Archive for the People Category
Wrestling Team Poster
July 28, 2008 | Filed Under Digital Editing, group portrait, wrestling | 4 Comments
Keith Watson, aka “Watty”, head coach of the John Carroll Wrestling team (a private high school in Bel Air) called me with regards to creating a team poster/schedule for the 08-09 season. Watty, who is sometimes referred to the P.T. Barnum of Harford County wrestling, for he is always thinking of ways to market and promote his school and the sport. His first thought was to assemble the team on someone’s front porch and have some slogan referring to porch, big dogs, etc.
My initial reaction was trying to find a large enough porch for a shot like this, but even more challenging would be to find a time when all these guys would be free at the same time (over the summer), to make the shoot. These are high school boys, many who have summer jobs, are on family vacations, or are more interested in hanging with their girlfriends. I offered up a different idea — shoot each wrestler individually with a green screen, cut them out and create the illusion of a group shot. Using this method, each wrestler would be lit under controlled conditions much easier than trying to setup lights on location. This approach provides a way to now come up with any background image to use for the poster. The other advantage, is weather is a non-factor, so no rainout date would have to be planned.
The last day of class for John Carroll was June 6, so I went to the school that day, setup and shot each wrestler that Coach Watson wanted to be in the poster, before they all spread like wildfire after finishing the school year.
I submitted for review, ten different background images, from pastures to buildings, for potential candidates for the final poster. Coach Watson and his staff settled on the stormy clouds version. In addition, he let me know that one of the original wrestlers has transferred to another school and would need to be removed. With the removal of that wrestler, I then rearranged the other guys to balance it out.
Coach Watson wondered if I could add a bolt of lighting to the sky. I played around with Photoshop after Googling for help inspiration and technique from others. I personally like the poster without the lightning, but the coaches loved it, and wanted it included.
The final step was to add the text, and get the final OK. Once approved, it was time to send the final image to the lab to print the posters.
This was a fun experience, and would gladly accept another project that could utilize the green screen.
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That Summertime Feeling
June 21, 2008 | Filed Under family, kids, People, Personal | 1 Comment
Ah, summer. You remember those days as a kid don’t you? Being out of school and running out of the house in the morning, feeling the warmth of the sun on your face, wondering what that day of fun would bring.
Unfortunately, I’m not a kid anymore and those days of three months of vacation are only a memory. However, I can relive those moments watching my kids experience it as I once did.
No matter what type of camera you own, keep it handy, and take photographs of your family. You, your family, and future family members will appreciate it in the future.
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Actor Headshot
June 2, 2008 | Filed Under headshots | Leave a Comment
Sunday I had the pleasure of shooting headshots for Valeria, a Bel Air teenager who will be attending acting camp this summer. She needed to have some 8×10 headshot prints so she gave me a call to set up an appointment.
The headshots were all taken at her home (where her mother makes some delicious lemonade) in the family room / living room area. The home had a beautiful wood floor, and it made a great background as I shot from high above.
I think Valeria had a great time — once she got over a bit of nervousness in the beginning — and I hope I was able to help her land a great role in the future.
Lighting Information:
Clamshell lighting with two 43″ umbrella’s and 580EXs.
Top umbrella – 1/8 power
Bottom umbrella – 1/32 powerHairlight from snooted 285HV at 1/16 power
Memorial Day
May 26, 2008 | Filed Under kids | Leave a Comment
Happy Memorial Day to everyone. Today is a day to honor those who have fought and served our country and to grieve those who died while serving.
Memorial Day also signals the unofficial beginning of summer and what do kids want to do in the summer … SWIM! The weather in Bel Air today is fabulous — bright sunshine and 84 degrees.
While the kids were playing, I also was playing with my camera. I thought I try my hand at shooting with my right hand while holding a flash in my left. The downside to bright sunshine is the harsh shadows that accompany it. To bring out some definition in the shadows, a bit of fill flash does wonders.
The photo above — of my daughter Keely, the ham — used my technique of underexposing the camera 2/3 of a stop to cut down on the hot spots, and pop a bit of flash from the shadow side at 1/32 power.
The flash is not for inside use only. It can really come in handy outdoors as well. Give it a try, you may like the results.
Natural Light Headshot
May 20, 2008 | Filed Under headshots | Leave a Comment
Recently I’ve been shooting a lot of headshots, and am finding myself really enjoying this type of photography. Perhaps it has to do with those windows to the soul — the eyes. Getting these tight headshots gives the person viewing the photograph an excellent view into those windows.
I had been using many off-camera strobes for lighting the previous headshots I’ve taken in the past, which generally means I must stop down my lens into the f/8-f/11 range and thus increasing my depth of field. Which is perfectly fine for a portrait or corporate headshot. With this photo session, I decided to try something different , using the giant softbox that Mother Nature provided — gray cloud-filled skies — and a white foamcore board just below the subject to fill in the shadows. This allowed me to use my 135mm lens at f/2, with a sliver of DOF, and really concentrate on getting the eyes tack sharp to draw the viewer immediately to the eyes.
I’m going to use this technique much more in the future.
Corporate Headshots
May 7, 2008 | Filed Under headshots | 2 Comments
Monday afternoon I was contracted to photograph seven corporate principals and assistant principals for a local engineering firm. Companies use these type of images for their websites, annual reports, press releases, company publications, etc.
The headshots were taken on-location so not to interrupt their daily workload.
The setup for these photographs was an Alien Bee 800 with large softbox camera right, with a reflector camera left for fill. I also place a foamcore board on table in front of subjects to help fill in light under the chin. I used a blue paper backdrop with an Alien Bee 400 and 40-degree grid to create the background light.
After a Hard Day’s Work
May 3, 2008 | Filed Under headshots | Leave a Comment
On Monday, I am shooting corporate headshots for a client, so yesterday I was setting up a new lighting scheme from techniques I learned from the Lighting-Essentials workshop I attended last month.
I was resorting to setting a timer on my camera and then running over to the chair to capture myself in the frame to check my lighting. Luckily, after only a few laps from camera to chair and back, my son came home from work. He is on the grounds crew at Mountain Branch Golf Course in Joppa. Of course he was all sweaty and wanted a shower, but he was more than happy to sit in for a couple test shots.
There is something about this image I really like, and I thought I’d share.
This is taken with a large softbox to camera right and a white foamboard camera left. I had a second light with grid hitting the background from left to right. I normally would have the backlight directly behind the subject, but in this test setup I was limited on the amount of space between the subject and the backdrop.