Old Man Leudecke on R2 Drive

December 16, 2009 | Filed Under photo | Leave a Comment 

Between this and the Jully Black shoot, I feel like I’m on a roll when it comes to getting “THE SHOT” during my brief 2-5 minute in-studio shoots. OML was a really nice guy and a fantastic smile that I’m glad I caught. He’ll be on Radio 2 Drive on December 17th at 3:30pm, you should tune in. Photo deets below the pic.

This was a three-light setup with no modifiers. One light was behind me to camera right on a light stand, maybe 8 feet high and aimed at OML. Another was behind me and to camera left a lil’bit at hip height, pointed straight at him for some fill. The other was to his right at head height, a tad behind him, and it’s what’s casting that bit of rim on the side of his face. I cranked the fill and the rim a lot lower than I usually do; subtlety with hard lighting is something I’ll be experimenting with more. ISO 200 at F/5.

FoodieMeet Bake-Off bosses

December 14, 2009 | Filed Under photo | 3 Comments 

Andrea Chiu and Suresh Doss organized a totally delicious and successful bake-off last night. While I shot the event, including shots of all the bakers and their wares, I also got these of the man and woman of the hour who brought the whole shebang together. Lighting info below the shot.

The time line was very tight; I had about 20 minutes to shoot every single baker, their goods, and still get these two shots off shortly after the doors opened up. With everyone running around, I went with a quick and dirty solo-light in an umbrella setup. It was a tungsten-gelled SB600 in a shoot-through, to camera right. For the first shot I was standing on some stairs to get the location/their accomplishment in the shot. Both shots were longish exposures to let the background burn in (1/20 and 1/13, respectively) and both were shot at ISO 1250. FoodieMeet Toronto FTW.

Out the Window

December 13, 2009 | Filed Under photo | Leave a Comment 

Lot of stuff happening these days. Lighting/shot info below the photo

While setting up I couldn’t find my wireless trigger for the main rim flash, so I ended up using the Nikon CLS system instead. I don’t like to use it, at least not without an expensive SU800 unit, because the camera pop-up flash makes a 1/128 exposure in every shot; if you call Nikon to complain they’ll say that the pop-up does not make an exposure. It’s really easily testable and something to keep in mind when shooting dark areas and also when using gels on your main flashes. Not really noticeable, unless it’s a really dark shot like this (look at the shadow behind my left arm). In this case, though, I liked having a small fill light, and had I found my wireless trigger (which was in plain sight on the table) I probably would have set up another flash for a fill anyways.

Lights were left ungelled, and I just cooled down the white balance in-camera. I also didn’t expose it “properly” and bring everything down in photoshop. Found that my skin look a bit more translucent (in a way) if I actually under exposed the shot a bit. If I were to re-shoot this, I’d use a grid on the flash in front of my face to control the spill into the room a bit more. It’s not much of a spill, though, and I still like this shot as it is.

Jully Black on Radio 2 Drive

December 9, 2009 | Filed Under photo | Leave a Comment 

The RnB goddess will be on CBC’s Radio 2 Drive on December 10th, 2009, 3:30 pm. Lighting details below the picture.

She was an absolute darling in the studio, and simultaneously gave off an air of total command while still being utterly approachable and sweet. Camera settings were 1/160 shutter, F/4.5 on ISO 800. I had two lights setup for this shot (both were SB600s), one on a stand that is readily apparent and casting the rim highlights on her face (as well as a sweet flare, something I actually like about the Tamron F/2.8 I use). The other is bouncing of the wall that she is facing, maybe 30 feet away. It was probably on half power and the light would be softened by the greyish wall it was hitting. I like to alternate between hard and soft light in these shoots, depending on the performer.

Drifting through High Park Station

December 7, 2009 | Filed Under photo | Leave a Comment 

He wasn’t getting on the passing subway cars. Lensbaby at F/4, iso 1600. Probably 1/40 shutter. I’ve lost my f/5.6 lensbaby aperture disc, colour me sad

Next Page →