First Engagement Session

I was fortunate enough to help a fellow photographer and friend out with an engagement session on Wednesday. I was able to practice some off camera lighting as well as interact with real paying clients. I will also have the opportunity to assist shooting at their wedding next week.

Outdoor Practice

I usually dislike going to the park, but since the kids love it so much, I decided to make the most of my time outdoors. I still need some work using available light (the sun) and combining it with strobes. The difficult part about trying to practice with children as your subject is that they are constantly moving. By the time I have everything set up, they're gone... or crying. Solution, place them somewhere they can't get away.

As much as I love my kids and photography, the world starts to crumble when you mix the 2 together. I wanted to get some shots of them in their nice Easter dresses (home made by yours truly), but they were not having it. Here are a few out takes in my makeshift studio setup. Can't wait until I have some space to create a proper studio.

Aprille's 18th Birthday Photo Shoot

It was my sister's 18th birthday this past weekend. We decided to have a little photo shoot with some of her friends in while celebrating in Denver. Here are some of my favorites.

Beautiful San Diego

Post Production

I knew that I would need multiple lights to light 2 different rooms. My last minute solution was to buy some Home Depot shop lights. They burnt really hot and no matter how bright they seem in person, they didn't show up that bright in the camera. 

Set up: 

Canon 580 EXII flash in soft box on subject in the back sound booth.  Triggered with gadget infinity remote.

Home Depot shop lights on subject in control room. 

I didn't care for the orange tint the shop lights gave off, so I tried to remedy the color in Photoshop. This was a little difficult since the flash in the background is already cool. I didn't want to turn the entire image bluer. I had to mask off the parts that I didn't want to affect with the adjustment. In hindsight I could have just turned the entire image black and white and not bothered with matching the colors.  

Final Image

Photo Essay

I have been taking Digital 201 with Illuminate Photography for the past month and our final assignment was to create a photo essay. I had a couple ideas in mind, but with all the legal issues involved, I couldn't follow through with any of them. I was running out of time and stared to stress until my love for tattoos got me thinking of another concept. I called a handful of shops around town and finally found one that was willing to let me come in to take some pictures.

(Click on the images to view large)

Even after coming up with a decent set of pictures, I was still unhappy with my project (that's the perfectionist in me). My sister mentioned that she had some friends that produce music and often work in a studio down town. We asked them to do us a huge favor and I was able to do a shoot last night!













My instructor and fellow classmates loved my images and I learned so much in the process.

Edit: After uploading the images onto Blogger, the colors seem a bit muted. I'll have to find another way to post them to maintain the original quality.

Mile High DPS February Meet Up

I tested a lot of different techniques that I have picked up over the past few months in this photo. 

Set up:

Softbox with Canon 580EXII behind and right to the right of the model to fill in the shadows. Main light source was  a strip box with a white lightning strobe to the left of the model. Backlight to blow out the wall was a bare white lightning strobe placed behind a makeshift wall to block it from spilling onto the subject. Unfortunately I don't remember the power settings. I did however borrow a Sekonic 308 light meter to get my exposure just right without having to tinker too much.

Post Processing: 

I used Zack Arias technique of putting a colored vignette around the subject. Just noticed that the colors don't show up that well on the blog, but you get the idea.

Softbox

Just received my Westcott Apollo umbrella style softbox today. Practiced with camera settings a bit trying to get the right exposure. What I really want now is a light meter. If you look closely at the girls eyes, you can see the square catchlights from the softbox.  

I used my Canon 580EXII at 1/8 power fired with Gadget Infinity triggers.

Metadata:

f10 1/250 ISO 100

Metadata:

f6.3  1/160 ISO 100

Flower Power

My sister received flowers for Valentine's day and she wanted a few pictures of them. I decided to practice a slow shutter speed and zooming out technique I heard about from some other photographers. Looks like a water painting. Pretty cool.