BH Photo Event Space and Set A Light Software

Tags

Actor, california sunbounce, Capture One Pro 8, Corporate Headshots, CT Actor Headshot Photographer, CT Headshot Photographer, Elixxier, headshots, Model, Nikon SB910, NYC Headshot Photographer, one light, Photoflex Umbrella, Set A Light, Set A Light Software

Hi and welcome back.

Last Thursday I was at the BH Photo Event Space teaching a quick one light workshop.

I’ve been struggling with getting Behind-the-Scenes or BTS shots when working in such confined quarters.  Until I just found Set A Light from Elixxier.

Set A Light

This software allows you to build sets and then export them to assistants, clients, or anyone who needs it.

And, it does it in 3D modeling.  Simply add your information, grab lighting, modifiers, and tools from the kit and build a set and then export it to a PDF for email or print.

Here’s a sample.  I’ll have a larger, more detailed post on the software soon.

Here’s my image:

SB910, Reflective Umbrella

Here’s the Set A Light diagram converted from PDF to Jpeg:

Here’s my second image:

SB910, Reflective Umbrella, California Sunbounce Reflector

Here’s my Set A Light Diagram for the above setup:

You can see how I added a reflector and a camera for position.

This is a great software that allows you to build a set and then have it ready before your shoot or have an easily translatable diagram for a BTS setup shot.

Many thanks to Julie Dawson for coming in to BH Event Space to model for me that day.  I’ll have more on that event and a detailed post on Set A Light soon.

Till then, happy shooting!

 

Happy New Year and the First Post of 2015!

Tags

Hollywood Grip arm, Matthews Grip Head, Matthews Hollywood Grip Arm, Nikon, one light, One light Education, Profoto, Profoto Acute 6e, Simple One light portraits, Strobe Light for Portraits

Happy New Year Everyone!

I’m glad 2014 is over and am looking forward to the prospects of 2015.

I plan on expanding my travel workshops this year, so stay tuned and be sure to get my schedule as I’m planning a whole bunch of new lighting techniques and workshop seminars.

Here’s to a happy, healthy, and profitable 2015.

Now to the first post of the year.

One of my passions in photography is getting great gear and teaching you how to use it effectively and in different ways.  So for 2015, look for gear reviews and a new Youtube page on lighting and equipment.

When you are first starting out or are looking to upgrade, sometimes we are forced to make decisions based on our budget, right?  I’ve made them and have made some poor choices on gear.

One of those choices was buying a reflector kit like the one here.  I set up my kit and within an hour I overtightened and broke the handle on the reflector arm.  These reflector arms are not very high quality and will not withstand any hard use at all.

 

My solution is not cheap, but it will last your forever and gain you a short boom arm for any of your lighting needs.

I recommend trying a 40″ Hollywood Grip arm and extra 2.5″ Grip Head:

Matthews Grip Arm

Matthews 2.5″ Grip Head

Simply take a grip arm and mount it to a lightstand horizontally:

 

Then take the extra 2.5″ Grip Head and mount it on the opposite end of the arm:

Once you have this setup, simply unscrew the grip heads on either end of the arm and install the reflector.  Here I have a 32″ 5-in-1 collapsible:

Now, you can unlock the center grip head attached to the lightstand and rotate the reflector to any position:

This is an incredibly sturdy way to attach a round or square reflector to a lightstand and give you the ultimate in versatility when shooting.

Here are some examples when shooting a headshot with my client Alyssa.

First, I did a simple one light shot with a reflector for a simple look:

And then, within just a few seconds, I swapped this look to an over and under or clamshell style beauty shot:

The Hollywood Grip arm is a simple addition and accessory that can be used in a multitude of ways.  Just look at my lightstand on the right, a second grip arm is doing the heavy lifting of my strobe light and getting it up and out of the way for this simple shot.

Well that’s it for now.  Let’s get 2015 started and make it the best yet!

 

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!

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.

Congratulations to Crystal and Wayne!!

Tags

beauty, black and white, creative, CT Boudoir Photographer, CT Wedding photographer, headshots, Lastolite Ezybox, modeling, natural light, Nikon D3, off camera flash, one light, Pocket Wizards, Portfolio, portrait, portrait photography, professional photographer, strobist

Hi and Welcome back.

After last Saturday’s workshop, I was privileged to photograph Crystal and Wayne’s wedding in Norwalk.

They were amazing!

Good luck Crystal and Wayne and enjoy Paris!!

Simply Kim

Tags

50mm 1.8, 70-200 vr, beauty, brunette, Capture One Pro 5, creative, creative editing, CT Wedding photographer, education, fashion, fun, Kubota Actions, Me, milford, Model, modeling, Nik Color Effex Pro, Nikon, Nikon D3, off camera flash, one light, Photoflex shoot through umbrella, Photoshop, Pocket Wizards, portrait, portrait photography, professional photographer, SB900, strobist, studio, teaching, Totally Rad Actions

Hi and welcome back.

This past Saturday I ran a small one speedlight workshop.  Kim came to model for us and she was just fabulous as always.

Here are a few shots.  I processed them heavily in software to get I look I don’t do too often:

I used a combination of these processing techniques:

Capture One Pro 5 for RAW conversion

Totally Rad Actions Boutwell Magic Glasses for an initial contrast adjustment

Kubota Makeup Artist for skin smoothing

Nik Color Effex Pro Kodak Portra 160 VC film effect

Nik Color Effex Pro Cross Process

This is a style of editing I don’t do often but really liked on these shots.  Many thanks to Kim who just rocked the house.

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

Alan and His Saxophone

Tags

Band Photography, beauty, creative, CT Wedding photographer, education, fun, headshots, light, Model, Musician, Musician Portrait, off camera flash, one light, Photoflex shoot through umbrella, Pocket Wizards, Portfolio, portrait, professional photographer, Saxophone, SB900, teaching

Hi and welcome back.

For my Advanced Digital Class we took one of our students, Alan, who is also a musician outside for and impromptu shoot with off camera flash.

All shots Nikon SB900, Photoflex Shoot Through Umbrella, Pocket Wizards:

Then we took him inside and did some on camera flash:

Many thanks to Alan for sitting for us and bringing his saxophone.

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

Crystal and Wayne E-Session: An eharmony Success Story

Tags

black and white, creative, CT Wedding photographer, education, Engagement, Engagement Sitting, fun, natural light, off camera flash, one light, Pocket Wizards, Portfolio, portrait photography, professional photographer, SB900, strobist, wedding

Hi and welcome back.

Last Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of photographing Crystal and Wayne’s engagement session.  We met and shot at the Norwalk Maritime Center as they live in and are fond of the area.

I can’t wait to shoot their wedding!

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

My Advanced Digital Class

Tags

Brinkman Q Beam Spotlight, creative, CT Wedding photographer, education, fun, light, Lightpainting, one light, Portfolio, portrait photography, professional photographer, teaching, winter

Hi and welcome back.

Last Thursday night I took my Advanced Digital class out in that 8º winter cold and we shot some traffic and did some lightpainting behind Milford Town Hall.

Here’s a shot of some traffic on West River St:

Then we went behind town hall to shoot the Congregational Church.  I used a Brinkman QBeam 2 million candle power spotlight to illuminate the church from across the pond.

Here’s a shot with no lightpainting:

Here’s the same shot using the Brinkman QBeam Spotlight to illuminate the church.  All the settings are the same, but the spotlight is bringing out the church:

The spotlight makes a huge difference.  All I did was paint the church with the light.

Lightpainting is a fun and interesting technique you can do anywhere.  Give it a shot!

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

The Creative Edit

Tags

beauty, creative, CT Wedding photographer, education, fashion, light, Model, modeling, off camera flash, one light, Photoflex shoot through umbrella, Pocket Wizards, Portfolio, portrait photography, professional photographer, SB900, strobist, studio, teaching

Hi and welcome back.

One of the great things about photography is the ability to creatively edit your photos in new and fun ways.  The problem becomes: when do you stop, or what will the client like and how far do I go before it just becomes redundant?

Here is one example from my last shoot with Kim.  The first photo is the original and the succeeding photos are all creatively enhanced in Photoshop.

The issue: which one do I choose, which one do I think the client will like the best?

Personally, I like all three, but if I was forced to choose, it would be #2.  I love the deep and rich tone of the edit along with her pose and expression.

Will the client accept it, I don’t know.  Either way, my attempt is to show you how one can get caught up in the creative process and really become indecisive.  I love them all, but #2 is my choice.

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