The San Francisco SMUG meeting saw a changing of the guard. Our leader of 3 years, Joey Chandler, has stepped down and handed the reins over to Tess Pierson Kefalonitis and Regas Chefas Kefalonitis. Bonnie, the representative from Bay Photo, remarked on how much she enjoyed Joey’s meet ups and presented him with a generous gift from the company.
Hanson Fong, a San Francisco wedding and portrait photographer and a Canon Explorer of Light, spoke to our meeting. His talk, entitled “The Art of Lighting and Posing”, illustrated his portrait style which also utilized a few interesting props that he markets.
His top 2 tips seem logical, but he could not emphasize them enough:
- make the women look good
- make the person paying the bills look important.
Fong’s posing techniques involve:
- positioning people so that exaggerated differences are minimized
- people of similar stature are differentiated
- helping larger folks appear smaller
![sept_smug-9211]()
Fong offers several unusual products that most photographers do not offer. He sells tinted flash reflectors to help cool or warm a scene. His EZ-Step product was a clean way to easily add a few inches to a subject’s height, either sitting or standing, and helps create triangle- and W-style group portraits.
You can read extended notes from this meeting and others by joining the San Francisco SMUG on Facebook.
Submitted by the San Francisco SMUG Scribe: Stuart Nafey
