Time: Studio practice
Over the weekend I decided it was time to practice in the studio again. This time I took a small wall clock and a long exposure to get the sweep of the second hand moving over the face.
Portrait experiments
I have a portrait session scheduled later this week and have the opportunity to get some very creative shots done. So I needed to test a few of my ideas before I tried them in a live situation. I saw this shot on the Strobist Flickr pool and had to try it out. Pretty simple really. One light up in the umbrella at full power.
I think it worked out pretty well, but will be trying to to use a second light for some weak fill light on the book next time.
This was also my Week 15 shot in my 52 week project.
Week 15/52 – Christmas light portrait with the black foamie thing
I wanted to try some creative portrait options this week. Went for a telephoto lens and some Christmas lights on this one. I was pretty happy with the results. I will be playing with a better telephoto this weekend and maybe my 50mm….for more of these shots and maybe use this idea for a grandparent portrait I am supposed to do.
Used on camera flash at full power and the black foamie thing (credit the name to Neil Van Niekerk) bouncing off the wall. Worked out great. I think this concept will work perfect for wedding portraits too. Thanks for the concept Neil.
Check back later in the week for more test shots and maybe the grandparent shot too.
Up in the air (Week 13/52)
We were playing around a trampoline the other day….not a great shot but it works. I wanted to light her with sunlight but the trampoline was not mine to move and she was in shadow. I needed to fire a flash on her but didn’t have any stands to use. So ended up hand holding the flash up at Megan.
Week 12/52 (HDR digital art)
Tried my hand at a few HDR images this week of an abandoned building in Middletown, NY.
New Self-Portrait (Week 10/52)
I was going for the Batman, superhero, James Dean sort of look.
4 lights. 1 sb25 camera right with 1/4 ctg gel off an umbrella. 1 sb25 pointed at white reflector camera left. 1 sb600 up high camera left rear of subject with full ctb gel. 1 sb25 snooted pointed at black background.
Post processed with a high pass filter.
Birthday Party (Week 8/52)
We were at a family birthday party this weekend…grabbed a few frames. Went for ambient lighting instead of dragging my lights out…
Eye experiments (Week 6/52)
This week I did some experimenting with eyes. The first shot is of photographer John DeSanto of StudioBlu. He was kind enough to stand in for me on a few shots. (Thanks John). The second shot is Jason. I really like the lighting but will be doing a reshoot of this as I am not happy with the final image of the eye….and last on here you will see a few test shots that I was very please with….
Soap Bubble Macro (Week 5/52)
Experiments with soap bubble macro shots. I think I will be trying a second take with the bubbles using a softbox instead of a reflector. They didn’t come out exactly as I wanted.
Red wine product shot – Week 4/52
This week I was preparing for a product shoot (more to come this week on that). In order to get the setup right and the lighting just right, I needed to do some testing. I ended up shooting some red wine (although the red doesn’t pop enough in this shot).
Tech info: 2 sb25 flashes. One in homemade softbox behind the glass (cannot see in shot) at 1/2 power. A back piece of foam core was used as the background with the softbox surrounding the foam core. The second flash was at 1/4 power with a grid spot to create spotlight effect behind the glass. A glass plate and black fabric under the glass plate was used to create the reflection. I poured the and pressed the shutter release at the same time.
Mia the dog (Week 3/52)
This week I decided to take a few studio shots of my newish dog Mia. She’s a sweet dog but gets into trouble constantly. I think I captured her personality pretty well here.
Week 2/52 – Strawberries and Cream
Shot with 2 sb-25s. One high camera left snooted at 1/8 power to light the strawberry. One flash bare back to camera right pointed downward to feather the light on the blue background. Lights were trigged with cactus triggers. See the setup shot here.
