Stilllife

Playing and learning

The cool thing about photography is that you can do it anytime. I like to practice and learn and then practice some more. Today I wanted to play with gel lights and practice shadows and highlights. So I grabbed something that would not complain, and I worked with what I had. For I was at a bed and breakfast place, I had no idea I would do this.

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I had two lights, one light stand, and my gels. The first thing I wanted to do was light from behind to give it backlight. Using a CTO gel and a MagMod Grid, I set this up first. I liked what I had, but way too much shadow in the front. I knew I wanted to reflect light back into the front but did not have one, or did I. Yep, pillowcase to the rescue. I brought in really close to the left side and got what I wanted. Next was to set up the fill light. I wanted the shadows to fill in with blue—my second light I set up using a blue gel. I had no light stand, so I set the light on the floor and flashed on the ceiling. Yep, I took advantage of a giant softbox with a flash of blue to fill in shadows with blue. It worked and did what I wanted without using Photoshop.

So much playing and learning. Just another thing to put into my back pocket.

I Love Christmas Movies

I recently went down to Nashville and stayed at the Gaylord Hotel in Nashville. What a place to see during Christmas time. While we were there, my wife and I decided to “I Love Christmas Movies.”

We enjoyed seeing the different scene that was used in some of our favorite Christmas Movies. For me, It’s the Polar Express.

Here is a quick video of a few of the things that I saw. I am also learning how to use Adobe Premier and look forward to getting better next year. A fun program, but just like anything, you need to practice.

Here is the video. Enjoy and Merry Christmas