Assignment

Hey guys. Are you ready for this week's photography assignment? It's a doozy for me, but I think I've finally devised a way for you to do pretty much the same thing.
I will be taking a single-light, white-on-white portrait of someone who is willing to sit still for hours while I move a light around them and diffuse it with various materials to see what I like best. Oh - and I'll be using reflectors too.
Just like a real photographer.
But I don't want you to have to buy lights.
So.
Grab somebody you love and dress them in a white shirt.
Find a window that lets in some decent light - north and south facing windows are usually best. If you are feeling ambitious, use a sheer piece of fabric over the window to diffuse the light - to make it soft and pretty.
Grab a white sheet and tack it up to your wall, throw it over a closet door or just have somebody really tall hold it up as a background.

Now, if your camera has manual settings, set your camera to aperture priority and your aperture to a low-ish range, like 5.6 or so (everybody's camera seems to have different f-stops. You can try a lower one if you'd like to). set your ISO to somewhere between 400 and 800. Take several shots to see what works best.
Adjust your aperture and your ISO until you find a combination that works for you.
Walk around your subject and take notice of how the light carves shadows and creates highlights on their face. Pick a few different angles and take notice of the different effects.
Now, pick your favorite angle and start snappin', baby.
Try it on one of your kids or your hubby or your bestie, or even the weird dude down the street.
If your camera doesn't have manual settings, it might have a "portrait" setting. Give it a try.
Just no flash, please.

And please, please, please share your pretty pictures, even if you don't do white-on-white and just take a window-light portrait of someone. I'd love to see them!