Here Comes the Judge

Sometimes we make things much more complex than is necessary. Portraits often fit into this category. There is a tendency on the part of photographers to tell too much of the story, including too many details, locations, backgrounds and other distractions. A portrait is usually the simple capture of a person, and usually the person is enough. Nothing more need be said. This is Judge Rapoport. While recently in Allentown running workshops, his son, Jed became model and awesome automobile supplier all in one. When his Dad came by to say "Hello" and check out the action, it was impossible to avoid taking a portrait of him. Moving him into some soft, even light and using a Tamron 70-200 at 200mm at f2.8, I composed tightly and quickly created this simple portrait. I chose to use the D700's inbuilt monochrome jpeg setting and highlight the one important element in the frame - Judge Rapoport. Minimum depth of field combined with lens compression come together to simplify everything within the frame. In all, the image took seconds to create. Sometimes that's all you have. Sometimes that's all you need.