Nikon's Z 7II: The Next Step Forward
"Exactly what I was talking about with dynamic range and tricky, mixed light—some brightness, some shadows. Camera left is wide open, with sunlight coming in on her as she's under the viaduct. I love the depth that the location gives me. It's not easy to shoot there, but it's so pretty if you can get it correctly." Z 7II, NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S, 1/5000 second, f/1.8, ISO 400, manual exposure, spot metering.
It didn't take Audrey Woulard long to recognize what would be the most obvious advantage the Z 7II offered her photography. "I saw it immediately," she says.
And "it" was?
"The camera's dynamic range."
And that's because....?
"Where I typically shoot, there are typically competing light sources," she explains. "I can be in a spot where it's very bright on one side, very dark on the other, and I need to have great detail in both my shadows and highlights. So the Z 7II's dynamic range was the game-changer for me."
And where Audrey shoots is a major part of the game. Her website for high school senior and teen photography is called Kids and the City. The city is Chicago; the look is authenticity.
"I shoot downtown," she says. "Lots of viaducts, the train system, alleyways—I go under there and it's very dark, but right behind or to the side of the person I'm photographing there's often bright sun. When I looked through the camera on this shoot—and it was my first shoot with the Z 7II—I was like, 'Wow, I can see separation between light and dark, between the subject and the background, and there was lots of good detail in all the shadow areas. I loved it.'"
Nice first impression, we'd say.
He was walking and Audrey was keeping pace, making the connection. She relies on spot metering for her street portraits. "I always have the focus point on the subject's face, and If the focus point indicates what's important to me, that's where I want the metering to be." Z 7II, NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S, 1/3200 second, f/1.8, ISO 400, manual exposure, spot metering.
Audrey took this photo with the Z 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. "I was able to zoom into the kind of connection I wanted her to give me." The camera's Eye Detection AF locked on to insure precise focus. Z 7II, NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S, 1/1250 second, f/3.2, ISO 640, manual exposure, spot metering.
I need to have great detail in both my shadows and highlights...the Z 7II's dynamic range was the game-changer for me.
"There's a lot going on in the background, but she's still the focus, and so are the colors. See that little shimmer in the skirt, and how the color changes in the shadows? I saw that immediately and the camera captured it perfectly. I think Nikon’s colors are the best out there, and I wanted them to shine." Z 7II, NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S, 1/2500 second, f/1.8, ISO 400, manual exposure, spot metering.
Fast Frames
Look at any selection of Audrey's kids-on-the-street photos and you might figure it's a matter of get the shot and get to the curb. Fast.
Not exactly.
"It's more controlled than it looks," she says.
Indeed it is. There are permissions, permits, procedures. But still, there's the need for speed—which brings us nicely and naturally to the second advantage the Z 7II offered up.
"When you're dealing with young people, they get bored, often quickly," Audrey says, "and if they're just standing there I'm not going to get the eye contact, the engagement, that I crave. So I want them moving. Sometimes I might have them spin. I might have them jump. I will photograph them sometimes in mid-walk—and I'll be walking with them. It's not like I’m standing there waiting for them to hit a spot. I move with my subjects."
Which means that the Z 7II's shutter advance at ten frames per second, the speed of its autofocus system, with its advanced low-light capability, and the quick lock-on of its Eye Detection AF were notable and appreciated advances. "If you're in the middle of the street and you're having your subjects jump, twirl or kick their legs—yes, it's controlled to an extent," Audrey says, "but people are going to stop and watch, and you don't want that kind of traffic jam. For that aspect alone, I still have to get what I need and get out of there."
"She'd been holding onto the light pole and kind of swinging back and forth," Audrey says. Perfect, as motion is an ideal means of keeping a subject engaged. Z 7II, NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S, 1/3200 second, f/1.8, ISO 400, manual exposure, spot metering.
"I asked her to swing her dress, just a touch, with her left hand. It's a good way to get a little bit of movement, but it has to be a natural movement, a movement she's comfortable with. The look she gave me—kind of, 'Is this what you want?'—is very much her look, and so it's completely natural." Z 7II, NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S, 1/4000 second, f/1.8, ISO 400, manual exposure, spot metering.
The photos here are indicative of the student portraits Audrey specializes in and excels at because of her mastery of the challenges of light and location. "I don't like to create scenes in the studio," she says. "If they see a beautiful setup they kind of already know what to expect, and I think that part of the experience I deliver is the spontaneity, the unknown. When they see the pictures, they're pleasantly surprised. And the even more important element [of the location] is the light: the way it bounces off different areas of the city—it can be very soft, beautiful light. I love that, and it's hard to duplicate in the studio."
So it's go for the authentic locations and face the challenges of the light and the streets. "When I walk up to a scene and someone doesn't know what I'm doing, it doesn't look good," she says, "but I know the light. Someone who doesn't know my photography is going to be like, Why are you coming here? It's an unknown—until they see the pictures."
In fact, taking her subjects by surprise is part of the experience, and a result of her skills. "I don't create or choose a scene where someone else can come along, pick up a camera and take the shot standing behind me. They have to know exactly what I was going for."
Along with location, creating the experience and styling the session to the subject are parts of the game she finds changed by the capabilities of Nikon's next-generation Z 7II. "This a great step forward for me."
