Snoots, Grids, Gobos, Reflectors, Oh my!
After getting my first flash out of what I felt was a necessity for quick, easy, on the go lighting I have been hooked with all the ways of modifying that light. Honestly, what is so fun about a straight flash? Not much really. Yet after a few reads over at Strobist and I have been thrown on to the DIY bus. My first mod I made was a straight gobo, an light modifier that GOes Before the Oject (GOBO). I made it mostly for a photograph at work where I wanted to light the back and sides of a couple of 1000+ HP motors but not the aluminum ducts on the ceiling. The effect worked wonderfully, with the light being direct exactly where I wanted it and more importantly, exactly where I did not.
I then proceeded to create a grid as they make perfect mods, when mixed with a filter, to create a nice splash of color for a portrait. They restrict light in an awfully beautiful way in which there is very little spillage. I got the equipment (aka straws) from the Strobist student pack over at Midwest Photo Exchange and created my own grid box with a cereal box, super glue, and gaffer tape. I used the basic techniques from this DIY lighting mod post and made two of them this weekend.
I actually used velcro on these, as well as my gels, in order to have them be securely fastened but also quickly removed with easy access. It worked rather well and they can now fold up on top of the strobe and chill while I add an umbrella to the mix.
The process is pretty simple and can give you very effective lighting for portraits, especially when used in pairs. Like I mentioned, these mods make a great background with awesome vignetting that you cannot simply get else where. Adding a colored gel and you can make nearly any space, a studio space (as shown below).
As usual I had my pup Arwen pose while I played around a bit with set up and flash settings. In this one I was just working on getting that background positioned behind the subject. The rest of the light is coming from a strobe on hard at camera right.
Next it was on to setting up the grids for a shot of Elena. I wanted to position one grid behind her at camera right to create a nice colorful vignette on the wall at her back. Originally the first snap was a bit too circle and not quite the effect I was looking for. 
After a few of these shots, I threw the second grid on from above and camera right. Did a few more test shots to expose for her face. Finally I reigned it in and righted the camera taking the shot I was going for with the grids. The result was a stunning portrait with very “hard” light that truly brings out a beautiful amount of color and tone. The lighting ends up being extremely dynamic, very inviting. It is defined by what does not become lit. All of this was done and made with for less than two meals at Portillo’s (best beef, ever!) and taken in under 10 minutes.
My next project is going to be a DIY beauty dish a la the Chinatown Special MK II from www.ishootshows.com. Pretty pumped about that one! I think the DIY section will end up being a common feature on my blog. If you have any questions on how to do these yourself or where to get materials, just ask :)
Materials Needed to Make Grid:
Gaffer Tape
Super Glue
Scissors
Empty Cereal Box
Ruler
Magic Marker
Straws
Velcro
Gear Used:
Canon 5D Mk II
Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM Lens
Canon 24mm f/3.5 TS-E L Lens
2 Lumopro lp160 Flashes (Elena’s portrait: 1 Camera Left, raised with grid & 1 Camera right behind subject with grid and gel)
Majestic at the Dog Park
I’ve been playing around with off-camera strobes a bit more lately and decided that it would be fun to use them in “every day” scenarios to create dynamic images. This is a pretty common technique that I use to develop my skills better. It seems blatantly obvious but if you want to become a better shooter with different techniques, they have to become second nature. After following The Strobist’s lighting techniques it has been abundantly clear that I misjudged the use of flash. I used to be a huge naysayer however I have come to realize that I simply hated photographs that looked like they had flash in them. Rather I marvel at photographers who make an image look intentionally lit – and believe me, there is a difference. I protest to photographs (unless done in an intentionally hifi/lowfi manner) that are blatantly flashed. In order to do this better I have brought the strobe to the dog park.
This is miss Arwen Arcus. She is my adorable 22 month old Chocolate Labrador. Today was a fun day out in the snow after being cooped up much too long in the apartment this winter due to Milwaukee’s pretty shoddy weather. Even today seemed to be nice but eventually neither myself or Elena (who also happened to be the strobe’s tripod) could feel our fingers or toes. I lit her with Elena holding the flash at about 5 feet away, full power. It was synced at 1/200th of a second and shot at 70mm, 50 ISO, f/6.3. Not a bad shot when one has about 3 seconds worth of time to set up and shoot before the pup gets anxious and bolts after the nearest dog!
Gear Used:
Canon 5D Mk II
Canon 17-40mm f/4 L Lens
Lumopro lp160 Flash (Camera Right, slightly raised)
The List: Cage The Elephant
Cage The Elephant: Copyright Todd Owyoung, www.ishootshows.com
The List is going to be a new segment of mine where I talk about a show that I hope to one day be lucky enough to photograph. I feel like this can be a great way of setting goals for myself and a way to push myself forward as a photographer. Getting an “in” to this industry is no easy task. It takes a lot of work, a lot of effort, a ton of skill, and an exorbitant amount of luck. To me, it is finding out how to bend said luck to your will. I once asked the phenomenal and established concert photographer, Todd Owyoung, for advice on how to break into the industry. I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing his response but it really struck a chord with me. It was one of those things where initially I felt the need to respond but realized it was more of a rhetorical question.
“What ways are you pursuing music photography now?”
What a fantastically short response. My knee-jerk reaction was to respond as to how I was making a few calls here and there, attempting (poorly) to advertise on some band websites, etc. What I didn’t think about was how active I was in these pursuits. Nothing just falls into your lap. You have to work at it and you have to work hard. I learned these lessons at school and I apply them on a daily basis, they’re basically common sense to me now – why would I not do this in a passion of mine as well?
This brings me to full circle. Just like Jeff with his (pretty awesome) financial blog over at The1KChallenge, it is about keeping your self responsible and accountable. That is what these posts are about: who do I want to shoot and why do I want to shoot them.
Cage The Elephant is one of my favorite newer bands out there. I feel like their music takes everything that is popular in modern pop/pop rock/alternative and flips it on its back. Listening to both of their CDs you realize that they know exactly what kind of music is going to sell. Though instead than going full into that and creating some single that will just make people happy they pull an “Enter Sandman”/”The Pretender” and make a single that is going to blow you away with its depth and complexity. I feel the energy every time I listen to them, I feel the way I did in high school when music was my life and I rarely took my headphones from my ear. That is not to say that CTE is for 16 year olds but rather that they appeal to that place inside of you where music is all that matters.
Then I saw them live. All of that energy, all of that passion comes propelling out of their performance like a ten ton blast of C4. That is why I love music photography. I have said this so many times but the basis of my love for this industry is that those on stage are doing what they love and I am doing what I love. It is pretty damn neigh impossible to top that. Cage The Elephant obviously is passionate about what they do, but it is more than that; they don’t hold any back. From what I hear they never do. Every review I have read, every photographer who has shot them. They all say the same thing: the energy is seemingly limitless.
Being involved with a band as intense as this, shot in low lights, is a mammoth of a challenge. That is what intrigues me the most. It would push my abilities to their peak levels. How quickly can you adapt to the chaos of lights and the energy level of a band such as CTE? That would be a near spiritual experience.
A Valentine’s Day
I thought I would put a few personal posts up occasionally as I love when other photographers do this. The first one here being a Valentine’s Day dinner with me and my fiancee. Elena works at a school that is in Illinois, thus with us living in Milwaukee she gets up at an ungodly hour in the morning. We decided that due to this we would celebrate with a home-cooked meal of deliciousness involving blue cheese with a Port reduction sauce Filet Mignon along with Goat Cheese Pizza as our appetizer and Oreo/NutterButter cake balls for desert. Kafevino also threw in some Tuxedo strawberries with our desert wine which was awesome!
It was a feast for the ages. This was the final entrée.
Aren’t we adorable?
Las Vegas Exposed
Time for Las Vegas long exposures! Done solely with the 17-40mm and the 24mm TS-E, they were rather enjoyable as wide angled landscapes. I walked around the night after the hospitality event I took photos for with my boss and had a good time experimenting with tilt shift long exposure – I thought regular long exposure was difficult to expose… sheesh- and flash mixed in with long exposures. All in all I would call this a successful night of photography.
I really wish to go back when the weather is nicer (above freezing perhaps?) and just do nothing one night except walk and take long exposure shots of Vegas. I stuck pretty close to the same area as it was so cold and I had no jacket or gloves. I had also wanted to get some long exposures of the water show in front of the Bellagio but ended up with just the ‘ho-hum’ shot you see below as they closed it due to weather! OH, the last one here is a panorama so be sure to click on it to get the full effect.
Though this photograph of Paris was certainly what I was going for!
For the most part my aim here was simply to show the extreme lights and feel of Vegas at night. Even in the coldest part of the year in non-peak season the town seemed so alive. It is ironic as they are going through an extended financial crisis mainly dealing with real estate foreclosure. So here is to Vegas getting its groove back and blowing your socks off at some point this year.
Gear Used:
Canon 5D Mk II
Canon 17-40mm f/4.0 L lens
Canon 24mm f/3.5 TS-E L lens
Lumopro LP120 flash
Manfrotto Tripod + Head
Mr. $ Mrs. Smith: Live at the Rain @ Palms, Las Vegas, NV
For me this concert was my first major event to photograph for a corporate outing. I was all over the place doing many different tasks. Shooting Lyssa and Austin from Mr. $ Mrs. Smith was an awesome challenge with dynamic lighting. I even ended up loving a photograph that had majority red light in it! In fact that shot above is one of my favorites I’ve taken in a concert. Her smile is brilliant. I brought my 24mm TS-E lens and she made an appearance during the concert. It was shocking how well she worked. My next two lenses are absolutely going to be the updated L series of the 45mm and 90mm TS-E. The versatility of these lenses blows my mind.
Of course, in the end I always hit up the workhorse that is the 85mm. The portraits that it delivers are simply stunning. Austin looked like a badass rock star with the oversized sunglasses (and evening donning a spectator’s cowboy hat for a refrain).
I wanted a couple of shots to show off how big the stage was and give a feeling for the grandness of the evening. I took out the 17-40 and threw it all the way at 17mm and had a few good action shots as a result. Lyssa really has amazing stage presence as well as an awesome beauty that is fun to capture.
I had also set up an off-camera strobe to collect crowd photographs for the event which was going off pretty well to start. I was surprised actually how well because it was my first time doing this in a crowd but the results were extremely dynamic and fun. They certainly portrayed the atmosphere that was capturing everyone to the T. Unfortunately, the flash was bulldozed by someone who happened to not see it despite my efforts to keep it in the furthest corner away from the action. This resulted in a broken stand and some battle wounds for the Lumopro. I haven’t completed testing with a new set of batteries but initially the flash seems fine… which is more than I can say for the stand.
Austin and Lyssa nail the vocals on every track with Mario, Adam, and Jason providing a rhythm section that is phenomenal. You have to truly be talented to cover the range that they did in the fashion in which they did it. Go check out their facebook page and give them a chance. You’ll be dying to see them next time you’re in Vegas.
Gear Used:
Canon 5D Mk II
Canon 24mm L f/3.5 TS-E Lens
Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM Lens
Canon 17-40mm f/4 L Lens
Lumopro lp160 Flash
Live Chatter:
To me it seems like a huge undertaking, performing in front of an audience you don’t know with songs you’re not sure they know for a corporate event. In Las Vegas. At a club. Mr. $ Mrs. Smith (yes, that is a dollar sign instead of an ampersand) pulled it off with marvel. For starters, they took typical pop/R&B/hip-hop hits and performed them live, as a band. That is huge. 90% of these songs were remixed electronically in a studio with voices that sound very little to what they really are. That does not necessarily mean that they are bad songs but rather that they are very hard to replicate live.
The lighting in Rain was such a great challenge. There were the LCD TVs coming out from every direction. The lights were not mostly whites, blues, and yellows but every color imaginable. There was a lot of pink/rosa and reds, oranges, and purples to fill that out. It turns out that I don’t hate pink as much as I hate red. Pink looks intentional, red just – as always – looks awful on skin tones.
And yes. There was even random bouts of fire being spewed over the crowd whilst shooting. Challenging indeed. But it was a blast.
REVIEW! Kelly Moore Bag
This is my first, hopefully out of many, review of a product that I have specifically bought for photography. I have been searching for an awesome, versatile, and somewhat fashionable camera bag for ages now. The Canon Camera Backpack has rarely left my side for a few years and I love it. The pack has different compartments for everything, straps galore, zippers, and the word CANON printed right on the back. Pretty neat. However, I pummeled it to the ground – recently breaking one of the zippers – as I lugged it around from concert to concert, Eurotrip to Eurotrip, and everything in between.
Enter the Kelly Moore Bag. I wanted something that was going to be different than my Canon bag, something that would not replace it but rather compliment it. Truth be told, a messenger bag would be a great addition to my gear line up: it would allow me to have instant access at the side, easily having my lenses, flash, and the rest of my photographic accoutrement in my monstrous mits in seconds. The most important quality to me after the equipment carrying and fashion was that I could hold a laptop. I have every intention of getting a Macbook Pro within the next year and did not want to regret not being able to take it on shoots due to poor planning.
I began my search at Photojojo, seeing their quite attractive Classic Leather Camera Satchel. Unfortunately, the bag was a bit smaller with my fiance’s 13″ Macbook not fitting at all despite it being advertised to fit 13″ laptops. Honestly, 13″ was even a bit smaller than I had wanted but the satchel was so good looking I gave it a shot. It didn’t pan out. It was too small, too little leather, and just did not scream to me as it did online. I returned it and began to search many sites for a larger equivalent. I stumbled across Kelly Moore’s website and was instantly smitten.
The Kelly Moore Boy Bag is quite nearly everything I wanted. Very versatile, eye-catching, and with plenty of room to boot. The bag is split into 5 compartments in the main space. 4 of these are for camera gear, 1 is for the laptop. The laptop fits that Macbook perfectly; there is plenty of room for a 15″ if need be. All of the compartments are adjustable in size and angle due to the velcro covered tabs of the dividers and the equally ladened interior. In fact, everything is entirely removable making it perfect for any occasion. I kept all the dividers in and use each one for a lens, flash, or the camera body. There is so much variety that I can actually keep the body itself in or place it face down with the lens attached.
After the central compartment there are three zippered pockets, two smaller and one large one. These are fantastic for my remote shutter, charger, wires, memory cards, and remote flash triggers. I feel like I can fit even more in there. I will probably put my photographic journal (which I recommend any decent photographer keep, much like a work out journal – if you want to improve you have to know what you were doing to make that perfect shot), my contracts, and a few other gizmo’s in there.
The bag’s dimensions are 16″x11.5″x4.5″ with it weighing about 2.5 lbs. It is made out of weather resistant “man made material” according to the website. Not sure what that “man made material” is but it looks hella lot like leather and feels much like it.
Fortunately for the user there are only a few downsides. First, there are no buckles but rather magnets that hold the flap over onto the zippered pockets. This looks aesthetically pleasing but gear can easily fall out if this is knocked upside down somehow (not a stretch in the photography world). Second, while the width fits the laptop no problem the depth actually suffers a bit and thus the magnets are not close enough to each other to close. Not a huge deal, still looks great and really the magnets do not hold anything inside (see the first downside). Third, there are small pockets on the sides that have no purpose. I may be able to fit a pen in there. Even that may be too thick.
None of these “downsides” however, can take away from the solid fact that this is a fantastic product. I could not recommend it more, though possibly could recommend that Kelly place some fashionable buckles rather than magnets. I know that I will be keeping mine, with all of my gear, by my side for years to come.
REVIEW! Bottom line:
It’s a great buy. I would advise it to anyone looking for a versatile, fashionable bag. I have already gotten many looks and questions about it in the short time I have owned it. If you are interested check out the rest of Kelly’s gear; it is all pretty chic. Unfortunately this Brown Boy Bag is sold out, as well as the Black one, on Kelly’s website and will not be back until March. However, I do know Adorama has them in stock at this moment along with the Mustard color (which is still available on Kelly Moore’s website).
The Slopes: A Travel Photoventure
This past week – as much as it was about skiing, food, drink, and good times – was about pushing more bounds as a photographer. I read recently an article that described how a photographer should excel in only one form of photography. Technique, as he put it, “is something mature photographers simply get past”. This rather astounded me as I typically follow this fellow and agree with a good amount that is written about. I however, extremely disagree with this statement. How can you be the best at something if you do not know the basics of everything? I am not saying to go and perfect each style, though surely at that point you would be a pretty damn good photographer, what I am saying though is that you should know how they got there.
What kind of lighting was used, why was it used, what effect did it have, what ISO range, rough speed, depth of field are utilized frequently? Is it a standard or a tilt shift lens? Why was this particular angle chosen? If you choose only a specific set within all of these questions and go with that, then that is all you have. Having a brand versus perfecting only one technique are completely different monsters.
This weekend was about making moving, emotional images with a prime lens that I rarely have used in the open. My Canon 24mm f/3.5 TS-E L lens. I bought this a short while ago knowing that this was not a focal length that I was familiar with and that I was unaware of how tilt-shift would affect it. Most of my tilt-shift experience has been on the View Camera or in the 45mm to 90mm focal lengths. I felt this would be a fantastic way for me to break my binds and develop a new technique. The results are below. Let me know… did I crash and burn or was there success in my efforts? My favorite is at the end.
And let me know what do you think: Is perfecting merely a single technique the same as having a brand? Or is there more to it then that?
The One That Got Away
Which in this scenario, is definitely acceptable and provided me with one of those perfect imperfect images. I went skiing this past weekend – first time and I didn’t die! W00T! - and on our drive back from breakfast in a near white out snow storm a bunch of what seemed to have been pheasants (birdwatchers, let me know if you recognize this one) were in the road. My camera was on and ready but alas! I had left my lens cap on. I dashed it off and a fraction of a second later had the 24mm TS-E lens snapping away at the chaos of the 8 or 10 birds in our path. I only took three photographs, and in my opinion only one turned out. I had originally wanted a brilliant shot of the driver and a bird that was flying along side the car but my gaze was taken and my lens delayed just enough to get the photograph below. For some reason it really grabs my eye. The underexposed corners along with the telephone lines jutting through the frame. The snow/ice mixture on the cars window mucking up the edges enough to push your eye through the other side of the photograph. Lines of snow cutting through the foreground of the animal. A bird’s contorted flight beckoning to be felt by others as a flee for its life. It really spoke to me and I want to know: does it do the same for you?
Have you had this type of “success” before? A seemingly accidental photograph intentionally taken. It is, for me, a rare occurrence to enjoy one of these this thoroughly but I find myself invested in this one.
GEAR USED:
Canon 5D Mk II
Canon 24mm TS-E L Lens
A Portrait
My fiancée is wonderful. When I get new gear in she lets me try it all on her and get used to it before the professional debut. It is an added bonus that really helps quite a lot. Here in this shot, I just received my numerous new gear from Midwest Photo Exchange. If you know me, you know I rarely use flash. In fact for the longest time I detested it. However, I have come to realize, for a while now, that there are major bonuses and awesome ways to use it. I love studio lighting and have used that whenever I could. To me, flash just gave your photographs a horrible flare with bad color correction. However, shot through an umbrella with the correct gels or off a reflector does wonders for fill or sole lighting.
Again, I will do a gear review of my new stuff after I used it for a bit but for now here is one of my favorite shots of Elena:
My Girl
Gear Used:
Canon 5D MKII
Canon 24mm f/3.5 TS-E L Lens
Lumopro 160 Flash
Westco White Satin 43″ Umbrella