Jul

30

my kerbi

Yesterday, Kerbi Sue turned 7 months old.  Can you believe it?  That got me looking back at some photos from when she was just a little bundle.  I came across a set that I should have blogged a long time ago in the form of a lighting tutorial.

Better late than never.

Thanks to the famous Joe McNally for sharing an infinite amount of photo insight, day after day, free of charge.  He's where I first learned of this technique.  Photogs, know that if you follow his blog you'll earn a doctorate in lighting.  Which is why I need to follow him more :)

Alrighty then.  I'll start with the image, then work backwards.  It's really quite simple:

TragerKerbi_Jan17-1047.jpg
Yep, that's Kerbi Sue, a week old.  And of course, my other babe, Julie.  It's nothing award winning (obviously), some will prefer it without the texture, but bottom line is that it looks like it was taken during the day.  At a time with wonderful diffused, warm light.  And directional.  But not harsh.  It's the perfect natural light!

But it's not natural light.

To the contrary, it was pitch black outside.  Here are a couple pics of the outside, and also my lighting setup.

TragerKerbi_Jan17-1078.jpg
TragerKerbi_Jan17-1079.jpg
As you can see in the above pic, the lighting setup is simple.  Elinchrom Ranger head with the RangerRX Pack, standard metal reflector.  And secondly, yes, that is in fact a white bed sheet.  I bought it a couple hours before from Walmart.  I think it ran me $6.  Gaffer tape it, or duck tape it.  And all the sudden, you have a window sized softbox.  And as you know, the bigger your light source in relation to the subject, the softer and more magical the light.

For you nerds that want to know strobist info: 160th, 4.0.  And I forget what my pack was pumping out.

As Joe has demonstrated before, you can also do this with a speedlight (or better yet a couple or a few to lessen recycle time), so long as you invest in one of the many options to get the speedlight off your hotshoe.

Now, you can also create a much different quality of light by removing the bed sheet (thx captain obvious).  Light that looks just like a sunset or sunrise streaming through the window.  I'll save that for next time...

Cheers to cool, and easy, lighting tricks.



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Jeremiah Colling says:

Nifty little trick there buddy. Thanks for sharing!

 (08.03.10 @ 02:02 PM)
LesterLILLIE says:

Set your own life more easy take the business loans and all you want.

(12.01.10 @ 04:10 PM)
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Jul

15

Composites

We have this potting shed out back in the studio.  It's a sweet shed and I've always said from the beginning that we should use it.  It has awesome old wood inside, a saweeet (but small) window, and is just all together vintage.  But it poses 2 problems.  First, it's tiny.  10x10 max, maybe even smaller.  Which, isn't a huge deal, except it's amplified by the fact that it's dark.  Nowhere close to enough ambient light.  So, because it's small, it's hard to get a bunch of lights in there.  Especially if you're wanting to create kicker lights (highlights on the edge of the subject).

What is one to do?

Solution.  Small 580ex flash.  Small 2x2ft softbox.  7 frames shot from a tripod.  A completely still subject.  And combined in the end. 

Below you'll see the original images in the following order.  Left kicker light, right kicker light, right fill light, key light, background left light, background right light, ceiling light.




Combine them all, then give a quick contrast and saturation boost, and here's the final image:

TaylorGordaSR-1004comp.jpg

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Samantha says:

That is really cool - I am in awe!

 (07.15.10 @ 04:00 PM)
Russ says:

Brilliant!

 (07.15.10 @ 04:03 PM)
Karin says:

Bad. Ass. I would have spent hours (not really. that's a lie.) trying to figure out how you got your lighting like that. And even though there isn't a chance in hell I could still do it... I appreciate you showing this. As always... your my hero Kshizz!!

 (07.16.10 @ 03:15 PM)
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Feb

02

ShootDotEdit + Ask Dane: Today!

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If you're a photog, make sure and check out today's episode of Ask Dane.  Someone who I truly respect in our industry, Garrett Delph, will be on and the topic will be all things post production.  Garrett is the owner of ShootDotEdit, the leading post production partner for wedding and portrait photographers.  Even more, Garrett has become a friend and someone I trust to help me grow my business.

I truly believe that post production partnerships are the way of the future for photographers.  Well, at least any photographer who will build a sustainable and growing business.  Long term success will require one to move from a technician / skilled worker to a business owner / entrepreneur. As soon as you can remove yourself as the bottleneck to your company's growth, you'll be on your way to accomplishing your dream.  

For me, I've chosen ShootDotEdit for my culling and raw conversion of weddings.  I still get to put my own "touch" on all final edits and all that.  And believe me, Garrett will attest first hand the struggles I went through to 'give up control.'  But who are we fooling folks, culling and raw conversions are just the base of the process.  A process that many will easily hire in house employees to do.  But with SDE you get a team editing for you.

Bottom line is that you'll HAVE to make a decision at a certain point in your business on what to give up.  You'll have to do something to get your life back.  Do you want to outsource customer service, shooting, editing, book design, accounting, sales, etc etc?  For me, I'd rather keep all things involving relationships with my clients in house.  The other stuff can be done in India for all I care, as long as it meets my exact needs and specs.  

If you're a photog wanting to get your life back, ShootDotEdit is the first places you should look.  And for what it's worth, ShootQ is the next place.  Then start looking for an office manager.

Lastly, thanks to Dane Sanders for leading our industry with a spirit of grace and abundance.

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Karin says:

This is why you're my hero. For real.

 (02.03.10 @ 05:05 PM)
Matt DeBackere says:

Was meaning to ask you if you still used/liked ShootQ, I've been looking into lately as well as considering outsourcing like we talked about before, I either send it away or hire someone else to do it, plus I get sick of lightroom! haha

 (02.04.10 @ 11:43 AM)
Kyle says:

I hear ya Matt! Making the transition takes time, but the long run pays off!

 (02.04.10 @ 03:47 PM)
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Jan

29

Will you take a pic of my phone?

Ever wondered what it takes to photograph, say, an iPhone, for a magazine?  Then check out this video.  Amazing the work that goes into it.  I mean, can you believe this set up all for a couple phones?  


Cover creation from Peter Belanger on Vimeo.

Here's what Peter said about the shoot: After working on the latest cover for Macworld Magazine I wanted to show what is involved in making a cover. I focused on the three main areas: the photography, photoshop and design. I chose a time lapse format to convey lots of information in a small amount of time. The only drawback of time lapse is that since half a day goes by in 30 seconds, the whole process seam so easy! Lots of details were left out of the design process (like the cover meetings and rounds of layout options). I began to photograph the design process after the layouts had already been narrowed down to just three cover designs.

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