Renaissance Faire Kenosha Candids

[gnagel]

I visited a Renaissance Faire for the first time this past weekend. This event is located in Kenosha, Wisconsin--about an hour drive from my home. It's been running for decades...and I had no idea how big these things are. There were probably 10,000 people at the fair!

I so rarely photograph people that I thought the fair might provide some good opportunities to capture some candid portraits. I would ask each person for permission to shoot...and not a single person declined. The beauty of the fair is that everyone wants to be photographed! The downside is that you usually only get about 5 seconds to shoot and there are a lot of people walking in the scenes.

My strategy was to carry what for me is a very light load. I had a shoulder bag with the Z9, 24-70 2.8 and 70-200 2.8 in it. I ended up using the 70-200 the entire time. The Z9 did a great job focusing on the eye of the subject almost instantly. I think I had 2 or 3 images that weren't tack sharp out of 500 for the day. Shooting at f/2.8 helped control the backgrounds and I tried to stand in places where the background was more distant from the subject.

Here are some of my favorites from the day...although I probably have 75 keepers or so. I will share some other photos in a "Happy Faces" post.

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Thanks for looking...
Glenn

 

[Scott Whaley]

I visited a Renaissance Faire for the first time this past weekend. This event is located in Kenosha, Wisconsin--about an hour drive from my home. It's been running for decades...and I had no idea how big these things are. There were probably 10,000 people at the fair!

I so rarely photograph people that I thought the fair might provide some good opportunities to capture some candid portraits. I would ask each person for permission to shoot...and not a single person declined. The beauty of the fair is that everyone wants to be photographed! The downside is that you usually only get about 5 seconds to shoot and there are a lot of people walking in the scenes.

My strategy was to carry what for me is a very light load. I had a shoulder bag with the Z9, 24-70 2.8 and 70-200 2.8 in it. I ended up using the 70-200 the entire time. The Z9 did a great job focusing on the eye of the subject almost instantly. I think I had 2 or 3 images that weren't tack sharp out of 500 for the day. Shooting at f/2.8 helped control the backgrounds and I tried to stand in places where the background was more distant from the subject.

Here are some of my favorites from the day...although I probably have 75 keepers or so. I will share some other photos in a "Happy Faces" post.

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Thanks for looking...
Glenn

Fantastic shots! Did you notice all of the people have light colored eyes? I didn't see any brown eyes.

 

[D7K]

Great set, could be my phone but I feel that there’s a little vibrance/saturation missing. Tremendous captures however, congrats it seems like a fun crowd!

 

[gnagel]

Fantastic shots! Did you notice all of the people have light colored eyes? I didn't see any brown eyes.

Thanks Scott...I did notice that some of the people had contacts or inserts in their eyes to change the color, but didn't happen to notice that the ones in this thread didn't have brown eyes.

Great set, could be my phone but I feel that there’s a little vibrance/saturation missing. Tremendous captures however, congrats it seems like a fun crowd!

Thank you...I was definitely trying to not overdo the processing...but maybe they fall a bit flat.

Glenn

 

[jeffashman]

Wonderful set!

 

[otherprof]

I visited a Renaissance Faire for the first time this past weekend. This event is located in Kenosha, Wisconsin--about an hour drive from my home. It's been running for decades...and I had no idea how big these things are. There were probably 10,000 people at the fair!

I so rarely photograph people that I thought the fair might provide some good opportunities to capture some candid portraits. I would ask each person for permission to shoot...and not a single person declined. The beauty of the fair is that everyone wants to be photographed! The downside is that you usually only get about 5 seconds to shoot and there are a lot of people walking in the scenes.

My strategy was to carry what for me is a very light load. I had a shoulder bag with the Z9, 24-70 2.8 and 70-200 2.8 in it. I ended up using the 70-200 the entire time. The Z9 did a great job focusing on the eye of the subject almost instantly. I think I had 2 or 3 images that weren't tack sharp out of 500 for the day. Shooting at f/2.8 helped control the backgrounds and I tried to stand in places where the background was more distant from the subject.

Here are some of my favorites from the day...although I probably have 75 keepers or so. I will share some other photos in a "Happy Faces" post.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Thanks for looking...
Glenn

Great set! I wanted to see more!

 

[Jeff15]

A very good set of some interesting people....

 

[gnagel]

Great set! I wanted to see more!

Thank you

A very good set of some interesting people....

Thanks Jeff

Glenn

 

[slat]

Really nice set.

 

[John 2]

Missed these. Great set. All nice but there are some real standouts.

 

[gnagel]

Really nice set.

Thank you

Missed these. Great set. All nice but there are some real standouts.

Thank you, John

Glenn

 

[terri]

Fabulous set! These folks are superb while in costume, and their hair and makeup are excellent, too.

Love your shallow DOF to control the backgrounds here - every single one is an excellent portrait. I agree with your decision to have a light hand with the processing - these players don't need it.

You made a hectic, crowded environment seem more low key. Well done!

 

[gnagel]

Fabulous set! These folks are superb while in costume, and their hair and makeup are excellent, too.

Love your shallow DOF to control the backgrounds here - every single one is an excellent portrait. I agree with your decision to have a light hand with the processing - these players don't need it.

You made a hectic, crowded environment seem more low key. Well done!

Thanks Terri...sometimes it is challenging to determine how far to go with the processing. I appreciate your perspective.

Glenn