Summer is upon us, which means fireworks. Previously, we have discussed using alternative methods to get smoke-like effects in your photographs. But using flour can make for a messy clean-up and smoke machines require electricity. Smoke balls, however, are cheap, come in a variety of colors and require nothing more than a lighter.
GL Wood is an editorial fashion photographer who's work has graced the covers of Nicki Minaj's Pink album as well as magazines like Elle, Vogue, Out and Bullett. When you look through his portfolio, this caliber of client comes as no surprise.
I love movies. Maybe even as much as photography. Being a fan of movies means I am also a fan of movie lists, because they help me to discover films I may not have seen. Also, with my being a mildly OCD photographer, I began thinking about which films relate to photography. There are surprisingly few that I have seen or heard of.
You may not have known it, but I'm certain you've seen a Norman Seef photograph. What photo do you think of when you think of Ray Charles? He shot that. Carly Simon? Yup. Steve Jobs? Seef again.
You may recognize the singer for Exitmusic, Aleksa Palladino, from her role as Angela Darmody in Boardwalk Empire. Well, she formed a band with husband Devon Church, and together released one of the higher rated albums of 2012. I had the opportunity to do a photo shoot with them before their show in Columbus, Ohio last July. Here is what we came up with.
Location scouting is just one more facet of the photographic process that takes time and money to carry out. It can get especially difficult if you are planning an out-of-town shoot. A lot of times this would mean arriving at the shoot location a day early. But there isn't always the time or budget to allow for that, as was the case for my shoot with Japanese metal band Boris last week.
When I hear the words V Magazine and Mario Testino in the same sentence, I immediately think of high gloss, sexy editorials. I think of vibrant colors and in-your-face fashion. I think of… Miley Cyrus? The latest issue of V Magazine sees the megastar taking one more step away from her Hannah Montana past. The results? She pulls it off (pun kind of intended).
Last week I did a photo shoot for Leo's Wisdom, which is a company that makes handmade, high end jewelry. The purpose of the shoot was to provide the client with product shots and lifestyle images for their promotional needs. Their mood board for the shoot was filled with images depicting lush locations and high society. But we were shooting on a rainy day in Columbus, Ohio.
Photoshop is a powerful tool. In the hands of a skillful editor, they can do a great deal of good, like remove scarring acne from an otherwise beautiful teenager. They can also do bad, such as transforming an anatomically correct model into something that isn't humanly possible. But sometimes, skillful editing can create a great deal of lolz.
I know that I am not the only one that runs into this issue. I set my focal point, get the focus that I want and go to take the shot, only to have my focus change when I re-compose. By going into your camera's custom functions, you can set up your camera so that it will only focus when you hit the star button with your thumb.
Several weeks ago I wrote an article about Profoto's new-ish pack, the Pro-B4, which has a flash duration of 1/25,000th of a second. Well, last week I was finally able to take it for a test drive. And what better way to test an insane flash duration than with water?
Pegboard is such a fun material to use when experimenting with lighting. You can change the shape of the light pattern by changing the distance of your light to the pegboard and the distance of the pegboard to your subject. We posted previously about how you can use pegboard to construct an entire backdrop.
If you are like me, your image library is full of personal shoots and client images that were never used. Instead of just letting those images collect dust on your hard drives, now these images may have a new home. The people at Image Brief partner with designers and advertisers and pair them with photographers who may just have that perfect image for their campaign.
Recently I have been wanting to do an avant-garde hair shoot. I just needed to find the right stylist to work with. A few weeks ago I met Devan Aledia Ford who is a fantastic hair stylist. When I told her about my desire to do a stylized hair shoot, she took the idea and ran with it. She conceptualized a spring-themed, fairytale-inspired shoot.
Ryan Moore is a professional retoucher. He recently wrote a list of five tips that can help save your client time and money. Saving time and money doesn't just benefit the client. It also lays a firm foundation for an ongoing relationship between the photographer and the client.
Richard Tuschman is a fine art photographer, whose works has appeared on a number of book covers. His latest project, Hopper Meditations, has him recreating famous Edward Hopper paintings in an unconventional way.
Photographer Kenneth Cappello is known for his celebrity portraiture, his advertising work for Nike and Puma as well as his flashy editorial work for Nylon, GQ, Fader and Vibe. Cappello shot musician/DJ DeadMau5 this past month for Vibe Magazine, and, lucky for us, also shot a little BTSV to give us a peek at his process.
Over the last couple of years I have received more than a few inquiries about how I use Lightroom to edit my photos. The embedded video is a screen recording of my entire workflow, from import to export. It's sped up for the sake of time, so if there is any part that isn't clear, feel free to ask questions in the comments. So without further ado, here is my Lightroom workflow.
Sight. It is everything for a photographer. We nitpick over which camera body or lens is the best tool for the job, but no lens or camera sensor has yet to come close to what the human eye is capable of.
Video portraits, or long portraits, are just what they sound like- a subject sitting in front of a camera for several minutes. I first came across video portraits about 3-4 years ago when I saw Clayton Cubitt's long portrait of photographer Noah Kalina. Cubitt is best known for his NSFW, in-your-face fashion photography.
A couple weeks ago I was fortunate to work with Tina Hughes, a talented local clothing designer. Her latest collection blends vintage and modern elements. I thought that my friend's modernist house would be the perfect location for the shoot.
You have likely seen Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti's photos floating around the internet lately. His latest series, "Toy Stories" is the result of an 18-month project documenting children from around the world with their favorite toys. Many of the portraits were taken in the kids' rooms. We see a range of living conditions from sparse to affluent.
The best part about learning rules is breaking them. For example, most of the time, blur in a photograph is a faux pas. But there are ways you can use blur to add energy and emotion to your images. In this lighting diagram, we will explore how to introduce blurring to your images with the use of an on-camera flash.
A couple weeks ago I posted a lighting diagram showing how you can emulate Martin Schoeller's lighting by using gaffers tape and foam core. One reader commented that the catch-light makes the subject's eyes look like a cat. This got me thinking about what would happen if I were to change the pattern of the tape into various shapes. Here's what I discovered.
I know the title of this article is a bit wordy, but I didn't know how to describe this beast of a lighting system in fewer words. 1/25,000th of a second! As you can see in the video, the new Profoto Pro-b4 1000 Air turns water into glass. It negates gravity. There is nothing you can't shoot with this rig. Plus it's field-ready, running off of a fast-recharging battery pack.
In order to turn a typical sunset into an extraordinary sunset, you are going to do the opposite of counteracting your available light. You do this by picking the colored gel that is the opposite color of the color you want to highlight. Though it may seem like an odd idea, it's actually just simple color theory. The opposite color of magenta is green.
I have always wanted to shoot editorial work. Getting my work in print has always been my number one goal. In my opinion, it is the mark of having "made it" as a photographer. The problem was that I never knew how to get my work in front of the right people to even be considered for an assignment.
Last week I tried my hand at emulating Martin Schoeller's portrait lighting with a single bare-bulb speedlite. Though the experiment was technically a failure, it still produced a nice portrait. Since then, I have tried two more lighting scenarios before finally nailing it on the fourth (please excuse my OCD tendancies) and final attempt.
I am the type of photographer that doesn't stay up to date on the latest gear. Instead, I find what works for me and I use it until I hear about something that works better. This is why it was so hard for me to hand in my Pocketwizard Plus II's for the Radiopopper PX system. But boy am I glad that I did.
The other day Phlearn came up with a way to emulate Martin Schoeller's portrait lighting. I have been wanting to lock down Schoeller's technique for years now, so when I saw Phlearn's post, I was stoked. And they did a fantastic job. I even learned their cool Photoshop technique of adding natural looking highlights and shadows.
Niko Tavernise has every portrait photographers dream job. Well at least my dream job. He hangs out on movie sets and takes pictures of what he sees. And what he sees are the top actors of our time in impeccable costumes and makeup, on sets that are pre-lit by masters in lighting.
Skreened is an eCommerce company that specializes in on-demand screen printing. Shirts are their biggest sellers. Since each shirt design is unique, they needed a library of images with models in blank tees so they could overlay the latest designs in post. When they approached me to shoot for them, their main request was that these portraits be fun and energetic.
Many of you readers are like me in that you don't have your own photography studio. While it's sometimes inconvenient, I have learned to make do without one. This diagram will show you how to get a polished looking product shot in a boring office hallway.
The other day, David Bickley wrote a fantastic article on 365 projects. In the article he made some great points about how the project will sharpen the photographer's skills and even lead to work.
This week, we are exploring how to create a white-to-grey backdrop using strobes. Though this technique can be done somewhat efficiently with two lights, three is optimal. And as in last weeks post, I want you guys to try out this technique and share your results. I will post my three favorites in the next lighting post.
