when you get this far up East Rosebud creek you’re IN the mountains and a long lens will only let you show a single peak or two. In order to show the epic environment around us I had to opt for a wider lens. Notice however that I did not go crazy wide with a 14mm or anything like that, which would have made the mountains look much smaller and further away. There were some “standing in on a rock with nearly freezing white water around you” considerations to factor in as well, so it can be difficult to use the long lens when you don’t get to stand anywhere you want.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS HEADSHOTS THAT AREN’T BORING!

Everyone needs a good-looking headshot these days! With profile photos on several different social media accounts, your headshot may be seen by potentially thousands of people before they ever meet you in person. Your headshot makes an immediate impression so it’s important that your online presence is carefully curated to create the impression you want the world to see. The world has changed and boring headshots aren’t going to work anymore! You need a headshot that will stand out from the crowd of boring profile pics and amateur looking cell phone selfies. Lucky for you it’s easy to stand out for the right reasons if you hire a professional portrait photographer, especially if you find a photographer that understands the art of the headshot. When you find the right photographer make sure and give them some creative leeway, after all you’re hiring them for their taste and expertise, don’t hamstring them by requesting a boring “safe” look. Let them make something exceptional for you. At Paul Bellinger Photography we specialize in badass portraits and headshots that will help make your online presence pop! To book your sitting visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com.

Tips for photographers: This headshot lighting is inspired by Peter Hurley’s lighting technique. I initially set out to replicate the Peter Hurley look, but then quickly got shadowy. So I started with three lights on the face, to create a triangle catchlight pattern in the eyes similar to one that Peter Hurley uses. Essentially I created a right triangle out of light modifiers with a two or three foot opening in the middle to shoot through. Bringing the subject close to the lights creates something of a big ring-light pattern with quick falloff on the face and catchlights that can be very striking. But in my opinion there is too much fill in the shadows when the subject’s face is surrounded by big lights so I tweaked the ratios between the three lights until there was a clear shadow pattern that creates dimension on the face. Camera left I used a large 5 foot octabox in a vertical position perpendicular to the subject’s face as the key light, with the power set about 3 stops brighter than the other two lights, which will act as fill and catchlights. Underneath the camera a few feet below the subject’s face is a 4 foot softbox pointing straight up at the ceiling, creating a right angle with the octabox key light, forming two sides of a right angle triangle. The third light acts as the hypotenuse of the right triangle, connecting the other two on a 45 degree angle. You can see each of the modifiers in the catchlights if you look closely, although the key light is most prominent. To finish off the look I added a silver reflector behind the subject out of frame to the camera right that creates the edge light you see on the camera right side of the subject’s face.  See more headshots, including tips for photographers by clicking here.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – TWO OF MY FAVORITE HEADSHOTS!

One of the blessings of being a portrait photographer is making portraits of the people you love the most. All portraits are special but portraits of the people you love are priceless. These are my wife’s parents, Ma and Baba, and for going on six years now, they’re my parents too. They recently made their second trip to the US for Thanksgiving and they spent over a week in Billings Montana with us. I am very thankful that I got to spend about three hours with them in the studio and we made some beautiful portraits that my wife and her family and I will forever cherish. Ma and Baba are back in Hazaribagh India now, safe and sound. Thank you to everyone who made them feel welcome during their time here.

Everyone needs a professional headshot as part of their online presence these days! Your various online profile photos will be viewed thousands of times more than your actual face will be! If you’re in business, you shouldn’t settle for anything less than putting your best face forward and you only get that from a professional portrait photographer. Visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com to book a headshot or portrait in Billings Montana.

Tips for photographers: Do you recognize this lighting technique? It’s the same as the last post. I mentioned that I use this lighting technique often because it’s so easy to set up and everyone always loves this look (especially women). I mentioned to Ma that these would be her favorites when we were shooting this look and sure enough, when it came time to pick her absolute favorite image from her sitting, this was her favorite. Read the last post here.

BILLINGS MONTANA FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER – BEAUTY HEADSHOT

I promised on Instagram that I would show the color version of this photo on the blog so everyone can see Arley’s stunning blue eyes. She is really a Montana treasure, and such a joy to be around and work with. I can’t wait to work with her again soon on a fashion shoot that we are planning now. Thank you to Sydney Ross for hair, makeup and styling, as always, you are the best. We’re definitely trying to raise the bar for fashion photography in Montana. It’s not just flannel and cowboy boots in a field of grass. We’re inspired by the amazing fashion photography that is happening around the world right now, and we want to show that we can make high quality work in Billings Montana, or anywhere else in the world. Check back to for updates in early 2016! www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

Tips for photographers: This is one of my favorite window light setups. It’s a go to lighting technique to start the day with because it’s easy, starting with natural light always get’s your model relaxed, and this soft lighting is great for beauty shots, which you want to get out of the way right when the model comes out of hair and makeup. Arley is standing just in front of a large window, with a piece of white diffusion cloth over it. I am standing a few feet in front of her, and Sydney is holding a white styrofoam reflector in between Arley and I that you can clearly see in the catchlight in the bottom of her eye. Behind me is a pair of 4x8 foot white reflectors creating a beautiful soft fill light that is flattering for all skin types. I made this picture with the Sony A7 and Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 at f/2.8.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – BADASS HEADSHOT

Here’s another great example of a badass headshot that we’ve made recently! The dramatic lighting and bright eyes make for a very striking image that stands out from the crowd of boring headshots in Billings Montana. It may be a little too dramatic for some industries, but it’s great for actors, models, artists and anyone looking for an eye-catching edgy editorial portrait. It would also make a great professional portrait for anyone wanting to convey power with their headshots, such as lawyers, business managers and CEO’s. But the main point is that at Paul Bellinger Photography we can make a headshot or portrait that is unique just for you, so you will always stand out. Please get in touch with us if you haven’t updated your professional business portraits or corporate headshot in Billings Montana recently, we’d love to make something just for you. www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

Tips for photographers: We always make cool portraits and headshots whenever my friend and talented photographer Zak Jokela comes to town. We love to hang out in the studio and test different lighting setups. We never test out new lighting techniques on paying customers, so we have to do a lot of testing with models, friends, assistants, etc. to work out a new lighting technique before using it on clients.

This portrait was inspired by Martin Schoeller and the basics of the lighting setup are similar to his. The key light is a pair of 8ft strip boxes just a few feet in front of the subject and the camera is actually right in between the two strip boxes, which are parallel to each other a little more than shoulder distance apart, pointed directly at the subject. So you shoot this portrait standing in between a pair of strip boxes. Schoeller gets his lights very close to his subjects’ faces, and surrounds them in black so that the light falloff is deep and natural. We took it a step further by placing a pair of black flags in-between the strip boxes and Zak’s face to deepen the shadows on his cheeks and ears. It became our goal to silhouette the ears, because I guess we don’t like ears to be lit anymore (see my previous post here for more on that). One tradeoff for using these flags was that they cut into the strip boxes in the catchlights, making for narrower catchlights that what Schoeller usually achieves. Schoeller shoots very close to his subjects with a large format film camera, so the depth of field is usually shallow. We replicated that shallow depth of field by using the Sony-Zeiss 55mm at f/2.5 very close, nearly at minimum focal distance. The background is just a 4x8ft white reflector a few feet behind the subject. The falloff is so fast that you can make the background go black pretty easily too, but we liked having the gray background to create separation from Zak’s silhouette.

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – A PORTRAIT STUDIO FOR YOUR WEDDING DAY

I love this portrait of Alysse and Dan on their wedding day in Bozeman Montana! A beautiful portrait is so timeless, and so powerful! Sadly, portraiture is a lost art in todays cell phone photo saturated world. So we decided to bring a portrait studio to a few weddings this summer and make some elegant portraits of our couples and their guests all dressed up and looking great. This portrait of Alysse and Dan is one of my favorites. Their wedding was at the Big Yellow Barn, so we set up the studio in one of the old stables! Adding our studio lighting with such a cool location really made for a unique set of portraits. Thank you to Alysse and Dan for an awesome wedding day and all of their family and friends for posing for us! Thanks also to Zak Jokela for assisting and second shooting this wedding with me!

The idea of a wedding day portrait studio is to make timeless portraits of the bride and groom, and their guests, looking their best, with beautiful lighting and posing from a skilled portrait photographer. It’s an elegant alternative to the wedding day photo booth. With the photo booth the concept is to look silly for snapshots (similar to cell phone photography), while our portraits are crafted for style, sophistication and a quality suitable for making printed photographs. It’s a unique experience for most guests because for most of them it will be one of the very few times they ever step into a serious portrait studio. After the wedding these portraits make great gifts for guests as well. Stay tuned to the blog for more wedding day portraits coming soon and get in touch with us at www.paulbellinger.com if you’re interested in having a portrait studio at your wedding reception.

Tips for photographers: The inspiration for setting up a nice portrait studio on location at an event came from the Vanity Fair Oscar Party portraits by Mark Seliger. I look forward to the portraits he does each year, and if you follow him on instagram you can find some behind the scenes photos and videos of the set and lighting that he uses. In this case we were limited by the size of the stable we were shooting in. We set up a large, 6-foot silver bounce umbrella in the stable next door camera left and covered it with a piece of white diffusion cloth so that it created a large soft light as our key light. The key light was just a foot or two above head height, as high as we could get it in the stable. For a fill light we used a 4-foot white bounce umbrella behind the camera to the left also above head height. By placing this light further away it creates an even fill, with little falloff compared to the key light that is closer to the subject. We also had two 4x8 foot white styrofoam reflectors out frame camera right for fill on the shadow side of the subjects. These 4x8 foot reflectors also prevented a color cast from the key light bouncing off the other side of the wooden stable.  It’s fun shooting these portraits because they have to go somewhat quickly, but yet still require thoughtful posing, so you’re working really hard and fast and for me that’s exciting.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – A FINE ART PORTRAIT SERIES

I’m very happy to show these three portraits from a new series of fine art portraits. Portraiture is something of a lost art in Billings Montana, being a small city in a remote part of the country, our portraits usually consist of a person standing in a field, or on a gravel road somewhere in bright sunlight, smiling at the camera. But elsewhere in the world portraiture is thriving as an art that is far more complex and nuanced. Just look at any magazine rack and you’ll see diversely crafted portraits everywhere. Why? Because portraits are powerful, we make an immediate connection when we see a portrait. The goal of this portrait series is to show off the power of the portrait, to show that we can make fine art portraits in Billings Montana that are made with the same techniques that master portrait photographers are using around the world, and in doing so we can show Billings that we don’t have to settle for anything less. To schedule a portrait sitting please visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com. Read on to learn about the inspiration and hard work that went into making these portraits.

Tips for photographers: Well I imagine this will become a long-winded story because it seems like I’ve been thinking about these photos for months now, and it took five sessions to get comfortable with the lighting setup and really start making portraits. It all started with Gregory Heisler’s book “50 portraits,” which I’ve been reading for almost a year every time I visit my friend and mentor Ken Jarecke, who always let’s me browse his library (as long as I wash my hands first). A couple of months ago I read about a portrait where Heisler was praising the use of a ring light to create a “shadowless” fill light (p. 86). I made a mental note of it, but didn’t rush out and buy a ring light or anything like that. Perhaps a month later I saw a portrait of Kareem Abdul Jabar by Dan Winters on twitter and it was so striking to me that I started an all out binge on everything Dan Winters I could get my hands on (look at my twitter feed @paulbellinger to find a retweet of the Kareem portrait). Of course Ken had Winters’ book “Road to Seeing,” so I spent a few hours with it before buying my own copy soon after. I noticed that for a lot of my favorite portraits, Winters often used a ring light too. There is a strobist.com post about Winters that has a behind the scenes video of Dan shooting Jack Nicklaus and even has quotes from Dan saying that he prefers to use the ring light mostly for the catch light it creates, and less for fill when possible (click here to view). I set about trying to replicate a Dan Winters look, specifically to achieve a similar lighting effect as seen in his portraits of Tom Hanks and Benedict Cumberbatch.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – BADASS HEADSHOT

My brother in law Babu is awesome, so I thought it was only fitting to make him a badass headshot when he was in town this summer. A Badass Portrait (or Badass Headshot) is something new that I’ve been introducing to Billings Montana. One of Montana’s slogans is that “Montana is for Badasses,” so the badass portrait is one that made with an equal amount of badass as Montana itself. Really, it’s an editorial portrait that can take on many forms, whatever may be influencing me at the moment, or an idea that I come up with in response to a specific subject matter. This particular look for a headshot is inspired by Marco Grob, a renowned photographer who shoots a lot of magazine covers. So just think of your badass portrait as your very own cover photo. Book at www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

Tips for photographers: This is one of my favorite lighting techniques that I learned from studying the work of Marco Grob. I’ve written about the basics of the technique in the past here. The most important thing about this lighting technique is using a flag (black foam core in this case) to create a shadow on the same side of the face that the key light is coming from (camera right in this case). You can make the shadow hard or soft according to your taste, and you can make the shadow broad or narrow, but try to at least reduce the exposure on the ear. The key light in this case is a strip box very close to Babu, just out of the frame on the right. Two beauty dishes are behind Babu on 45 degree angles to create the kicker lighting. Other than that the set is closed off very tightly with black foam core to absorb any stray light and keep the shadows dark with very little light filling in the shadows.

I like shadowy portraits and I usually like short side Rembrandt lighting for that reason. And that’s fine, the flag doesn’t change much for short light Rembrandt lighting. But when the subject turns and broad lights themselves, the flag reigns them in by putting a shadow on the broad lit side of the face and obscuring the ear which could otherwise get brighter than the face depending on the lighting setup. Don't understand the difference between short light and broad light? Read about broad lighting here and short lighting here. This headshot of Babu is an example of broad lighting with the key light.

This was one of my favorite sessions because Babu is a great guy and part of my family, but he said something during the shoot that really stuck with me. Using flags on light stands makes a cluttered set and you have to constantly adjust them and the position of the subject to put the shadow right where you want it. It makes for a longer shoot than I’d normally prefer and would recommend using an assistant for that reason. But Babu said during the shoot that he thought it was really nice that I was fussing so much over the lighting and that “people must feel very important when they are photographed by you.” That was a great complement even from an obviously biased family member.

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – RIHANNA IN LONDON

I had the good fortune of going to London recently for a honeymoon shoot as part of Carrie and Jake’s wedding photography. We call it a honeymoon session, or a day after session, and we offer worldwide travel for these kinds of shoots, but this post is not about that. As usual, no matter where I go or why I am there, I always like to make personal photos along the way. I made these one night when my wife and I were at Picadilly Circus, scouting some nighttime locations for the upcoming shoot. I really enjoy shooting at night and searching out light to work with. I noticed these new ads for Rihanna’s Puma campaign and thought they would make a nice soft light for a night time portrait if the opportunity should arise. As I was looking around at all of the lighting options, soaking in this busy corner at night, I made a few frames of people passing by this Rihanna ad. Looking at the photos later found it striking that three different women all had similar hairstyles and were each carrying a purse on their shoulder in the same way. I think they go well together! And of course I’m a huge Rihanna fan.

Tips for photographers: Keep your camera with you all the time. Countless photographers have given me this advice, countless times, but it never fails to amaze me that the second I don’t have my camera something catches my eye to photograph. I have recently started switching from Canon to Sony for this very reason: my Canon is too big of a beast to carry around casually and I found myself shooting on my iphone more than anything. When I saw these new smaller mirrorless camera bodies for the first time I knew it was the answer to my problem of leaving my camera behind, and I quickly settled in on Sony as the brand of choice, specifically the A7 series of full frame cameras and Zeiss lenses. Now I have a very small kit with the Sony A7ii and a few Zeiss lenses that can go anywhere with me, and it’s the only camera I carry when I’m travelling overseas. Often I will simply grab my A7ii with a 35mm on it and go. I’m not saying you should switch cameras, but just do whatever it takes to keep a camera with you and be ready for pictures when they happen in front of you.

I am Paul Bellinger, one of Montana’s much sought after wedding photographers. My studio is located in downtown Billings Montana, and I am available for any wedding destination around the world. I put everything I have into making the wedding pictures of your dreams, and I’ll go anywhere and do anything to make those dreams come true. From the mountains to the islands, there is no wedding destination too far or too difficult for me and my team of wedding photographers. Get in touch with us at www.paulbellinger.com

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – VANITY FAIR ACTOR HEADSHOT

This was a fun headshot to make for model/dancer/photographer Keoni, who is also a new assistant at Paul Bellinger Photography. Keoni has been helping out in the studio and frequently sits in to model for lighting tests so that everything is ready when clients arrive and they can be in and out quickly. Usually the night before a client shoot I will have Keoni come in to the studio and help me plan the shoot and set up the various lighting arrangements that I will use the next day. But sometimes we just like to experiment with new looks, such as this one, which was inspired from an actor headshot in Vanity Fair by photographer Cyrill Matter. This is a wonderful headshot look for people in creative professions, or anyone who wants a very soft and approachable look, and it works well with formal or informal clothing options. The lighting is crisp, yet the focus is soft, so it’s a very unique look that will stand out from the rest of the crowd. Visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com to book a sitting in our downtown Billings Montana portrait studio.

Tips for photographers: The setup for this photo is inspired by a portrait of Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis by Cyrill Matter in the September 2015 issue of Vanity Fair. Cyrill’s image is a crisp black and white with very shallow depth of field, big soft front lighting with quick falloff and a little bit of back lighting to highlight the edges of the actor’s face. I found the look to be very striking, and it was the most remarkable image in the issue to me, and so I bought a copy pretty much just for that one photo (the rest of the issue wasn’t that great in my opinion). The Day-Lewis portrait is the first image you see on Cyrill’s website here: www.cyrillmatter.com. The photo reminds me of a quote from David Bailey: “I just want very sophisticated passport pictures really - which are quite hard to do!" Mission accomplished Cyrill.

To replicate the look, my first thought was to use window light so that I could shoot at a wide aperture for shallow depth of field, and the catchlight in Cyrill’s portrait kind of looks like a window or a big soft box directly behind the photographer, slightly to the camera right to give just a touch of shadow on one side for added dimension. To create the edge light I used two silver reflectors behind Keoni out of frame on each side (I use the metallic side of the insulation Styrofoam you can get at a hardware store or lumber yard). The background is a 4x8 foot white reflector about two feet behind Keoni. I’ll post a bts setup selfie on instagram @PJBellinger if you’re curious to see. This photo was made with a Sony A7ii, Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 lens at f/2, 1/160^th of a second and ISO 200.

Overall I like the look, it’s very clean and crisp, yet soft and unusual with the shallow depth of field that will certainly stand out of the corporate headshot crowd. It’s easy to setup and the shallow depth of field makes retouching a breeze. The one drawback is that shooting with such shallow depth of field makes getting the eyes sharp a little tricky, so you have to know how to focus your camera very accurately. For studio work I always use manual focus with the focus peeking feature and manual focus assist on the Sony A7ii, which essentially zooms in on the image in the electronic viewfinder so you can check focus very accurately, especially when the eyes light up with focus peeking. I really like this feature and it’s fun to shoot in manual and it’s also fun to nail the focus every time. These features are some of the main perks of having an electronic viewfinder.