Shooting from the Roof Tops

I met Laszlo while casting models for one of the
Canon Live learning events (fantastic way to get valuable hands on experience). I booked him first as a model and then a second time as an actor :) but I never got to actually work with him as a photographer so we scheduled a photo-shoot just for the two of us...

Due to the short notice of the "plan," I couldn't get a decent wardrobe stylist that catered to men and we decided to wing it and use some of Laszlo's clothes and a few things I had lying around...not a good idea in hindsight...

I shot everything on a white background and we had fun (?) trouble shooting my gear(nothing wanted to work right that day!) and playing music :)

When I came home (my card reader refused to work at the studio ?!?) and looked at the photos, I was a little bummed out- the "styling" was less then great (my fault, I'll spare you the embarrassing photos ) - luckily Laszlo had a very cool coat and vinyl pants and is nothing short of gorgeous!

I decided to spice things up by changing out the white background and adding textures in Photoshop.

This was the basic setup although I did move the lights around a few times to create different moods.



When I couldn't make up my mind which of the poses to use, I opted instead for a composite of three images:


I had a vision of Laszlo standing on a high roof top in NYC, so I searched stock photography websites and ended up buying this one (got it from BigStockPhoto.com ), it actually had a young boxer in it I had to retouch out:



Combining the two for the final composite:


Another idea I had was having him stand by a window, it took a while until I found a window I liked, but it was worth it, because I think it works really well with this image:



Here are some "as shot" vs. having fun with textures, (try Graphicauthority.com and onOne Photo Frame
onOne products for some great brushes and texture elements).
BTW, all the the Tattoos , are me playing with the "wrap" option in Photoshop :)





So it turned out that shooting "simple" got my creative juices flowing and pushed me to explore different directions of expressing my vision :) with that being said, I would have had an easier time extracting my model if I knew what background I was going to use in advance (I would have used a dark one for the city scape image).

Laszlo was a pleasure to work with! If you are interested in booking him, he can be contacted here:Portfolio

Let your stills inspire your movies..

If you are a still photographer and have been considering the possibility of shooting moving images with your DSLR (as long as it can do it) but not quite sure of where to start, take a look.

The first step of making a movie, even an itsy bitsy one is NOT what gear you buy or what software you need to learn.

The first step is getting inspired by an idea...when you have an idea for a story that grabs you by the heart you will find that the rest (gear, software, etc) will naturally fall in to place at the right time.

Canon ran a promotional photo contest that received almost 100,000 submissions!
The goal was to inspire a short movie; there were 8 categories representing the different elements of building a good story: Setting, Time, Character, Mood, Relationship, Goal, Obstacle, and The Unknown.

The winning photo from each category went into the group of final eight, randomly put together images that are now the backbone of a movie...the screenwriter had to spin the plot around the images he was given...




The result was a wonderful, touching, inspiring short film, directed by Bryce Dallas Howard (Ron Howard's daughter). It just worked. (I watched the entire thing on a big movie screen and the quality was fantastic).



What if you looked at your still photos and saw a story there? where could your imagination take you? you might be surprised... :)

As a fun exercise, without committing to actually making a movie, take a look at your photos and allow yourself to be captivated by the stories they could inspire...maybe even jot down a mini script...it's possible you will have fun :)

Here is the trailer to the Canon movie project, explore the site for yourself, watch the behind the scenes, the "making of", there are a bunch of little gems :)

Project imagination

Daddy's Girl

I met Dan at one of the photography shows (Dan is a lowpro rep) and we made a connection, I was attracted to his friendly, kind attitude and so we stayed friends beyond the professional environment.

Dan and his little girl Alana were visiting in New Jersey so I jumped on the opportunity to take a father daughter portrait and also test out a new backdrop I ordered from http://www.dennymfg.com.

The background is computer pained on a material called “freedom Cloth” that is lighter than regular canvas but “beefier” then plain old muslin, it’s supposed to be almost wrinkled free and very easy to transport. I can attest that all but the wrinkle free part is true :)
I didn’t have time to iron/steam the background so I took out the wrinkles later in Photo Shop (I would normally not choose this option).
I already have that same design from Denny on a TwistFlex 5x7 pop up background, it’s great for traveling but I find it a bit too tight for a full on scene like that – here are a few samples I shot using the 5x7 pop up version on location workshops:







































Here is a photo of the backdrop “out of the box” (no specific lighting/props just yet).

For lighting the set I used 4 Dynalite heads connected to 2 1000W packs:

1- A spot on the backdrop w/20 degree grid placed on camera left, close to the backdrop (out of frame).
2- A hair light w/20 degree grid placed on a boom on camera right, above and a little behind Alana (out of frame).
3- A main light w/soft box placed on camera left, a bit in front of Alana (out of frame).
4- A fill light up and behind camera, facing the set directly.

I made sure all the “vegetation” (michaels art supply store) was placed where I wanted it to be, almost leaf by leaf – Dan still thinks I’m obsessive/control freak but lovingly calls it “being very meticulous” , lol!

Last thing was to run a few exposure tests to set the correct ratio between all the different lights and to make sure I get the look I wanted (Alana was very sweet and tried not to look too bored!).

Taking the pictures was rather quick; I had a specific image in mind so when I felt I captured it we moved on to the next portrait of them together.





I used the lights in a very similar arrangement but powered them down a bit and placed the main light closer to them. I also changed the background to an elegant piece of fabric I got at an upholstery shop – background companies like Denny, Backdrop Outlet and a host of other ones have a wide selection of beautiful designs to choose from but sometimes a visit to your local fabric store can yield a great bargain and a wonderful addition to your studio set arsenal.
Finally, I places an orange gel on the background light.

Dan and Alana share a very special bond that was very evident in their interaction as we were hanging out in the studio. Dan seems completely devoted to Alana and she is totally daddy’s girl.

I was hoping to catch even a little bit of that love and ease of companionship they seemed to share and I hope I did, you be the judge of that :)


















I had fun playing with the images in Photoshop and nik filters, trying a few theme background and color schemes I don’t get to explore too often in commercial photography :)















A big thank you to Alana and Dan for allowing me to work with them, I had a great time and hope they did as well :)

Feel free to comment and ask questions in the comment section below :)