2015 Senior Style Guide Hot 100

Hot 100 WinnerEvery year the the folks at Senior Style Guide put on the Hot 100 photo contest.  This contest consists of 10 categories with 10 winning images selected from each category and the goal is to feature the very best of senior portraiture.  This year 6,315 images were submitted from some of the best portrait artists around the globe and I am so pleased to announce that one of my submissions made the cut!  It is truly an honor to have been selected for a second straight year.  Last year my photo of Preston Cole was selected in the “Urban” category, you can find the blog post about that contest and how that image was made here.

Now, without further adieu I am glad to reveal that my sunset image of Class of 2016 Lake City High School Senior Grant Wade was selected in the “Off Camera Flash” category.  Here is the final image:

strobist sunset "sunset portrait" senior portrait" "off camera flash"

Here is what the photo looks like straight out of the camera:

strobist sunset "sunset portrait" senior portrait" "off camera flash"

This image was made using four different strobes.  The main light was camera right with a 47″ gridded octabox set to a position to give a Rembrandt style lighting pattern.  The remaining three lights were used to light Grant’s Jeep which he restored himself by the way!  I used two strobes with strip boxes camera right and camera left to light the front and sides of the jeep.  Then as I always like to do when I photograph seniors with their automobiles I added a strobe to the inside of the jeep with a colored gel.  Blue seemed appropriate as it would be a complimentary color, matches Grant’s shirt and also is one of his school colors.  This image was captured with a Canon 1DX and 17-40 f4.0 lense set to 1/200 at f5.6 and ISO 100.  Here is a behind the scenes look:

"Behind the scenes" "sunset portrait" strobistI want to thank Vickie Black, the crew at Senior Style Guide and the judges for the opportunity, I am truly honored and grateful!  Now it’s time to get ready to make another run at it with the Class of 2017!

Jason Duchow Photography is located in Oldtown, Idaho and does on location portraiture throughout Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington.  Jason specializes in environmental portrait photography often with the use of  dramatic lighting techniques and is also known for his freelance sports photography work for www.idahosports.com, The Coeur d’Alene Press, The Bonner County Daily Bee, Priest River Times, Newport Miner, Living Local and a handful of other newspapers and publications.