While I do like the image produced by shooting video in a DSLR, there are areas that need workarounds, additional time added in post and the workflow in general, and some limitations that must be understood going in. I’ll be shooting more and more with DSLRs for video, but there are many projects the standard professional video camera will be a must have. With Canons introduction of the C3000, Panasonics AF100, and similar cameras, we end up with the best of both worlds in the very near future. I’ll definitely be testing this cameras before plunking down $30K on a traditional professional video camera.

Simple lighting for a relatively simple shot. One strobe behind the talent on the right and left, and balanced available light as the main light. Exposure was set for ambient lighting, and the rear side strobes were set to just add a bit of definition and depth.

Here is one part of the finished commercial.

After performing independent testing a few days ahead of time, just to be sure we could accomplish the stated goals, the helicopter needed to be prepared on the day of the shoot. This involved masking over the painted graphics, logos, etc, that were already present on the heli. Graphic artists tape was used in matching colors to hide the New York City Police decal, N number registration, and RC helicopter manufacturer logos.

A small High Def camera was then mounted under the fuselage such that it could capture video at multiple angles during the several flights we would make. After seeing the footage from the camera, we ended up purchasing one for our own projects. The camera, GoPro HD, shown below, is very small, enclosed in a waterproof case, can be virtually mounted anywhere, and delivered high quality HD footage. Once everything was checked out, angles selected, test footage was recorded, it was time to head out for actual shooting.

The shoot location was in a parking lot adjacent to the New Balance headquarters in downtown Lawrence, MA. As a shooting location goes, it was just another outdoor shoot location. Not the best, not the worst. As an RC flying area, thats another story. It was very challenging to say the least. If the location wasn’t challenging enough all by itself, a few other challenges were thrown in to keep me on my toes.

High winds. Down drafts and turbulence coming off the top of the building 6 or 7 stories up, and around the clock tower they wanted me to hover in front of. An electrical sub-station next door with possible electrical interference, which didn’t show up in the initial location scouting. Cold temps to keep my thumbs shaking and add further instability, and also challenge the batteries capacity. Ok, I thought, I can still handle this. I’ve flown in worse, just not in a small parking lot, in the city, surrounded by buildings, with a crew of people focused on my flying skills. I’ll need to really focus, but I can still handle it.

Oh yea, and one more challenge! I need to take off and land on a 2.5′ x 4′ table. Ouch. Ok, now that made it really hard.

In the shot above, you can see the size of the take off and landing area! It also shows the flying area we had available, including the flag pole right dab in the middle, building in the background, cars and tractor trailers in close proximity, a terrible approach and take off angle based on the angle required for the shot and the suns direction. With the wind, tight location, etc, an autorotation would be very difficult at best should I have an engine or mechanical issue.

While the crew in the background attend to the ‘cargo’, we are preparing the helicopter for a few more flights. All in all, we flew about 6 or 7 flights in order to get the shots we needed. For each shot, we needed to close the parking and building entrances from vehicle and foot traffic, and have all the crew behind a nearby chain link fence for safety.

From a piloting standpoint, it was challenging with the high winds, turbulence off the building and clock tower, and the small take off and landing area, if you want to call it that. I’m really glad I took the challenge, worked through the issues, and had successful and safe flights and overall shoot. Sometimes its really easy to look at a situation, and talk yourself out of it even before you take the time to see if it can’t be done successfully. I’m glad I didn’t, as this was a very fun and rewarding experience.

Once the commercial is released, I can reveal more details about the shoot, but for now I can only provide some behind the scenes images.

Here is a link to the final video, just posted a few weeks ago on YouTube.

Olympus E-P1, 14-42mm Zukio lens, 1/5th, f5.6, ISO 1600, IS1.

While taking my wife and daughter out to dinner before dropping my daughter off at college, I took some quick test exposures in low light conditions with the Olympus E-P1.

This image was shot hand held at 1/5th, 5.6, and ISO 1600, which shows the image stabilization works very well in this camera. Almost all the exposures I took this evening were in the 1/4 to 1/15th range due to the slow kit lens and night lighting, yet all were sharp. I attribute this to the stabilization system since I wasn’t doing anything special with regards to steadying the camera.

With the faster 1.7 and 2.8 lenses, I’ll gain another few stops and further enhance the usefulness of this camera in low light. Not bad for a very compact camera that sits between P&S and DSLR performance. There may be a lot to be desired in this format for a photographer that is looking for excellent image quality in a very small package.

Olympus-E-P1 w/ 14-42mm 3.5/5.6 Zukio Digital, with optional optical viewfinder.

The camera also has a nostalgic feel to it for those that have shot with rangefinder cameras. In fact with an adapter it will even take Leica M mount lenses to further enhance that feel. Adapters are also available for many other lens mounts, so there is a lot of room for creative play with the characteristics of these lenses. With a fast ‘pancake’ lens such as the Lumix 20mm f1.7, it is very compact, light, and easy to carry just about anywhere. An excellent package for low light social gatherings or night street shooting.

And best of all, it’s just plain fun to shoot with!

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

One key component in my organization mix are methods that allow me to easily take notes, record ideas, images, etc,.  Traditionally, I’d use a paper DayTimer to manage written notes and appointments, a camera to capture images of ideas, locations, props, and so on, an audio recorder that allows me to record notes and thoughts when writing to paper isn’t appropriate such as when driving or being otherwise tied up.  I don’t want to run to the office and boot up my laptop to make a simple note, nor to I want to carry around Daytimer, digital camera and audio recorder, and notepad. So its imperative that its small, light, available all the time, can hold a wide variety of information, and doesn’t tie me to one format or media.

When I had my Blackberry, I had some of this capability. It lacked others, but for the most important information I needed, it was always there on my side, or in my pocket. It worked, worked well, but just didn’t do everything I needed. For most of the data, I used SoHo notes on my laptop, desktop, and the data was available by web if needed.  It also sync’d the data between the computers in the background, and without any intervention. It was a good solution as long as I was in front of a computer. But once on the road, it was all useless to me.

The Blackberry gave me some portability for some documents and data, but it wasn’t effortless. I needed to manually keep things in sync, and take care of transferring new files in and out of the Blackberry. It worked, but took effort, and was basically limited in function and file formats. My SoHo Notes had about 1,300 notes and was about 600MB in size, and there was no way the Blackberry was equipped to handle that.

Enter the iPhone. It had the potential to resolve all this, and add much more functionality, but only if SoHo Notes had an iPhone application to keep the data in sync. But they didn’t at the time. I loved the way it worked on the Desktop/Laptops, but really wanted to take it all with me on the iPhone as well.

So I went looking for similar applications and found Evernote. It functions much like SoHo Notes, but it had a very nice iPhone related application. It also automatically sync’d the data between the desktop, laptop, iPhone over the cellular network silently and without my intervention. I updated a note, added a photo, audio recording, web link, etc, and it immediately updated and sync’d all the other sources. It also handled images, audio, text, rich text, html, PDF, and so on. Just want I have been looking for.

With this capability, I can use Evernote to capture a great location I stumble across, and it will be filed in my notes with the GPS coordinates. I can also add any other related notes if needed. If its a business, resort, or other location that would have a website address, the link can also be added for immediate access.

When I get to the office, its there on the Evernote desktop application. While on location or in a hotel, I can access it via the laptop. I can also access it via the web via any computer by knowing the username and password for my account.  When I don’t have wireless or am away from the Desktop/Laptop, I can still access it via the 3G or Edge celluar networks on my iPhone. So its literally with me all the time in a fast and conveniet way to access it.

Now that the availability is so high, and all the data is automatically synchronized,  it has become so useful to me in my business and personal life. What it does for me is allow me to throw random thoughts into notes within the application and disperses it to all the other platforms all in sync. So I always have a wealth of information available to me at all times, and that is extremely useful to me.

Evernote startup screen

The above is screen that displays right after startup. It allows me to quickly create a new text note, take a photo and create a note with it inside, create a note with an existing photo (usually stored in the camera roll), or record a new voice recording and create a note with it. An interesting function that it performs with images, is that it will perform an OCR scan of the image and extract any text it sees and make that searchable. In most instances, it can extract text from signs, paper receipts, notes, business cards, etc, and such that the images will be recalled in a search that contains the word or words.

Selecting the Notes icon on the bottom bar, brings me to all my existing notes. I can recall them for review or modify them as needed. The Favorites star allows me to tag some notes as special for easy recall. I use the favorites to quickly access notes I use on a regular basis. And the account icon is for account related settings and info.

The notes can be filed in folders and reviewed as a list as shown above, or in a landscape ‘cover flow’ mode such as used in the iPod application and shown below. It can be textual in nature, a preview image of the document, a thumbnail of the image contained in the note, as a list, or icons. There are lots of ways to display the data to cover most peoples preferences.

Each folder is shown as a title bar in the list view, or as a vertical bar in the cover flow mode. Searching is typical of other apps, and the notes also show up in the Sportlight search mode. Very easy to navigate around, or search for your notes.

Note view showing the actual contents of the note. They can be any combination of HTML documents, PDF’s, a photo, voice recording, etc. They can be read landscape or portrait, zoomed in, shared, e-mailed, used for cut and paste, and so on.

Very cool and useful app. But in practice, how do I use it? Easy answer, but hard to boil it down to size without a very long rambling post.

Here are some of the ways that I use it on a regular basis;

I use it often to visually record a location, as it attaches the GPS coordinates to the image so I have a push pin on a satellite image map for easy reference in the future. I can also quickly e-mail these images or videos to my clients while I am still at the location and get their immediate feedback. The images and notes also serve to build a location library for future use. I also use it for memory aids, such as when drawing a lighting diagram on a napkin in the hotel bar, when seeing a prop that may come in handy in the future, to record a lighting or stage setup for future reference, clipping inspiration and ideas from magazines, billboards, or retail displays, and so on.

There is a folder that contains all the equipment manuals in PDF form for reference while in the field. Another folder contains all my vendor and industry contact information, rental equipment pricing and policies, reference data such as color correction filters, Rosco filter reference, part numbers for most common equipment items and vendor information for replacement parts.

Another folder contains all my business documents, such as model releases, usage agreements, standard terms and conditions, etc. These allow me to attach them to an e-mail, print them directly to a WiFi printer, or just reference them in the field and to cut and paste into text messages or e-mails.

Then I also keep a lot of short term information that I want to capture and use later. Something as simple as seeing an item in a store that I want to investigate further, I can just snap a quick picture of the shelf price tag with the item in view and have everything I need to later search on best pricing, technical specifications of the item, or just as a reminder on where I saw it if I wanted to go back later. I capture it and forget about it until I need the info again. I think of it as a photographic memory, since that’s basically what it is!

The above only scratches the surface of how useful this application is to me. The fact that the data is available to me whether I’m out in the field on my iPhone, at my desktop, traveling with only my phone and iPad, or that I can access it from any computer connected to the network makes it useful. If it didn’t have that seamless connectivity, it wouldn’t even capture 5 minutes of my time.

I prefer SoHo Notes over Evernote for many reasons, but Evernote has pushed it off its perch because of the connectivity. While SoHo Notes now has better connectivity, I had several problems with the syncing process and finally gave it. Also, the syncing was not seamless and automatic in the background, but would require me perform the syncs on a regular basis, and requires me to sync with each computer individually. No thanks.

Now that I have an iPad in the mix, Evernote is even more useful. The iPad along with the various apps I use and Evernote, and I can really get away with leaving the laptop behind when I travel. The iPad is much better for inputting text via the virtual keyboard, or when using the small and portable wireless keyboard. I can travel very light and still have excellent functionally. With the amount of time I’m on the road and not in the office, the combination of the iPhone, iPad, and the apps used including Evernote, really allow me to run my business just about anywhere. Thats a freedom that really makes my job a lot easier.

There is a lot more to this than will fit in one post. I decided to concentrate on Evernote since it really is the pivotal piece that is central to how I work. I’ll try to cover the other apps and processes that are useful in the field and based around the Apple iPad and iPhone devices.

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.

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!

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 from the beginning), 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   I can say though, 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 other topics presented on a two page spread. He assumes 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 explain 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;

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.

One of the issues that crops up using the small portable flashes, is the lack of ‘grip’ equipment and light modifiers. A need to turn to the DIY method of solving problems and being a little creative.

The above image shows one way I mount a portable flash when I can’t use traditional methods. This is a Nikon SB24 mounted in a door frame using a putty knife. The handle of the putty knife was drilled out and a stud mounted.  From there, you can use the traditional methods to attach the flash.

The putty knife can be inserted in-between the door and jamb, under a set of books on a book case, held with a sandbag, clamped to a ladder step, in a rock crevice, etc. Lots of options just about everywhere.

The above image shows the complete setup less the pocket wizard. From the bottom up, putty knife, stud (not visible), elbow, stub with hot shoe mount, SB24. Typically, the hot shoe mount would be substituted with a paramount cords hot shoe cable and connected to a Pocket Wizard, then the strobe mounted on top of that.

The barn doors are being held on to the front via velcro, and can be mounted in any postion as needed. All in all, it provides for a very versitle lighting setup that can be mounted virtually anywhere, even to the point it can affixed with gaffers tape to any flat surface.

Then came the iPhone.

My son coined the term iCrack as his replacement for Crackberry, which he used to use when he would see me hunched over it. I must admit this iPhone  is so useful and convenient, that I am finally addicted to a PDA/Phone device. The speed at which I can check my e-mails, scan my RSS blog and news feeds, check on the stock market, SMS messages, watch news clips, or have just about any kind of data available at my fingertips is astounding.

If I need to check my bank balances, look up a phone number in the white pages, check on my flights status, book a flight/car/hotel, browse though my important files, calender, send notes and reminders to my desktop, find local business close by, check my camera/gear PDF manuals, update my Netflix queue, tell my DVR to record an upcoming show, look up auto repair prices, find the closest gas station, or the cheapest, plus so much more. This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg, but more of a couple snowflakes in the field.

Here is a typical scenario that shows how fluid this process really is. A very basic task that would easily take 5-10 times longer if I had to use my laptop, and even more if I had to resort to the yellow pages, telephone, and printed maps and information.

So, I click on the Icon for ‘Around Me, an iPhone application that will give me a list of local businesses in my general area (determined by the built in GPS). It then presents me with a menu of choices for things like banks, coffee, bars, shopping, gas stations, supermarkets,  hospitals, etc.

I then click on Restaurants and am presented with another list of the closest restaurants in a pre-set radius, sorted by distance. I scan the list to find one that interests me, and click on it.

I am then presented with the address, phone numbers, distance, e-mail, and so on. If needed, I can click on the phone number, and it will place a call so I can check on hours, make a reservation, etc.

Clicking on the ‘Show Route’ button brings up  a map which shows my current position, a push pin for the restaurants position, and a marked route on the map to the restaurant.  As I drive toward the location, my position on the map is updated as I go. There are also routing options if you plan on taking a bus, or walking. Try that with the Yellow Pages and a paper map! It really is faster and easier to do than to describe. It rocks!

There are so many other similar examples for various other tasks, all executed smoothly, quickly, and, well, presented in a very cool manner as icing on the cake. It just makes my life easier in so many ways, and it fits in my pocket.

I’ll try to post a few segments on the various applications and uses as it applies to a small business owner, and more specifically, one involved in commercial photography. Such as the ability to take pictures with the iPhone while location scouting, upload them to the desktop, and be able to pinpoint the location on a map where the image was taken. No longer needing to somehow track the locations separately. With the photo taken, Google maps, satellite view, street view, GPS reference data, it can really make cataloging location scouting images very easy. So look for some future updates.

A few other cools things I’ll try to touch on, such as the photography related utilities, travel aids, access to my bank, important files, weather forecasts, position of the sun for lighting evaluations, calendar, displaying my ‘mini electronic portfolio’, keeping in touch on social sites such as Facebook, my own ‘in-flight’ entertainment of video/TV/movies/music, and on and on.

And if you also have an iPhone, and have some great apps that work for independent photographers, feel free to add them in a comment.

]]> http://stephenfaust.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/080406-vu0s0825-edit/feed/ 0 sfaust http://stephenfaust.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/my-little-top-of-the-wold/ http://stephenfaust.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/my-little-top-of-the-wold/#comments Mon, 26 Jan 2009 03:33:44 +0000 sfaust http://stephenfaust.wordpress.com/?p=438 Continue reading →]]>

Parked at the top. Gorgeous views, unsettled skies. I wanted to spend some time capturing it, but one of those traveling wtih us was freezing cold. I cut it short and headed back down.

With all the activity in the last few months, new work, new clients, holidays, home remodeling, tax season, and so on, the blog has been pretty dead. For those following, I apologize for the lack of updates and vow to increase postings in the future.

In the mean time, I took some much needed R&R up north along the Canadian border perched upon a ridge overlooking Canada, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. One of my favorite places in the dead of winter, regardless of how cold it was. And it was cold! We started our trek in the morning with temps in the -10 degree range at the lower elevations. The temps dropped as the day wore on, and into the -20′s in town. At the higher elevations, it was another 10 degrees or so colder. And with the wind at 20mph with gusts to 35, the wind chill index was in the -41 to -53 range based on the NOAA charts. That’s damn cold!

Don, standing behind my sled, and in front of the flag at the top of the mountain.

But the real reason for this post is in regard to the Canon G10 I brought with me. It worked like a champ. I can’t say we fared the same In the amount of time I exposed my hand to take a short video clip, I could feel the pain of the cold setting in. I doubt it would take more than 10 minutes before frostbite set in. My gloves went back on until we descended down the ridge to warmer temps.

But the G10 did its job and captured the images and video clips without a hiccup. Granted, it acted very sluggishly, taking a second or two longer to extend the lens, and the image appeared on the display in twice the time it normally takes. But it worked perfectly capturing images and video clips for the entire trip.

I did have some fogging when moving in and out of temperature extremes (cabin to outside, etc), but it resolved quickly. The battery didn’t even hiccup, but it did have a full charge from the start and I only took about 70-80 images, so no surprise there. The camera was also stowed in an outside pocket for quick access, and there was no insulation from the cold. So it was pretty much exposed to the elements the entire time.

Old faithful sitting idle, eager to go out and do it again. Even sitting all night in 20 degree below zero weather, I pressed the start button the next morning and she fired right up! Gotta love Ski-Doo's

I did have friends with me on this trip, so I didn’t take anything more than snapshots. I didn’t feel their best interests would be served watching me stop every 20 minutes for photo opportunities. But snapshots are indeed the real reason I purchased the G10 in the first place. Its a great combination of features aimed at advanced photographers packed in a reasonable sized package that’s easy to carry when you really don’t want to carry a SLR and lenses.

Grab shot while driving home through a dirty windshield .

I do vow to someday take my remote controlled helicopter up there, attached the SLR with a fisheye lens, hover it above us on the mountain top, and catch a real glimpse of the lay of land. It will give a very good illusion of sitting on top of the world. I know its not Everest, but I do feel like I am on top of the wold where there. So I might as well capture it that way

I vist here most times I pass by. Its a great half way point, and a reason to stretch the legs in the middle of a long drive.

Stacey in hallway - by Curt Johnson

When I saw a few of the photographers shooting Stacey in the hallway, I thought it would be interesting to add some creative lighting techniques. After all, it was the Creative Lighting Workshop!

They were already shooting available light, so I decided to use it as an opportunity to show some mixed lighting techniques, and how the color balance differences will create various effects in the image. It was also a good time to use an acrylic mirror setup, since with tungsten or constant light, they can see the results of how I use the mirror for some techniques. Its much harder to show it with strobe, since the effect isn’t immediate and readily visible.

So I dragged a tungsten light fixture, a Lowell DP 750W hot light, out into the hallway. To further add some drama, I used the acrylic mirror with a bunch of gaffers tape on it to create what I call a ‘reverse cookie’. What this does is to block some of the light from being reflected off the mirror, thereby creating shadow and highlight areas, which can be put to good use.

I held the mirror off to the side of the photographers, and aimed the tungsten hot light at myself and the mirror. That allowed me to aim the reflected light at Stacey and the hallway, and bend and flex the mirror to adjust the light pattern as needed. I kept it moving around to create varied patterns on Stacey and the wall, while keeping her eyes and face in a bright spot so I wouldn’t loose her expression.

The blue behind Stacey partly came from the light blue wall behind Stacey, and party from the color imbalance of the sunlight coming from a window behind her. Since the foreground would be balanced for the correct color on the model, somewhere around 3200K, that would throw the diffused sun at 6000K behind her into the blue range. That enhanced the blue on the wall further, and created the multiple levels of blue. The various darkers areas of shadow are from the gaffers tape blocking light from reflecting back off the mirror. I’ll try to grab a picture of the mirror, and a diagram of the setup, and post them here.

I like Stacey’s pose, and how Curt used a ‘dutch tilt’ to further enhance her in that space. Overall, its a very dynamic image, and the styling sets a nice mood.

Jenn in Hallway - Curt Johnson

Above is another image Curt took in the same basic area and lighting, but with another model. In this image, you can see better the color imbalance, with the blue light in the rear which is just normal window light, and the foreground lighting which is more neutral. Since the camera was set, or the color balance changed in post for the tungsten ligthing in the foreground, the sunlight will turn blue. It can be used to create interest as it has in this image. While it may look like a blue gel was used on a strobe behind her, its just the natural sunlight.

Lisa working on Jessica's makeup

The above is an image of Lisa, my favorite makeup artist, applying makeup on Jessica. This is for the marionette setup that we created for the photographers. Terry worked on the wardrobe, Twan styled her hair, and my assistants Mike and Matthew took care of creating the actual set.

Kerry in Makeup/Hair with Jenni

Kerry was fresh off the marionette set, as shown by the lipstick and makeup, and having her hair done by Jenni for a fashion look. Makeup was changed after her hair was done. She was styled for a black on black type scenario to demonstrate lighting under those conditions.

Catlin on the lingerie set

Since many photographers shy away from tungsten light sources, ‘hot lights’, saying they are too harsh and hard to work with. I added a setup traditionally shot by most photographers using softboxes, and light the scene entirely with hot lights. I wanted to show the interestingly soft light quality they are capable of if handled correctly. Catlin was a good match for the set. The above ‘behind the scenes’ image was taken with the studio fluorescent lighting. The following image was taken by one of the participants, and it shows the actual lighting effects achieved. Anything but harsh. Sometime in the near future, I will publish some of the images here on the blog, with lighting diagrams showing the specifics.

Catlin on the hot light setup. Image by Dana Lane.

A few more ‘behind the scenes’ images…

Jenn and Kerry in hair and makeup

Jacquline on break between shooting

Twan working on Jacquline