Creativity

I always felt that I lacked being creative in my photography. I love the technical side of photography, and my brain moves that way. For the past year, I have studied others' work and why I like it or am not too fond of it. I have joined Facebook groups to help, Instagram to get ideas, and so on. The best I found is doing compositing and understanding art. All those things that I was taught in High School are now making sense to me today. One person who is helping with the fundamental of art is Rikard Rodin. Richard makes compositing fun, and his teaching process has been great for me. Not only am I learning the basics of art but cool tricks in Photoshop.

The Woods

I watched a session on silhouettes. After watching, I went to stock photos and downloaded a wood scene. Now to make a silhouette. With the help of brushes, I came up with the idea. Now to make it look natural. That is where art and photography help. We know to get a silhouette, you need light. Light needs to be the backlight. Ok, it is done. Next was the shadow and shadow color. To make it real, you need to see what the scene gives you. Last, I wanted to add something to make it memorable: a bird, fog, and shadow of the horse. Yep all fake but fun art. How does this help my photography? First of all, it helps improve my creativity; second, understand what you are looking for. Last, it helps with your photoshop skills and knowledge and why you are making changes.

Head Shots

Head shots are so much fun. For me, I use a two light setup that I can do just about anywhere. When II mean anywhere I mean anywhere. I have and shared doing in a parking lot. Doing them in a hallway and many other area’s. This was not the case with the pictures above. This was luxury, got to do in a conference room.

What made this interesting is that we had about 1 hour to do about 42 people. No problem, everyone was on time and all we needed to do is wait for the moment and then take the picture. For this group I took about 4-5 and picked the best 3 in my view.

I do post in Lightroom and very little Photoshop at times. Photoshop to remove any marks on the face that are not suppose to be there.

This was a great group and now onto the next group different company. 142 Headshots and see group shots.

Beginning to End

Everything has a beginning, and everything will have an end. Nature has away with this. I bought my wife back in December a Poinsettia Plant. The plant is doing great today, but leaves are starting to fall off and thus the end. I looked at the light shining on this leaf that fell and thought, “I wonder what this would look like as a closeup.” The light shining on the backside showed me the life of this leaf. I know, crazy, but sometimes I think this way.

I made a choice to make it black and white because the color did not help or add to the picture. I wanted to show the life of this leaf at one time. Using a macro lens, I set up using window light and then took the picture. It's incredible how we walk past this beauty, or in some cases, it's a dead leaf, throw it away to a photographer, and its documentation ends with a memory.

Product Photography

It’s that time of the year. Football season is over, and rerun’s on the TV. The weather is not pleasant. It’s that weekend, and for me, time to work with the camera indoors. Last week, I took products from our home and began practicing and taking pictures to update my profile and update my skills.

Product Photography

I played with high key, gels, jewelry, dishes, and so on. Using a two-light setup, I used a softbox to make the white background for the hi-key, and another softbox as the key light slightly camera left. I brought in some more diffusion by using a 5 light right reflector using the diffusion. When all was said, I like the picture of my Bose the best, not as a hi-key but as the above. I took the high key in Photoshop and cut out the headphones. Then I added my background that I liked. The Final is what you see.

I had questions about what I use for my photography. I mostly use my Canon EOS R. Lens; in this case, it was a Tameron 90mm macro on a stand. Lights are Godox.

I can’t wait for it to warm up. I have some new plans for my photography.

Playing with Light

Last week I talked about playing with constant light. Today I am going to continue talking about light and not flash. We were in Chicago and had the opportunity to work with some models and develop our skills using constant light. For me, I wanted to experiment with my 50mm 1.2 lens and using 1.2. I was also using a Kelvin setting of 3600. Kelvin is color. Using a block with a mixture of light, we sat the model down, and I wanted her head to lean towards the light. After watching her for a while, I needed more light. With that said, I brought an Icelight with me. This is a constant light made by Westcott because I was using Kelvin 3800 and counter my main light with an orange gel on it.

Icelight with a orange gel for more light to the face

Now time for the pictures. I had my assistant and had them bring the light in as close as possible but still have it out of my picture.

The Final

I have always wanted to take pictures like these. Living in a small town, and they don’t have the constant light you see in the bigger cities. That does not mean you can’t do it, and it was just not what I wanted. I am glad I brought the Icelight with me; we found later that no flash was allowed in this area without a permit. I have used the ice light before at a wedding and for some product shoots but never for an event like this. I enjoyed the practice I had that night and the pictures that came about. Making it look natural for me is what I like.