Kabobs and the Power of Light - Lessons Learned from Joe McNally

Mizz Lenz is bus'zy!

2011-01-25T11:12:00.000-08:00

You might allready know, but I just saw this on da Internet. Mizz Lenz "rocks the boat" and is trying to keep up with Joe and David on tour. See theflashbus.com

Congrats, Karen - Joe and David deserves the best! Hope yor are well paid ...;o)

Cheers, Bjarne

Doc

2011-01-23T10:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everybody.

Did a couple of portraits for a magazine of Mr. Christian Gudbjerg, a newly retired doctor. In DK we have free healtservice for all, and Mr. Gudbjerg used to work as a housedoctor at Soelund - a home for 220 physical and mentaly disabled people.

D3 + SU800 + one SB800 in gridded softbox + available light.

Tim the Goalie

2010-10-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys, hey look a post! It's been too long. Just wanted to share a few shots I did last Sunday. A high school junior, soccer goalie. We just started out shooting some action shots but then the sky started to McNallizze and I went into panic mode. Hope you are all doing well! Take care and stay in touch. Anyone up for more assignment fun? Chris suggested perhaps something with an umbrella. Any takers?

Fred

Suzanne & Lee

2010-08-03T16:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted here (or on my own blog for that matter), so here's a post I made on my blog today, so some of you may have already seen it.

Last week I had the privilege of doing a pregnancy photo-shoot with Suzanne and Lee who are expecting their first child (boy) this week. We had a fun time. Below are a few of the pictures we created together.

I like to shoot tethered/connected to a laptop during studio shooting because it allows me immediate feedback on lighting and posing. I also find that it works well with the subjects because they feel more of a participant in the whole process and as they see the results they become more at ease and more interested and willing to try out different poses. The only caution I’d give is to make sure during the shoot that it doesn’t become a distraction for the subjects and that they aren’t looking/glancing over at the screen during the actual shooting.

Using the black backdrop in this situation is very useful in helping to focus the observers gaze. Light colored skin stands out nicely against it, and you can further narrow the focus by the use of black clothing. White and bright colored clothing also stands out nicely against the black which can add to the “pop” of a picture. Of course the black of the backdrop helps to outline the subject, while at the same time the background just disappears.

For those interested here are the equipment details:
> Black backdrop held up by JTL B-1020 Background support system.
> Main Light = 40″ umbrella with two Canon 580 EX2 Flashes each with Stofen Omni-Bounces on a Wescott 8′ lightstand.
> Hair Highlight = 24″ Lastolite EZBox with an egg crate grid lighted with one Canon 580 EX Flash with a Stofen Omni-Bounce.
> Each Flash was controlled with a RadioPopper PX Receiver, triggered by a Canon ST-E2 with a RadioPopper PX Transmitter.
> Each Flash was powered by a Janco JCCFB1 External Battery Pack (equivalent of Canon CP-E4).
> Canon 1Ds Mk3 Camera.
> Canon 24-105mm lens.
> Camera was tethered/connected to an HP 17″ Laptop for immediate viewing of the images using Canon EOS Utility and Lightroom 3 software.

Night watch

2010-07-14T02:50:00.000-07:00

One SB800

Available light

Here's some pics I made of night workers at a social emergency ward in Aalborg. They have five employees and 300 volunteers who helps people with (light/minor) mental problems. E.g. if your wife/husband/child dies, if you loose your job, if you suffer from a serious disease or maybe just need someone to talk to, you can call and they have all the time in the world to listen to you. Like most healthcare in DK it's free.

I stayed there for 6 hours and they had 27 phone calls and one who showed up in person to talk.

Knut is the manager. He is from Norway. Most pics are made with available light and a few with just one SB800 plus Honl grid.

See Soundslide - link: http://bjarnehyldgaard.dk/kunde/nattevagt/
Remember the sound.

Cheers, Bjarne

Mille B

2010-07-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hey,

here's a couple of pics of a new model, Mille B, who posed for me for an hour or two. The pics was made in a parking garage down town Aalborg, where I live.

Smoking:
One SB800 in a softbox with a grid. It's a little from behind the models face to light up the smoke.

Dancing:
From camera left one SB800 in a softbox with a grid plus from camera right another SB800 from behind as rim. Both trigged with SU800 commander.

Have a great summer!

Cheers, Bjarne

mixing natural light and speedlight

2010-05-07T11:35:00.001-07:00

Hey guys,
Here's a shot I did of a College of Charleston radio DJ the other day. To camera right is a big window... then I've got an EZ box over his right shoulder. Shot at f/3.2 and 1/80th of a sec. I liked the way the two lights came together. I ran an HD filter on it, which actually brought out too much detail in his face, so I'm going to tone it down... but all in all I was pleased. Any feedback/suggestions?

Dane Sewell

2010-04-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

Hey friends, sorry it has taken me so long to post these. Life has been busy with the new babe and trying to keep up with my business during my "maternity leave". Here are a few photos of Dane from the last couple of months (He was born January 21, 2010). The first one is an on camera speedlight bounced off the sidewall, the rest are natural light.

A little Tonal Contrast will do ya

2010-04-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

I did some playing around with a different technique to further finish processing pictures. It involves using the photographic software filter called “Tonal Contrast” in NIK Color Efex Pro 3. Basically the filter allows you to increase the tonal contrast (like it says) within the image as well as the color saturation. Below are “before” images processed like normal and then “after” that were further processed using the tonal contrast filter. It gives the pictures a vivid hand painted look. Without a lot of foo-fir-aaa (technical term), check them out and see what you think {click on the images to enlarge them, so you can see them better}.

My favorite is the last one of the old truck, interesting in the “before” but very dynamic in the “after”.

Some observations in trying this out, is that it works great on landscapes, objects and such, but don’t try it on people, it tends to do bad things to their skin complexion.

Hope you found this interesting, that’s it for now.

David Gralian
www.davidgralian.com
david@davidgralian.com

Holly & Sean

2010-04-03T15:14:00.001-07:00

I haven't shot a lot of couples, so decided to make some of my friends model for me. I like how these came out. They're a bit non-traditional, but, hey... so am I. =0)

Senior Portraits

2010-04-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

Did two Senior portraits today - I've been dying to try the David Hill lighting style so here it is with Mike, a baseball player and an available light portrait of Sarah with the beautiful eyes. I'm planning to use these for an upcoming mailer and would love some feedback.

Thanks,

Fred

Faces in Sedona

2010-03-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

I spent 4 days last week in Sedona Arizona, in the high desert red rock country, along with my wife and one of my daughters.
Had a great time doing some site seeing and photography. Here's a few fun pictures to share with all of you.
{ you can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them }

This first picture of the little girl is from a restaurant, she was in the booth next to us, her grandmother called her "Love Bug". She kept looking over at us with those great big eyes making direct eye contact like only a child without any inhibitions will do. The light was streaming in from this window right above the booths, made for a fun picture. After I snapped a few pictures though, she decided she was afraid of the big o'l camera/lens and would hide behind her mother whenever I'd try to take her picture again. I finally put the camera down and promised her I wouldn't take anymore pictures and she was happy with that.

I also took that opportunity to catch a shot of my daughter in that same great light outlining her face and highlighting her hair.

And then there were the 'Tree People'. Outside of Sedona there are a number of wineries (who would've guessed), which we were checking out. At one of them they had put these eyes/nose/mouth figures onto some of the trees in the parking area. Got a real kick out of those, fun idea. Oh yea, the wine is actually pretty good, if you are ever in the area it's worth checking out. The 'Tree People' kinda remided me of the ones in the second Lord of the Rings movie.

Well, that's it for now.

David Gralian
www.davidgralian.com

Manfrotto School of Excellence

2010-03-26T03:31:00.000-07:00

Manfrotto is honored to launch the Manfrotto School of Xcellence, with two great webinars from two top mentors: Bill Frakes and Joe McNally. These two great events will have these masters of photography sharing their amazing imaging experiences and techniques with you. Check out the information below and don't miss your chance to attend this Xcellent experience. Register today!

Pics and text copied from manfrottoschoolofexcellence.com

Link: http://www.manfrottoschoolofxcellence.com/

Cheers, Bjarne

The Prez

2010-03-13T12:35:00.000-08:00

Shot with D3, at ISO 1600 and available light.

Learned a valuable lesson, never try to engage a Secret Service Agent in a conversation.

Hope every one is well!

Gerd Parkholt

2010-03-06T06:32:00.000-08:00

Gerd Parkholt is the Grand Old Lady of the Skagen Folk Music Festival in Denmark. 40 years ago she invited some friends and a couple of folk musicians to her home and the rest is history. Skagen Festival is the oldest existing music festival in Denmark.

Last year Gerd held her 90th birthdayparty and she is still going strong.

The portraits are made for a book by journalist Joergen Pyndt, TV2 Nord. It will be published this summer to celebrate the jubilee. I have made pictures for the festival for 10 years and many of the pics will be in the book.

Gerd has decorated the walls in the hall room with newspaper cuttings and pictures of musicians, friends and family. Friends like Tom Paxton, Donovan, Allan Taylor, Arlo Guthrie, The Dubliners and many more.

In her bathroom friends, musicians and family has made poetry, greetings and jokes on the tile walls.

Enjoy the spring!

Bjarne

I need a new head ...

2010-02-14T06:32:00.000-08:00

Just bought a Manfrotto 420B boom stand. Used for a couple of portraits of a friend, Henriette Goethgen, at NOVI Science Park in Aalborg.

Still need a kind of a "ball head" for the boom arm, so I can adjust the softbox. Do anyone know what to buy?

D3, 24-70 mm. f. 2,8 at 44 mm, 1/100 sec., f. 4,5, ISO 200 manuel mode, SB800 + Ezybox + Manfrotto 420B boom arm + SU800.

D3, 24-70 mm. f. 2,8 at 70 mm, 1/100 sec., f. 4,5, ISO 200 manuel mode, SB800 + Ezybox + Manfrotto 420B boom arm + SU800.

MV-22

2010-02-12T12:24:00.000-08:00

I was in Jacksonville, NC a couple weeks ago helping a fellow Boeing photographer with a shoot for our annual report. We were on the flight ramp for some night-op shots when this happened. I had just put my 400mm away so I'm a little disappointed that it's not closer but still like the shot. Take care and keep blogging!

Fred

The real world

2010-02-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

Fred reminded me just today that we are coming up on our year mark from Joe's class

and it got me thinking about the take away and what I've applied. Last year I photographed about 120 jobs and those were anything from weddings to kids to Ad campaigns. I'm making my living strictly from photography and the grace of God. So what did I get, I think for me it was simply the idea to get my self out of the comfort zone and into a place where I can discover something. Where what has been learned combines with what is instinctual. So yes, I have improvements to make and I realize that I'm no Joe Mcnally but I am a Chris Keels and this year I've come to a point where that means even more. My very best you all and may 2010 be a year of greatness for us all.

I've attached two images from a portrait session I did the one was a direct application of skills I learned from the class and the other from simply enjoying the light I was given.

I'm a (gulp) Wedding Photographer (?!?!?)

2010-01-20T16:36:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know. I said NEVER AGAIN. I said WORST JOB EVER. I said a lot of things.

Well, after being sweet-talked into shooting two weddings for friends last year, I've decided that it's not THAT bad after all. So I'm going to throw up a wedding website and 'test the waters.' I'm not going full-time with this, just a handful a year... but enough to help pay the bills and maybe help me get some better equipment.

Thinking about marketing myself as a 'boutique' wedding photographer but I hate that word. I need to figure out how to explain to potential customers that they're not going to get 'selective color effects' or 'soft focus' with me. I'll just lie and say that my camera doesn't do that. :o)

As always, critique and comments ENCOURAGED. Also encouraged are referrals. HA!

-karen

and this next one is a little 'inappropriate'

Fashion shoot (last two images)

2010-01-18T17:20:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Here are the last two images from my fashion spread for the alumni mag @ the college (see original post below for first four images). Once again, please honestly critique. And thanks so much again for the feedback you've already given. You guys are a great sounding board (or maybe seeing board?)! THANK YOU!

The Sky Is On Fire

2010-01-13T08:20:00.000-08:00

The weatherman says that we are going to get rain today here in the Phoenix area, so there are dramatic clouds in the sky this morning which made for a gorgeous sunrise from my front patio/courtyard. It made the horizon and sky look like it was on fire.

(click on the image to enlarge)

We'll see if the day actually brings any real rain, but it certainly started out with some great color.

This is an HDR composite of 3 images (-2ev, 0ev, +2ev) using Photomatix Pro to process the images.

Have a great day,
David Gralian
http://www.davidgralian.com/
david@davidgralian.com

2010-01-10T06:07:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Wanted to share with you my latest project for the alumni magazine (these photos haven't been published yet, so.... shhhh.) We challenged six alumni fashion designers to design a garment based on one of the schools within the college (e.g., the School of Business, the School of the Arts, the School of Humanities, etc), then found student models for each shoot. Attached are the first four shots.

This is the first time I've done fashion. I found it DIFFICULT! I went into this thinking fashion would be a creatively freeing kind of shooting, but actually felt very limited right away. No spontaneous shooting here: instead of that spontaneous moment I always look to capture, I had to meticulously pose each model so the garment was shown in its best light (literally and figuratively). I'm not sure why this surprised me. =0)

Anywho... please honestly critique. Good... bad... what I did well... what I could have improved? I'd appreciate it!

Will post the final two images when they're shot.

Thanks all!

Hope you had a great holiday!

Leslie

A Few from Our First Day

2009-12-23T12:06:00.000-08:00

I was going through photographs from Joe's class last Feburary for a project I was working on when I came across a few candid portraits taken on our first day.

I've posted them in a private gallery here. My apologies to those of you who are among the missing.

I hope the pictures bring back good memories of a week full of challenges, discovery, fun and frustration.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for a healthy and productive New Year.

Chicago at night

2009-12-23T05:45:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone is well. Just keeping Kabobs alive! These are from my recent trip to Chicago.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.

Fred

Fun with Mushrooms

2009-11-28T14:55:00.000-08:00

Well not that kind of fun, just photographing the mushrooms.

While in Sacramento CA, I came across this colony of mushrooms growing at the base of a tree. I thought it was kinda neat looking, so I came back the next morining to catch the warmth of the early light.

The below two images are HDR (High Dynamic Range) compositions, using Photomatix Pro software. I'm really liking the results of this HDR stuff.

The image below is from a "point and shoot" camera, shot in the shade of the tree, still turned out OK.

Wishing you all the best,
David Gralian
http://www.davidgralian.com/
david@davidgralian.com

Fisherman and engine shed

2009-11-24T01:17:00.000-08:00

Hi Virginia,

I was trying to implement RSS feed on my own blog, but then "something" happened ...;o) Sorry!

FISHERMAN
Well, here is a picture I made earlier this year of a fisherman on Ringkoebing Fjord a beautyful (and very early!) morning in the summer of 2009.

D2x, ISO 200, 1/1.000 sec., f. 5,6, 17-55 mm. f.2,8 lens at 17 mm., manuel mode. One SB800 + SC-28 cord.

MILLE
Here is a picture I made a couple of weeks ago in an old remise (garage for trains). I think it is called engine shed or roundhouse in english. The girl is Mille.

D2x, 17-55 mm. f. 2,8 at 28 mm., ISO 200, 1/160 sec., f. 11, manuel mode. One SB800 in Ezybox as main light camera right + one SB800 very high to light the scene up + SU800 commander.

LISBETH

Trying to light the purple shawl from behind and control the ambient too. The girl is Lisbeth.

D2x, 17-55 mm. f. 2,8 at 30 mm., ISO 250, 1/3.200 sec., f. 2,8, manuel mode. Two SB800 in shoot thru umbrella as main light camera left + one SB800 with gobo from behind camera right to light up the shawl camera right + SU800 commander + strong sun from right side to light shawl camera left.

TROTTING TRAINER

Made a testshot of trotting horse trainer Mr. Kaj Jensen, Aalborg. Just for fun.

The shooting resulted in two new customers who accumulated minimum a months pay, so my time was invested good.

D2x, ISO 200, 17-55 mm. f.2,8 at 32 mm., f. 5,6, 1/80 sec., manuel mode, one SB800 in umbrella + SU800 commander.

Carol's project following an artist

2009-11-13T15:41:00.000-08:00

HDR using Photomatix Pro 3

2009-11-09T13:37:00.000-08:00

It's interesting that Fred Troilo posted his experiments with a HDR (High Dynamic Range) style image, because I have just recently been experimenting with producing HDR images using the Photomatix Pro 3 software.

Below are 3 HDR images of a Monument Valley Sunrise that I just created using multiple camera captured pictures at different exposure levels. {click on the image to see a larger version}

This HDR image used 3 images: nominal/-2/+2 stop images.

This HDR image used 3 images: nominal /-3 /+3 stop images.

This HDR image used 5 images: nominal/-2/+2/-3/+3 stop images.

Here are the +-3 stop images for your reference.
Nominal exposure

+3 exposure

-3 exposure

Of all the images, the HDR images come the closest to portraying the spectacular view I was seeing.

I actually shot 7 images in 1 stop increments from -3 to +3 stops and I was not able to create from any one of them an image that even came close to the results of the HDR images.

In this round of experimenting, the HDR image composed of the +-2 stop images turned out the best in my opinion, but you probably won't be able to tell that from the smaller images I've used for this post (+-2 stops is what the Photomatix folks recommend). The only processing I did to the Photomatix output file (.tif) was some "chromatic aberration" adjustment using Adobe Lightroom.

This was only my second time using the Photomatix Pro software to create an HDR image, so there is definitely a lot more practice needed on my part to processing the image, but Photomatix will become a new tool I will be using to create my pictures where there are a wide range of tone values present that should be portrayed in the final image.

I hope this was useful and interesting.

David Gralian
http://www.davidgralian.com/
david@davidgralian.com

Pseudo HDR

2009-11-05T18:38:00.000-08:00

Been fooling around in Photoshop playing with HDR and came across a technique to create a pseudo HDR using Lightroom. No photoshop at all! Here is the before image. Took this from my hotel room last month. Early morning outside DC.

I imported the image into Lightroom, and started by setting all the following to 100 Recovery, Fill, Contrast, Clarity & Vibrance. Then just kept tweaking until I got this.

Gel assignment

2009-10-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

I wasn't gonna let this month go by without a post from someone. Just had my son try on his costume for tonight and thought, what the hell grab the strobes. Had him stand in the entrance of the laundry room and threw a blue gelled light in there. The main light is a 580ex2 with a Honl grid. Happy Halloween everyone!

Fred

Sorry I am late ...

2009-10-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

Is fire in old cars available light? I don't know but here is my pictures for the september assignment. A little late I know that, but I have been busy lately. Obama, Pelé and Oprah dropped by for a cup of coffee after the olympic election in Copenhagen, you know ...

Today on my way home from a shooting for a construction compagny, I noticed smoke on the horison and made a u-turn. Came to this nice fire with lots of burning cars and red firetrucks. Oh boy - I am 12 years old again!

I love the rainbow.

The reflection in left side of frame is from the sunlight.

The worker is watching the fire and the firefighters.

October

What's the assignment for october - gels?

Street people and the natural light

2009-09-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody! Sorry for being a lurker for so long but finally I'm posting, too :-) This time it's about street people, who are among my favorite subjects...

September Natural Light

2009-09-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

Here are my "natural light pictures" for the Kabobs September Photo Assignment.

I've been visiting my family in Sacramento California for the past week, so I thought I'd use the opportunity to catch some natural light images of my 16 month old nephew (Preston). It was fun to kinda follow him around to see what I could catch, he has such an expressive face and a happy personality.

Here are three images that I liked. I used my 70-200mm f2.8 lens wide open to keep a narrow depth of field.
This first picture is indoors next to a large picture window at a restruant, soft morning light.

The second picture is outdoors, with slightly cloudy soft morning light.

This last picture is later morning light, getting to be a bit harder, as the clouds dissipated.

I also took pictures of my mom, 88 years young, whose naturally silver hair works great with any light. In this case it was a huge skylight right above her at our favorite coffee & croissant shop (a regular morning ritual when I visit).

She thought I should try to make this an action shot, so she told me to take this picture and to use it. I'm a good son and do what I'm told.

All inputs and comments welcome.

Once again, this was a fun assignment, looking forward to the October assignment.

My Best to all of you,

David Gralian

david@davidgralian.com

www.davidgralian.com

Natural light portraits

2009-09-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here are a few natural light portraits... I might still post another if I have time to shoot it. =0)

The girl with the gift was shot for our alumni magazine. That was just a matter of finding pretty light!

The guy with the hat is Darnell, he's our mail guy at the College. I'm not wild about the blown out highlights but I just thought the sun was making an interesting pattern on his face.

The garage belongs to my parents' neighbors. I thought it was cool how Homer was lit and the rest of the garage wasn't.... just kind of hinting at all the crap in there!

Ah light O' Natural

2009-09-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

Here is my image. I have spent the majority
of my career looking for nice even, diffused light.
Only in the last year I've been seeking out
intense light sources and trying to make them work.
So this is image, taken last week at my studio, goes in that
direction.

September Assignment

2009-09-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

Ahhh natural, available, beautiful sun light. This is a shot of my parents neighbor, as she sat on her covered porch. The interior of the porch is all white - including the ceiling and floor. It was a cloudy day, yet fairly bright. No flash or reflectors, just that giant ball of fire 92,955,820.5 miles away.

2009-09-04T13:13:00.000-07:00

OK, so maybe this is just a "proud new aunt" moment for me, but I wanted to praise the good ole-fashioned simplicity of BOUNCED FLASH. Who says you can't have beautiful, soft light with your 580EX mounted right on your camera? I just aimed it at the white wall that was 6 ft. to my right and voila! My nephew becomes the next Baby Gap model (don'tcha think?)

Jungle Boy

2009-09-03T19:08:00.000-07:00

My nephew broke his wrist last week and wanted a picture before the cast comes off. He's studying to be an actor so I thought this might make a good character shot. Had my 580 EX2 camera right going through my homemade beauty dish and a Quantum flash with no diffusion on the outer edges of the tree line pointing directly towards the camera. Shot this with my 70-200 f/4 at 1/30sec.

Fred

LINK

2009-09-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,

if you do weddings see this norwegian photographers pics. OK or wot?

Link: http://www.terjeaamodt.com/blog/2009/08/20/bryllup-andalsnes-stavanger/

regards, Bjarne

Capturing Movement

2009-09-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

I'm now officially two month's behind in posting to the topic, but I thought I would share this one of my friend, Monica, that was taken with available light in the Boston subway. I used high ISO out of necessity, but really love the graininess and the sense of motion.

I am still planning to do a sheet shot. I'll post when it gets done.

Meanwhile, I have been shooting mostly portraits and am learning about the joys of photographing kids and their families when one or more of the kids do not want to be photographed. I've gotten some pretty amusing pictures, but, unfortunately, not what the parents are looking for.

I'm really enjoying the work that everyone is posting and continue to be inspired by Joe's blog and, of course, his work.

Virginia

August is Jumping Fun

2009-08-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Here's my submission for the August assignment (it is still August).

The setup I used was a full length backdrop, two umbrella's with remote triggered Canon 580EX2 speedlites. Both lights are camera left, the main light is coming in from above and the secondary light is coming in from below at a reduced lighting level. The camera is set to Aperature Priority so the shutter speed was 1/250sec, the lens is a 24-105mm set at about 24mm.

I then asked each young lady (Stacie, Amy) to jump up into the air. The trick was making sure to get all their appendages into the frame and to get a fun looking pose. I have to hand it to Amy who was jumping with heels on, very brave. The camera was tethered to my laptop, so we could see the results quickly and try different things. We certainly had a good time taking these pictures.

My best to everyone,

David Gralian

http://www.davidgralian.com/

david@davidgralian.com

August

2009-08-28T10:53:00.001-07:00

Here's my assignment for August - single studio strobe with modeling light on high to capture the blur. Hope everyone is enjoying the end of the summer season. Looking forward to the fall.

Fred

Dignan at the cabin

2009-08-28T06:36:00.000-07:00

Hey All--

Here are my shots for the August assignment. My family has a cottage on a little lake in Michigan, and my dog, Dignan, loves to "fetch" off the dock. Obviously I was limited in terms of light position in the shot of him flying through the air (difficult to mount a light stand on water), so the flash is almost direct (it was in the paddleboat with me). In the picture of him shaking off, the strobe is camera right. I wish I would've underexposed the ambient more here and bumped the flash power up, but you have to think & act fast to even catch this shot in the first place... you never know where & when he's going to shake off! The shot of him on the dock is a direct flash from camera left (cross lighting with the sun), and the fun one is just him finally checking out this flash business up close!

Motion

2009-08-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

so here's the latest. slow shutter, tripod and table top technique to fast shutter hand held.

That's the how, the why I'm finding more and more is the question I'm asking myself theses days.

What do I really want to say and what is trying to happen in the image. In this case our friend Susie is a movement artist and soon to be dance student. She's leaving us for school

and I wanted to comment on the potential of her talent before being refined. That was the why

and it was the difference in achieving something technically and actually discovering something personally.

Fun with the EZYBox

2009-08-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

I am really loving the EZYBox - my neighbors were having a yard sale yesterday so I had to grab this shot.

Grid for Ezybox

2009-07-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,

I am looking for a grid for my Ezybox 24x24" (60x60 cm.), but I cannot find any at Lastolite.

Does anybody know where to find a grid that fit the Ezybox?

Thanks, Bjarne

July Assignment

2009-07-10T17:31:00.001-07:00

Here's my assignment for July. Took some begging on my part but I got my daughter to finally pose for a shot and to wear my hat as well!

This is a single 580EX II through a Days Inn Diffusor.

Here are the set

up shots - I used my kitchen counter top as a flag to concentrate the light on her face.

Fireworks from the East

2009-07-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

Had to post a firework image from the East Coast, Jersey Shore. The one in the distance is from Ocean City, NJ. The main one is Margate, NJ, just south of Atlantic City.

4th of July Fireworks

2009-07-06T08:17:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th of July, I trust everyone else did. I took some photos of the fireworks and if you are interested I posted some at my blog that you can check out at www.davidgralian.com/blog.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!!

David Gralian
http://www.davidgralian.com/
www.davidgralian.com/blog
email: david@davidgralian.com

Jennie's June assignment : one light

2009-06-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

I used one light but thought the background was cool and well enough lit so I chose to put my light behind her. I had to push my ISO to 1600 to get enough ambient light to fill around her but then it causes some blow out. My added light was a 580EX II full power shooting through an umbrella(from pretty far away, enough to hide an umbrella behind her). Might have needed more power from my light and less ambient. Tough color in these spaces, any tips on how to combat that? Other ideas on how to make this better?

iso1600 f/2.8 1/100

JUNE ASSIGNMENT: A very pregnant Francis

2009-06-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

For my (David Gralian) June assignment of "one light only, diffused", I GOOFED UP!!!!!!
I forgot the part about it being to use "ONE LIGHT ONLY" until I re-read the assignment, I used two lights. Well, I'm going to publish what I did anyway. Needless to say I failed the 'follow instructions' part of the assignment. Oh Well :-)

Below are a few of the images of Francis that I took this past Sunday, she is due to deliver "Eduardo" in the next 2+weeks. Now this photo session has special significance to me as Francis is my daughter-in-law and Eduardo is my 4th grand-child (soon to join us in this outside world).

Below is my oldest son, Wayne, with Francis. In the next image is my 3rd grandchild, Carlos. I gotta tell you, that the smile you see on Carlos' face is pretty much always there, he's one happy boy.

Switched to a black backdrop here for these images of Francis.

As you can see, Carlos loves to get his picture taken.

Here's a picture of the setup I used:

It consists of 2 backdrops, the blue-grey mottled (10'x20') and the other a black, which you can see as two parts, one half flipped back over the top of the stand as well as one half in the forground under the lights. I used the two umbrella's in a clam-shell arrangement, each lit by one 580EX2 triggered by a RadioPopper Receiver. The lower umbrella is running at about 1/4th the light of the upper umbrella. On the camera, I used an STE2 with a RadioPopper Transmitter attached. The two flash units are powered by a Quantum Turbo 2x2. The upper light (Main) is in "Group A", the lower (Fill)) is in "Group B". With the STE2 it is very easy to ratio the "Group B" to the "Group A", so controling the lights is pretty straight forward.
The 8' ceiling heights alway present a bit of a problem trying to keep the top of the backdrop from showing, so I have to keep close track of that especially when someone tall is there.

If I'd followed the instructions, I would've used a reflector for the bottom light source instead of the second umbrella.

Well that's it, even if I missed following the instructions of the assignment. I'll make sure I don't make that mistake again.

As always, it is a pleasure to share with all of you, and I'd appreciate any and all input you can give me on what I can do to improve my skills and results. REALLY!!!

David Gralian
email: david@davidgralian.com
http://www.davidgralian.com/
www.davidgralian.com/blog

A Portrait for June Assignment

2009-06-30T13:58:00.000-07:00

After a month of back and forth with B&H in an effort to get them to deliver a 34" x 34" Ezybox Hotshoe complete with the adaptor ring and flash bracket, at last I can play with my new toy.

This one is of my husband taken today in front of a light-absorbing black backdrop.

The Ezybox with my 580ex ll providing the light is close-in because I wanted to wrap the light enough to illuminate the left eye. A reflector, just outside the edge of the frame camera right, adds enough extra light to keep the overall lighting from being too stark while maintaining the drama. It also helped define the edges of the hair. There was a silver reflector low on camera right, angled up towards the subject..

Used the Canon 40D with 24-70 at 70 mm, f 4.0, 1/200th, flash compensation - 1 3/4, ISO 200. Uncropped. Some pp, but very close to what came out of the camera.

My biggest frustration was trying to keep down the hot spots, especially on the forehead. I would appreciate any thoughts. (The skin was not oily.) Do people use makeup for that?

The other problem is that I didn't have enough depth of field for the distance from the subject. This is not altogether a bad thing when photographing older folks, but I need to do better.

Still, overall, I am pleased with the lighting.

Assignment with a bed sheet

2009-06-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

Not from July, but I took these in April with a full bed sheet and two sb900's behind the sheet and one more bouncing off a reflector on the floor. Used the sheet because I needed to light some groups of 7 musicians and only had a 10 minute set up time. It worked well but I had a lot of reflections in some pictures. Joe explained how I could have used black paper above the flashes to avoid this. Just something to get this month started.

Marketplace

2009-06-29T23:42:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,

hope you are enjoying the summertime!

I found this old guy on a market in Jutland. He is a retired fisherman and now selling ropes to sailers and campers on markets to support his pension.

One SB800 camera left on the end of a SC-28 wire/cable, trying to overpower the sun over/behind him and using the sunlight as rimlight. The ropes are a little too hot, I know.

D2x, 17-55 f. 2,8 at 22 mm., f.4, 1/8000 sec., ISO 200, manual mode.

Cheers! Bjarne

June Assignment

2009-06-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hey, So I missed out on doing the first assignment but I am jumping into the second one. These are two photographs of a dancer that I took using one large softbox to camera right and had a reflector on the left toward the ground. The reflector evened the light on the left side. I like the cold look of the New England weather but wish there was some contrast between the sky and sea.
It was quite an adventure to go out to these rocks with my lighting equipment. I even lost a lens to a puddle up there. Thank god for insurance.

Fun With Water Drops

2009-06-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

After reading the article in the Strobist BLOG about making images of water drops splashing into a pool of water, I took a shot at doing it also. I won’t go into the process of setting up to take the images as the Strobist article (How to Photograph Water Drops) covers that very well.

Both images above are with a straight flash against a backdrop, the first being a sheet of white paper and the second the cover of a book.

These 2 images are with a blue gelled flash against a white paper backdrop.

These 3 images are with the flash gelled with different colors, Bright Yellow, Orange and Lavender flashed against white paper.

For these 3 images, I used two flashes. The first flash with a blue gel against a white backdrop and the second flash with a red gel from directly overhead. The color of the reflected light in the image depends upon the angle of the water/splash to each light source.

This image is also the result of two colored light sources, yellow to the backdrop and red from above.

I have to say, this was fun and is something I want to do again. It definetly teaches you more about using your flash equipment and can turn out some very interesting images. When I do, I’m going to get a different dish (all black), a better way to create the water drop (a controllable valve setup) and I’ll try some different backdrops as well as try 3 lights, maybe even try some colored water. I also want to try different camera angles, especially those from on more of a level with the water as all these images are from about a 30 to 45 degree angle.

I hope you enjoyed this,
David Gralian

www.davidgralian.com

www.davidgralian.con/blog

Equipment used: Canon 1Ds M3, Canon 24-105mm lens, Canon Speedlight 580EX2, Canon STE2 Trigger, Really Right Stuff Ball Head BH-55, Gitzo G1228LVL Tripod.

June Assignment

2009-06-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

Here is my assignment for June. My son celebrating the first day of Summer Vacation!

High speed sync using my new PocketWizards in E-TTL mode. Shot using a shoot through with the bottom half flagged.

For the second shot, I took a more unconventional lighting approach.

Same camera settings, high-speed sync and E-TTL but instead of an umbrella, I bounced the flash off a glass candle holder sitting on the table.

Really interesting result.

More light

2009-06-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

here's the latest self assignment from me. I was looking

to try out gels but the light starting going quick, so I ended up throwing

on a green gel (not even sure which) , tweeked the kelvin and then just gave up. I was in almost complete darkness

so focusing was fun, the shutter was at 10' to 15' on tripod. So all that to say

I showed up and did my best. Please let me know how this could be better.

Thanks Guys, onward and upward.

June Assignment with one flash

2009-06-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

I I take a number of pictures at my high school each week for the on-line newspaper and only take one flash with me. These are some recent shots.
Carol MacKay

Jennie Hard Light

2009-06-03T18:49:00.001-07:00

Sorry I am a little slow guys :) So I positioned two EX580II on stands pointed to the center of the floor from maybe 12:00 and 7:00 (on the dance floor at a wedding). Neither had any diffusion, pointed directly at the subjects. The bright one behind them was at 1/8 power and the one behind me was around 1/32. Kind of fun I felt more limiting having to wait for them to be positioned how I wanted in between the two lights.

hard light (well sorta)

2009-06-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I'm tardy, I know and sorta went left of center of the assignment to boot.

I had a model scheduled the end of the month for a specific hard light shot but last minute got cancelled on. So I'll give the self assignment I did last week. It was lit with the wee bit corner

of a small softbox (so in a sense a hard spectral light) cam left and sb80 for flick cam right.

Thanks all

Leslie's assignment post

2009-05-31T06:45:00.000-07:00

Posting this for Leslie - Very nice! I especially like the highlight under the cigarette....

Today on Strobist

2009-05-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

Did anyone else see Strobist today? Very cool tutorial on how to photograph a drop of water so I had to try it. My 580EX II in manual model 1/16 power, bouncing into a piece of white gator board. Camera set to 250sec/f16, tungsten white balance.

This can become very addicting!

Flashing my Favorite, but Reluctant, Model

2009-05-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

Here are two photographs of my granddaughter, Emily.

I figured that taking a picture of Emily in a window would be easy since I was basically just using the flash as fill. The Canon 580EX ii speedlite was hand held at arm's length off to camera left. My goal was to light Emily while keeping the background properly lit and realistic (I wasn't looking for a nice bokeh). I accepted that there would be sharp shadows.

Camera settings: 1/250th at f 9.0 and ISO 400. Flash triggered with the Canon STe2 transmitter.

It turned out to be harder to pull off than I anticipated. I couldn't place the flash close to the camera without creating an ugly reflection in the window. Holding it off to my left meant the side of the window nearest the flash was way too bright. I think that if I had had a light stand handy, placing the speedlite up close to the ceiling and pointing it down at Emily might have worked better.

This second picture was inspired by one of Joe's recent blogs (and his demo in SF). I wanted to take the photo looking into either early morning or late afternoon sun, but that wasn't possible. I settled for a bright spring day.

For this one I used two speedlites triggered by the STe2, each set to high speed sync. They were held on either side of my head and aimed directly at the subject. I experimented and found that 1/1600th and f 3.5 got me the best result at ISO 100. The sun's shadow was softened but was still visible but Emily was well lit.

For fun, below is one I took the week before using ISO 1600 to give me a high shutter speed in order to catch Emily jumping. The background looks fine but there is way too much contrast where the light hits Emily's body. For me, the flash approach yields a better result.

Hope everyone is well and taking lots and lots of pictures.

Virginia

May Assignment - Cactus Flower & Campfire

2009-05-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

I was out camping in the Arizona Mountains over the Memorial Holiday weekend and used the opportunity to make a few images for my 'Kabobs' May Assignment.

The first images are of a cactus flower found on the shaded forest floor in the Arizona high country pines.

Below are two images of this flower made with a handheld camera and a remote flash mounted to camera right, from slightly above the flower.

The first image (below) is using a straight flash, making the image of the shaded flower look like it was shot in normal daylight.

The second image (below) I made with the flash filtered by a full cut of CTO gel to create the effect of early morning or late afternoon light, giving the image more of a warm color.

I also made an image of folks sitting aroung the campfire. I used a remote flash on camera left mounted about 5 feet above the ground, filtered with one and half CTO gel. The camera was handheld. The shutter speed was 1/2 second (at f8.0) to allow time to pick-up the natural glow of the campfire, the CTO gel'd flash added extra pop to light up the people and freeze any movement, without losing the effect of the fire glow on them.

To have taken the image without the gel'd flash, would have required slowing down the shutter speed even more, resulting in blurred movement of the people due to their movement and camera movement as well as turning the fire into a large blown-out light detracting from the natural ambiance of the flames. I would have liked to have spent more time with this image concept, but the flash going-off all the time would have detracted from the relaxed ambiance for everyone.

Well, I hope this is of interest to folks, and meets the spirit of our May assignment, and I welcome any suggestions and comments.

Equipment used: Canon 1Ds M3, Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS Zoom (for flower), Canon 24-105mm f4 IS Zoom (campfire), Canon Speedlite 580 EXII, Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2, RadioPopper PX Remote Trigger, Lumiquest FXtra Gel holder.

enjoy life,

David Gralian

http://www.davidgralian.com/

www.davidgralian.com/blog

May assignment

2009-05-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

Well here's my post for the May assignment. My son was playing with his Wii so I grabbed the camera and started shooting. I wanted to experiment with dragging the shutter with the direct light. I set my 580EX II on a light stand camera left, manual setting @ 1/128 power and zoomed to 105mm, it was tripped with PocketWizards. Camera was .5 sec f/5, ISO at 200 with a 10-17mm. The background light is a mix of a small table lamp and window light. Let me know what you think....

Thanks,

Fred

RadioPoppers are Poppin

2009-05-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

I bought myself a set of 4 RadioPopper PX's (1 transmitter, 3 receivers) for my Canon Flash system. I've been putting them to use for all my off camera flash shooting and thought I'd give you a quicky review so far. I mounted the transmitter onto my Canon ST-2 and the receivers onto my Canon 580EX's. Gotta tell ya, I'm really liking these a whole bunch, I keep all the functionality of the Canon wireless flash system (e.g., High-speed sync, channels,groups, flash levels, .....) without worrying about maintaining line-of-sight between the ST-2 and the strobes. All of my work has been relatively close so far, but other reviews I've seen say these units are good out to beyond 100 feet. For this reason, I bought the RadioPoppers over the Pocket Wizard new MiniTT1™ and FlexTT5™ radio slave system just released for the Canon strobes, and so far, I haven't been disappointed. Only real negatives I can offer so far are the price (~$250 each) and the somewhat clunky mounting setup which seems to work fine so far, the positives significantly out weigh the negatives. Also for you Nikon shooters, the RadioPopper PX's are designed to work just the same, keeping the functionality of the strobe system. Well that's it for now, let you all know more later.
>>> David Gralian http://www.davidgralian.com/ and www.davidgralian.com/blog <<<

Simulating Early Morning Sun

2009-05-04T07:36:00.000-07:00

Since reading the Hot Shoe Diaries, I have wanted to try out using a speed light to simulate very late afternoon or early morning sun and the distinctive shadows the light creates (see page 98 et seq.). I also wanted to capture something close to the finished product in the camera.

Having no models readily at hand, I decided to photograph a statue in Père Lachaise cemetery in early morning light while I was in Paris for the month of April. The cemetery doesn't open until 8 a.m. when the sun is already up. Fortunately, hills and the abundant trees and foliage filter out much of the light until later in the day.

This particular monument (the oldest Pleureuse (weeping woman) in the cemetery dates back to 1815) is ochre and naturally stands out among the marble and granite monuments.

It was after 9 a.m. when I reached it and found it lit by a few rays of sun filtering through the trees. (The brighter spots on the back of the statue are where the sunlight was hitting it.)

My husband stood off to camera right at a shallow angle to the statue, holding the flash gelled with a full CTO cut as high as he could. The Canon speed light was set to 105 mm, the highest setting available in the 540ex ii. I used ETTL and controlled the amount of light by adjusting the flash compensation feature in my 40D and moving the voice operated flash stand closer and father away (mobility was somewhat hampered by the tomb stones, many of which are crumbling and all of which are packed pretty close together). Alas, I don't remember the flash compensation admustment I used for this shot or how far away the flash was when I took this photo because I was making changes on the fly to get the amount of light I wanted.

Part way through the shoot, it occurred to me that changing the white balance from auto to tungsten might produce an interesting result. I had in mind Joe's photo of the woman bicyclist with the flowing waterfall behind her included in The Moment it Clicks, as well as other examples.

Which is how this photo came to be.

In post processing, I experimented with brightening the background and warming up the deep blue so the contrast between warm and cool was not so strong, but, in the end, I settled for goosing the warmth of the statue a bit and retaining the contrast between warm and cool. If I had used a stronger CTO cut, this adjustment might not have been necessary at all.

As I look at the finished product, I must say that it says "flash" to me more than it does natural light. I'm still not sure I don't like the more natural lighting better. Still, it was fun to do and I learned a lot.

C&C welcome.

Hard light

2009-04-25T06:18:00.000-07:00

what about this, lets start w/basics

using speedlights with no diffusion to light a scene.

as many as you like or just one but the point would be to

see how to make a small hard light work effectively for the subject matter.

In my opinion it would be a pretty tough assignment.

The second assignment for example could then be add diffusion, bounce what ever

changing the size & quality. we could go along those lines.

with that said here's the lattest from me, how could I have made this better.

Thanks guys

Monthly assignment idea

2009-04-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

a possible idea would be "daylight at night" (i.e., the look of daytime at nighttime).

David Gralian

First assignment?

2009-04-23T16:57:00.000-07:00

Wanted to post a couple ideas for our May assignment and see what you think?

1. Flick of light or

2. Rim lighting

please feel free to add to the list and suggest something else.

Fred

A note from Mark

2009-04-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys, Mark asked me to post this for the group. I am trying to get with him to walk him through the posting process but we haven't been able to hook up.

Hi Fred,

I wanted to post to the group that the Lastolite TriFlash (LL LA2412) is

now in stock. This is the umbrella tilt head that can mount up to three

pocket flashes that Joe used the first two days of the workshop. There

has been allot of interest from many of Joe's fans on this product and I

think the group might be interested in this.

Sincerely,

Mark Astmann

David - self assignment 2

2009-04-20T08:06:00.000-07:00

I'm really trying to get the hang of

art a rim lighting. It gives an HDR effect with out all the

photoshop show business. So if this has a little Dave Hill

look it was to see if I could do it.

that said, it was shot with a travelite w/ a small softbox camera right

and my trusty SB 80 zoomed and bare camera left.

Took a lot of pics, a lot of bad ones and this was the best from the series.

I would not say this is a home run but more of a testimony of the effort.

No pain no gain.

comments welcomed

2009-04-19T09:23:00.000-07:00

For the two dancing pictures I used an CTO gel on the flash and had my white balance on tungsten (trying what Joe taught us). I had an umbrella on left up high and flash aiming at floor reflector. For the pictures at the music recital, I set up a bed sheet between two light stands with two SB900's behind the sheet about a foot above my head. I also set up a kicker light bouncing off a reflector on the floor to fill in set at -3. I knew I was going to have groups of 6 people and didn't know how to light the group somewhat evenly since I don't own strobes or large soft box. I also set flashes on even balance (again as Joe suggested). I had the group angled toward sheet with me on the edge but not sure if there is a better way. Dealing with reflection was very hard, and I didn't really deal at all. I did learn how to do it a little better, but didn't have time to practice until after the concert (only given 25 minutes before concert to take the pictures and got there late because of a huge snowstorm here in Denver this weekend).

Abby and Armando

2009-04-15T23:54:00.000-07:00

Here are a few images of a children session I shot a couple of weeks ago. The images posted were of course using the new techniques we learned from Joe. So a little feedback from you guys would be great! and I hope everyone is doing well.

EZYBOX update

2009-04-14T03:52:00.001-07:00

I've been in touch with Mark Astmann from Bogen, I needed info for an article I was writing for photocrati.com. I also invited him to join us on this blog so we'll see if he has time. Anyway here is the info on the new EZYBOX, I know I'm ready to jump on it. From Mark.... The Ezybox Hotshoe will have an updated bracket assembly. The old one was made out of metal and the hole through the ring was round. The new Mark II bracket is made out of Delrin (a nylon derivitive) and the hole through the ring is rectangular to match the shape of a flash head. Also the new bracket will allow mounting of additional options coming later this year. With the new Mark II bracket you will be able to mount an optional beauty dish, snoot, wide or long throw reflector. This new bracket is now due in towards the end of April. The units will cost the same as current versions, List of $183 and $242 for the 15" and 24". Most dealers sell them at a discount so you can usually find them for around $164 and $217 respectively. Current available options include; Short and long extension handles at a list $48 and $56 and set of three creative mask front covers (circle and two strips) at a list of $83 and $89. No idea what the unreleased options will be yet. I don't have the bracket yet, however, I believe they are coming in our next shipment. To help distinguish the new version from the older one I will have a new part number for the Ezybox Hotshoe with the new bracket. None of our dealers have this new part number yet, so you won't be able to order it. I would say you should be able to order it at the end of this month under part number LL LB2462M2.

2009-04-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

Desert Senior Portrait
Here are some images from a 'High School Senior Portrait' I did about 3 weeks ago. She will be moving to Alaska this summer to go to college, so we thought a desert theme would be fun.

These were taken out in the Arizona desert in late morning (bright) sunlight.

...

For light, I just used a translucent panel (Lastolite Tri-grip) to diffuse/soften the hard sunlight that was hitting her.

After I got back and uploaded/processed the images I could tell that one mistake I made was to not have a flick of light into the eyes to make them standout more and provide a highlight. She has beautiful light colored eyes that would have added more 'pop' to the picture.

My key learning there was that I could not see the LCD clear enough in the bright sun, so I wasn't able to see how the image looked clearly enough. I think I've solved that problem, I bought the Hoodman Screen Loupe, just got it so haven't been able to really try it out yet.

Clearly getting out earlier in the day would have been better for both the light and the comfort factor (it was getting kinda hot standing around in the sun).

Any suggestions/thoughts on what else I might have done?

Thanks, David

perspective

2009-04-13T05:29:00.000-07:00

so here we are, a month & 1/2 later

and well into our daily grooves and patterns.

The question now is what lingers, what insights,

lessons, challenges and discoveries continue.

when I think of the energy spent to get to class

let alone money and can't but search myself

and ask was it a valuable experience, did it advance me

as a photographer. I tend to put a lot of emphasis on workshops

more like expectations. I think now, that line of thinking is unrealistic.

Workshops and I think especially Joe's simply reveal a path and it's up to us

to walk down it. like the tools are presented to fix the engine along

with the basics of mechanics but until we get in there nothing changes, nothing gets fixed.

so again, what was the most impactful revelation for you from the class, what path was revealed. I think this blog is a great opportunity to continue in the momentum of getting

better and digging deeper. I hope to hear from all who follow this blog!

Red Rocks and Businessmen

2009-04-09T06:01:00.001-07:00

I'm working on getting a picture of a friend running the stairs at Red Rocks. I know I have the flash all wrong, but I made a few attempts anyhow. In this shot the sun rises behind him and sets into his face.

Took a business picture for a lawyer on 52nd floor downtown but only had 10 minutes to set up. Used high shutter speed to decrease light out the window.

A teacher at Kent Denver High School.

I take 10 pictures around the high school every week and they go into an on-line newspaper. I plan to just keep taking them until a pattern evolves that I like.

I would very much appreciate ideas about the running pictures, or anything.

Rusty

2009-04-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

here is a self assignment I did today

for the portfolio. One light on my good friend Rusty

with a flick light in the face. the location is a body shop

where he has worked on a off for 20 years.

which do you like better?

comments welcome.

2009-04-04T16:38:00.000-07:00

Hi guys - wanted to share a slide show from pictures I forgot that I had from Santa Fe - just click here.
Also, had an assignment today for a small real estate company looking for new photos.
I'm really giving a lot of thought to jumping head first into e-ttl, especially after seeing the new PocketWizards. Don't think they're even available yet but they would have been perfect for today's shoot. Just getting tired of lugging around all the big toys.

The Pilot Shot....finally

2009-03-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

It took awhile but I was finally able to a get a window of opportunity to get my pilot photo, high winds kept them from flying today. The aircraft was being worked on so I couldn't have it moved. Also, I was fighting 40 mph gusts on the flight ramp so a shoot through anything was out of the question. Couldn't even use a reflector because I couldn't risk having anything fly off and hit the aircraft.

I set up my new SB-900, camera left (first time using it) and set the zoom to 200mm. Because he was wearing a ball cap I was getting a shadow from the brim so I set up an SB-800 on the same light stand but clamped it towards the bottom, pointing up under his cap.

First time using i-TTL as well, really like this method shooting, I can see why Joe is such a big fan of it.

My goal was to make the pilot appear bigger than the aircraft, which is why I went for the low, wide angle.

Would have really liked a cleaner background but had to take what I was given.

Fred

lesson 1

2009-03-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

Well here is my first shoot taken about 3 days after the class.

here I employed lesson one - establish main light first. Typically the way

I've shot before in an outdoor situation w/ over cast even light = shooting available light with maybe a touch of fill but problably not. Here I ran my monolight out with extension cords

slapped my medium softbox and moved that sucker close. Feathered it a bit and

focused on the subjects, 11 person family, 3 generations and a lot of love.

The lighting worked best the smaller the groups to be sure, inserted are two images

one with available light and then with dominant additional lighting. I like the latter better.

let me know you thoughts

Chris

Upcoming Assignment

2009-03-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

I have an assignment to take a portrait of one of our test pilots who recently logged 10,000 flight hours - a major accomplishment, that equates to 416.66666 days of flight. Anyway, I need to get him in front of an aircraft, holding his helmet, The Right Stuff, look. Depending on the weather, I'm thinking of trying a hi-speed sync shot, just to say I tried it. Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Fred

Joe and the Models

2009-03-20T18:17:00.001-07:00

Since I just got his book today, I thought I'd start this with Joe sharing the PDF of Hot Shoe Diaries with his models. Fred