Vegas, Baby!!

Tags

education, Expoimaging, Expoimaging Rogue Flashbenders, Las Vegas, Lighting, Model, Model Photography, Phottix, Phottix Indra 500, Phottix Odin, WPPI

Hi and welcome back.

Tomorrow we leave for Las Vegas and WPPi.

If you are attending, hit me up and let’s grab a drink or two!

My work schedule is light this year, so I’m looking forward to actually enjoying the show.  Normally I work and run around like crazy, but not this year.  I wanted to finally enjoy Las Vegas for a spell.

Hope to see you there!

WPPI Link

Pocket Wizard Flex

Tags

Creative Light Softbox, education, Nikon, Nikon D3, Pocket Wizard Flex TTL, professional photographer, SB900, strobist, TT1, TT5

Hi and welcome back.

Last night I ran an event with Milford Photo and Ray Nason of Mac Group.  We demonstrated the new Pocket Wizard Flex TTL system.

One of the highlights of the night was the use of High Speed Sync and Hypersync, which allows you to use faster-than-normal shutter speeds.

Here I used an SB900 into a 24 x 36 Creative Light Softbox.

Exposure for this shot:

1/2000 @ f/2.8, ISO 800

Here I used a strobe light and went to Hypersync mode.  I used a Profoto 300 ws strobe with beauty dish:

Exposure:

1/1000 @ f/4, ISO 200

The Pocket Wizard Flex TTL system is an extremely versatile system that you can use to fire small flashes and big strobes alone or side by side.  If you don’t have it yet, look into it as it will help you get your work to the next level.

Till next time, happy shooting!

EP Levine

Tags

black and white, Corporate Headshot, creative, education, EP Levine, off camera flash, Photoflex shoot through umbrella, Pocket Wizards, Portfolio, Presentation, professional photographer, SB800, SB900, strobist, teaching

Hi and welcome back.

I’ll be doing a sponsored presentation on Tuesday, November 1 at EP Levine in Waltham, MA.

Check it out and see if you can join me for a great day of Off Camera Flash:

The Monschein Family Portrait

Tags

Beach Portrait, creative, CT, CT Wedding photographer, education, Family Portrait, fun, headshots, light, natural light, Nikon D3, Portfolio, portrait photography, professional photographer

Hi and welcome back.

I recently had the pleasure of photographing the Monschein family on Anchor Beach in Milford.

They wanted a candid yet posed style of family sitting, so we spent the entire time in and around the beach posing and getting the candid, fun shot.

Here’s a few from our time together:

Linley Channnels January Jones

Tags

beauty, black and white, Corporate Headshot, Creative Light Grid, Creative Light Softbox, CT Boudoir Photographer, CT Wedding photographer, education, fashion, fun, Model, modeling, Nikon, Nikon D3, off camera flash, Pocket Wizards, Portfolio, portrait, portrait photography, professional photographer, Rogue Flashbender Grid, SB800, SB900, strobist, studio, teaching

Hi and welcome back.

It has been a crazy time this past few weeks, but in that time I ran a workshop on high contrast black and white advertising imagery.  I took my inspiration from an ad campaign for Versace shot by Mario Testino last year.

We used two speedlights for Linley, my model for the shoot.

One SB900 into a gridded Creative Light 24×36 softbox

One SB800 into a Rogue Flashbender Grid for the lower fill light.

Here’s a finished shot and the BTS shot: Enjoy!

I got incredible shots with the most basic equipment.  It’s amazing what you can do with some forethought and a wonderful model.

Thank you Dave for letting me use the space and Linley for being so great.

Till next time, happy shooting.

Simply Eliza

Tags

Bat Mitzvah, beauty, brunette, Corporate Headshot, creative, CT Wedding photographer, education, fashion, headshots, high school senior portraits, light, modeling, Nikon, Nikon D3, off camera flash, one light, Photoflex shoot through umbrella, Pocket Wizards, portrait, portrait photography, professional photographer, Sassy, SB900, strobist, studio

Hi and welcome back.

Eliza came in the other day for a fun pre-Bat Mitzvah portrait sitting.

We had a blast and used of course off camera flash for all these shots: SB900, Photoflex shoot through umbrella.

Congratulations to Eliza, and I’ll see you May 14th!

Many thanks to Sallie’s Airbrush Makeup for giving Eliza the royal treatment!

That’s it for now.  Till next time, happy shooting!

The Simple Three Light Executive Portrait

Tags

Corporate, Corporate Headshot, Corporate Photography, creative, CT Wedding photographer, education, Executive Headshot, headshots, Lastolite Ezybox, light, milford, modeling, Nikon, Nikon D3, off camera flash, Pocket Wizards, Portfolio, portrait, portrait photography, professional photographer, SB800, SB900, strobist, studio, teaching, Westcott 28 Apollo

Hi and welcome back.

Today we’ll look at the simple executive style portrait.  I’ll be using three lights to complete the job.  This may seem complicated, but it really isn’t.

Let’s take a look at two shots.  Both of these photographs employ the same person, the only change is the background.  The lighting is the same for both photos.

And here’s the three light setup.  It’s simple, quick, and gives you that perfect light for the classic corporate portrait.

Need a new corporate look?  Then contact me and let’s get together to create the best look for you and your company.

Till next time, happy shooting.

Mixing Strobe and Off Camera Flash with Stacey

Tags

beauty, Beauty Dish, creative, CT Wedding photographer, education, Elinchrom, fashion, fun, headshots, Lastolite Ezybox, light, Model, modeling, Nikon, Nikon D3, off camera flash, one light, Photoflex shoot through umbrella, Pocket Wizards, portrait, portrait photography, professional photographer, Profoto, Sassy, SB800, SB900, strobist, studio, teaching

Hi and welcome back.

Yesterday I ran a workshop where we mixed strobe lighting with off camera flash.  We used a combination of lighting modifiers and techniques to get fantastic results.  I tried to show how you can seamlessly integrate the two systems.

Here’s Stacey when she arrived at the studio pre-styling: Nikon SB800 into a Lastolite Ezybox 24 x 24:

Here’s Stacey after makeup and using the mixed source technique.

For this shot: Profoto 300 ws Compact with White Beauty Dish for main light and a SB800 into a Lastolite Ezybox for a bit of separation and skim light on the gold shear:

For this shot we swapped things around a bit: Main light is a SB900 into a Photoflex shoot through umbrella, back light is a Profoto 300 ws Compact and Elinchrom 39 x 39 softbox:

For this last shot in the workshop we really switched things up: Main light is a Profoto 300 ws Compact with a 60″ Photek Softlighter, back light is a bare head SB900 outside the building shooting into the white shear to give a nice bright backdrop:

The workshop was a success!  I was able to mix and match lighting systems and use strobes and speedlights for both main and back lighting.  And, we even put a speedlight outside in that nasty cold and windy day to light from behind: awesome!

Many thanks to my workshop attendees, Stacey, Sallie’s Airbrush Makeup, and Salon Lui for really going all out for us.

Till next time, happy shooting.

Attitude of Gratitude

Tags

creative, CT Wedding photographer, education, fun, Ian Crocker, Josh Davis, Mutual of Omaha Breakout Swim Clinic, natural light, Olympians, Olympics, Portfolio, portrait photography, professional photographer, SB900, Swimming, teaching

Hi and welcome back.

I have another non-photography related post today.

This past Sunday we went to my son’s swim team’s event sponsored by Mutual of Omaha called the Breakout Swim Clinic.  It was amazing!!

We saw, met, and the swim team had a chance to take a swim clinic with two Olympic champions, Josh Davis, 3 gold medals in 1996 in Atlanta and 2 silver in 2000 in Sydney, and Ian Crocker, who won Gold, Silver, and Bronze in 2004 in Athens.

These two world class swimmers gave all the kids the tips and techniques they use everyday to compete at the national level.

And Josh Davis’ motto, have an Attitude of Gratitude: in other words, be thankful for those around you, who support you, and for what you have.  It was truly an inspirational event to attend.

Here’s Josh on the left and Ian on the right sharing their collective Olympic and swim experiences:

And here’s a small gallery of shots from the day:

What was truly fun was that they got in the water and worked side-by-side with the kids, teaching, helping, encouraging them to do their best and have fun!!!

Enjoy the shots!!

A Post On Some Fun!

Tags

creative, CT Wedding photographer, education, fashion, fun, milford, natural light, Nikon D3, on camera flash, Portfolio, portrait photography, professional photographer, SB900

Hi and welcome back.

This past Friday night I took a few frames at the City Wide Spelling Bee in Milford.  My daughter won the coveted spelling slot at her school and was one of two to represent Orchard Hills Elementary.

It was great fun to watch, as I love spelling, so seeing her up there just made me so proud!

Unfortunately she didn’t win, but had a blast just the same.  She’s the one in red.

Here are a few shots from that evening: