Simple talent on white background

It’s been a while since I’ve posted due to workload. But here are some quick behind the scenes images from one of this weeks shoots. Technically a fairly simple shoot, but important enough to get a half dozen to fly in from all around the country. The image was a simple talent shot on white with a few basic props, which will then be composited with a an appropriate background. We needed to match the lighting on set with that of the background, as well as the perspective, focal length, and location of props to fit into the background.

A very simple setup, talent against white background. Lighting was accomplished with two medium softboxes, 2:1 ratio, with a beauty dish carefully aimed to provide some added pop to the talent. Background was lit by two overlapping strobes with std reflectors.

Reviewing images on the monitors between takes. Images were captured via Capture One on a laptop and fed to a separate 22" monitor for client review.

The images are for an beverage advertising campaign featuring a celebrity talent, and will be used for print, point of sale, etc. I can’t show the images from the actual shoot to respect the clients promotional goals, but will update this post with before and after images once the campaign is underway. Or you can pop into your local liquor store and see it there

Credits;  1st Assistant: Mike Slurzberg.  Prod Asst/Stylist: Terry Wheaton.  Makeup/Hair: Lisa Roch.  2nd Assistant: Tina Gianos.  Behind the Scenes images; Tina Gianos, Canon G10.  Boston commercial photographer, www.StephenFaust.com

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I shot this editorial image about 5 years ago, but recently ran across it in the archives in search of another image. It was very simple to setup and shoot using 1 tungsten light and a reflector. I believe this was shot on my Nikon gear shortly before I made the switch to Canon.

Here are a couple variations of the same shoot. All were done with the same 1 light and reflector setup.

Summer Lake House

Taken with available light at a friends summer home on a lake in New Hampshire. The house has 13 bedrooms, bats in the belfry, and a whole lot of character and turn of the century charm   The following are a few other images I took on a recent trip there.

Boston Subway

While on my way in to see a client in Boston one day, I found the Alewife  station rather empty of passengers. I took the time to take a few images on the way down the escalator to the subway platform. For shooting from the hip with no preparation, lighting, or time to stop, I think they turned out rather well considering.

Business Portrait

P&S and Location and scouting camera

I’ve been asked by a few photographers about what small light cameras I use for my own personal or location scouting work. Usually I bring a camera with me just about anywhere I go. Either a small Sony W50 P&S tucked in my jacket pocket, a larger Canon G7 in my bag, or one of my 1D series work cameras when I have room and don’t mind carrying the weight. I use them a lot of scouting locations, grab shots, or family photography.

That is how the article started when I drafted it a month ago. Well, between then and now, my house was burglarized and they made off with my Canon G7 and Sony W50. The positive outcome of this, is that I replaced it with a G10. A far better camera than the G7, and the G9 I was considering replacing it with. So in the end, I got a forced upgrade, and at the full cost rather than selling the G7 to offset the cost.

Anyway, now I use the G10 for all my personal shooting, and location scouting. Its a perfect camera for most times a point and shoot lacks the controls and features, and when a full sized SLR would be too bulky to carry around. The G10 fits in my bag that I carry with me all the time, right next to my PDA, iPod, and other must haves!

The G10 allows full manual mode, flash overrides and adjustments, and has a very nice lens attached to it. It really turns out some nice images for such as small package. I use it for my own personal photography, scouting shots, and family photography. Its very easy to use, quick to operate, and I can setup a couple custom modes to match the type of shooting I do. It shoots video, Jpeg, and Raw formats of various sizes, and puts out a 14.7mp RAW file. I would have prefered to see them stick with a smaller file size and instead work on decreasing noise at the higher ISO settings. I find anything over ISO200 marginal, and over ISO400 are nearly usless except for documentation purposes only.

The custom modes can remember a whole series of settings to be quickly loaded and set in the camera when selected. For example, I use Custom Mode 1 to set the camera to manual mode, ISO 400, flash compensation -1, macro mode off, flash on, and slow sync mode (second curtain). I use it mainly for shooting interiors, night portraits, etc. Custom mode 2 is set for normal daylight shooting and set to ISO100, flash on, flash compensation -2 for fill, manual focus and set to infinity (less shutter lag time), etc. This way I can quickly change between interiors/night and daylight photographer by turning the knob one notch. Very handy feature.

The G10 also has a hot shoe, so I can even use it with my pocket wizards and studio strobes. This means I can use a 580ex on the camera for longer reach and improved battery life, or use a pocket wizard with one or more 580ex strobes remotely for accent and supplemental lighting.

It has the look and handling of a classic rangefinder camera. Rather than always having to fish through menus to set ISO, mode, flash, etc, it has a dedicated knob on top of the camera to adjust the ISO setting. Another one decided to the shooting mode, including custom modes C1 and C2. There is also a very handy exposure compensation dial easily accessible on the top of the camera. On the back face of the camera, there are buttons for macro mode, flash on, off, or auto, drive mode, and manual focus. And finally, there is a function setup button with a menu that is fast to navigate which has all the most often used functions easily accessible such as color balance, flash compensation, color modes, neutral density filter, image quality, and so on. Finally, there is a custom menu screen that can be customized to show the top five features and settings as the first screen you see. This all makes for a very fast handing camera.

The lens quality is excellent, and produces a very sharp and contrasy image. There are some typical flaws as with all small P&S cameras, but the lens on the G10 is definitely in the top of the class. The large LCD delivers a nice image for review, however the high gloss makes it hard to see in daylight with reflections on the screen. Shielding it is easy, so its a minor inconvenience. When viewing the LCD indoors or in more subdued lighting, the image quality is excellent. There is also a viewfinder that can be used in those instances where you don’t want to use the LCD to compose the image. Its small, but adequate and very useful when needed.

Battery life is excellent, and I can count on it being ready to go even after sitting in my bag for a couple weeks. I do charge it when I know I will be using it for a lot of images, but for typical use of a few images a day, I can go a coule weeks without needing to charge it. I carry the small charger with me in my bag, and can charge it off the 120V inverter in my car if needed, or top it off while in the studio, at a friends, etc.

All in all, I really liked the G7, and the G10 brings it to a new level. The thief will need to bring his A game if he wants to take my G10! I’ve got the SIG P229 locked and loaded, and new batteries in the laser sight!

Rambling on current work and iPhones vs Blackberry’s.

Unfortunately for the blog, but fortunate for the wallet, I’ve been exceedingly busy the last few months. With the shift in the economy, I’ve seen the photography work drop off a but, but for some unexplained reason, my billings for video has increased more than enough to cover the offset. I won’t complain since I prefer shooting video over stills, but a mix of the two is a perfect fit for me. I’ve added a few recent images at the end of this post, and will try to re-compress some videos for the web and link to them here.

On the technology front, I’m still missing my Blackberry for all its convenient business features, but loving the iPhone for what I can do with it. If someone could smash the two together and end up with the best of both, it would be an awesome machine! We finally got cut and paste on the iPhone (should have been there with Ver 1, common Apple), so I can now respond on the iPhone via e-mail with more complex replies. With my Blackberry I keep numerous templates files to allow me to reply on pricing, terms, and common questions without having to re-type it each time. I could cut and paste from the templates and then edit as needed. This was fast, and enabled me to get right back to a client quickly as long as I had a minute or two and a cell signal.

With the iPhone, this wasn’t an option until cut as paste was added last month . There are so many nice features the blackberry had which suited business communications well that are lacking on the iPhone. But, the iPhone does have a virtual Zippo lighter and a level   But I can say, my images are actually usable on the iPhone for showing potential clients on the fly. Bright, sharp, crisp, saturated with good contrast, and big enough to be useful.

My assistant mentioned a book he was ordering, How to Cheat in Photoshop by Steve Caplin, and thought I might also be interested in. I told him to go ahead and order one for me. Whats nice about it, is that there are lots of quick solutions to every day problems, as well as some more obscure tasks. There are several chapters on each topic, with several solutions summarized in a page or two. For example, in the Perspective chapter, he covers horizons, vanishing points, two and three point perspectives, creating perspective, fixing wide angle objects using perspective, and so on each on a two page spread. He does assume a basic working knowledge of Photoshop, since he will tell you to create a layer or quick mask, assuming you already know these tasks, and not explaining each and every step along the way. For most photographers that work with Photoshop on a regular basis, they will have most of these skills in their tool box already.

I’m off on a couple trips, and will post when time permits.

Here is some recent work;

Available light portrait

Portrait taken under soft natural light from overcast skies. I used a reflector leaning on my legs at a 45 degree angle to bring in some light to soften the shadows. I wanted soft shadow tones for this image. I really like what I see in the eyes and expression, and how the hat and hair frame her face. I can also see various croppings working quite well.