The 2023 prom seasons begun and we had the opportunity to capture some incredible photos for Reading High School senior Ley-Ley. Reading High is nestled in the small city of Reading, Pennsylvania.
It was a warm spring day and we were scheduled to shoot at 4pm. The plan was simple:
Meet at the Pagoda, and iconic landmark in Reading PA
Take photos onsite
Leave the Pagoda and and arrive by 5:30pm Doubletree by Hilton Reading to capture a video of Ley-Ley exiting the chauffeured vehicle
The weather forecast predicted overcast skies which most of us would assume would result in less ambient light, as in the case of right before a rain storm. What we did not expect was for the cloud density to be so thin that the ambient light was intensified acting like a giant diffuser for the sun! In an article by Ball State University they note that, “The diffuse inter-reflectivity of light within the white, cloud-laden environment of an overcast sky creates general illumination from all directions.” Additionally the sun was parked almost directly behind the Pagoda which meant we were shooting against the sun.
Our solution? Under expose our photos and use flash to fill the darker areas. We typically shoot with an off camera flash in an effort to brighten up darker shadowed areas in a portrait session. For this shoot we used one off camera flash mated to a soft box with a grid. Our camera gear consists of a Nikon full frame camera paired with an 50mm, 85mm, and a 17-35mm lens.
The results speak for themselves. Bright crisp photos full of color and life. The photoset turned out absolutely gorgeous and we could not be happier with how everything turned out. A huge thank you goes out to Ley-Ley and her family for trusting us with capturing her special day.
