I had a blast today working with Graham. He is starting his modeling career and needed to start to build some portfolio photographs and we have a ton of awesome photos that I will be sorting through, however, I wanted to share at least one preview photo. We hit a number of locations in Salt Lake City and then we hit Saltair for some photos on the “beach.” He definitely is a natural in front of the camera.
Graham Gautschi, male model
Had a very fun photo shoot today – although it was delayed a few minutes when the studio door locked itself from the outside and I had to find another way to get out of the studio. It involved jumping a barbwire fence – who says photography isn’t exciting?
And I am loving the light I get from my Lastolite Ezybox – if you are a photographer you need to get one of these. I think I will save up some pennies and get a second one – maybe the 15″ – so I can be a little less noticeable.
Bradley, lit with a Lastolite Ezybox
And Bradley – this was his first photo shoot. He sounded like he might be nervous at first but he quickly found his groove and is a natural model I think.
And this photograph is pretty much what it looks like straight out of camera. I do apply my standard Lightroom import setting which auto tones, adds some clarity, adds some vibrance and a hint of vignette.
Kenze is an aspiring actor who needed some headshots – so we used downtown Salt Lake City as our studio – and braving the cold we were able to get some very cool photos – these photos are just the preview photos. I post them since they are part of my 365 day project of at least a photo a day for a year straight.
The first photograph was shot using my Nikkor 50mm lens – I love this lens. I can be pretty close to the subject and get some wonderful bokeh – the blurry part of the photograph behind the subject.
Kenze in front of the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City
The second photograph is shot with my Nikkor 70-200mm lens – and it is racked out to 200mm and is at f/2.8. This lens is a workhorse for portrait photography. However, I have to stand a lot further away from the subject – but it also creates a very cool bokeh for the subject.
I am also using my Lastolite softbox to light the subject. I really don’t think I can shoot outside again without that setup – it really helps the subject pop and stand out. Subjects need light and because I can shoot at a 1/8000th of a second with the Nikon CLS on my SB-800 lights I can shoot at f/1.4 or f/2.8. If I was using my Alien Bees I would have to limit my shutter speed to 1/250th of a second and often that means I am shooting at f/11 – huge difference in the bokeh.
Kenze on Main Street in Salt Lake City
The Utah Strobist Flickr group had a meet up this month. David Newkirk opened up his Studio 717 for photographers to come and learn how to light in a studio environment – including a lot of cool and extreme lighting techniques. It is always awesome to have a photographer share their knowledge and insight into photography and the techniques.
He is playing a goalie - that is why Zeb has his hands on the soccer ball
I had photograph Zeb a few weeks ago and he was the model again for the Strobist meet up. And he was great as always – and always up for trying anything. We were spraying him with a water bottle while photographing and that could drive anyone nuts.
Fun with water bottles - and a bit of a challenge
And to quote David Newkirk – “Keep shooting till it is awesome.” And I think we did that. Sometimes photos happen on the first take but many times it takes several tries, several angles, and different lighting setups. You also learn from practice – which this session was definitely a great practice session.
Neckties are the nooses of our generation
Tension in the air
Shooting into the lights does give lens flare – but it helps to imitate stadium lighting. Almost like we were on a real soccer pitch.
Imitating stadium lights with studio lights
And with all the “crazy” different lighting set ups – sometimes simple one light setups are the best. Although, it seems like one light or three lights were the best solutions. But it is about experimentation. And I will continue to practice and have practice sessions – so that when I have a “real photo shoot” I will be ready.
One studio light rocks
One studio light and a casual pose
This photo was edited with Kevin Kubota's 300esque
There are times where I don’t think I need to edit photos – the lighting and the subject look perfect when they come out of the camera. But then I start to dodge and burn and boost contrast and saturation and things do look even better. I love using my Wacom Intuos 4 large tablet – it is has an active area of 8″ by 12″ and it is amazing. (more…)
Grey, model, checks his cell phone
Last week I and another photographer hooked up to rock out an epic photo shoot. We had 3 models and only 7 hours and 4 locations stretching from Provo to Elberta to Eureka. For a while we have wanted to have a photo shoot down in Eureka – it is a semi-abandoned town.
Grey was one of the models – he only had an hour so we stayed in Provo for his photo shoot. This shoot was located (more…)
Rusty Lopez Actor Headshot Photography
