I knew that we had worked quickly on the previous shoot (with Lexus Lee); but I didn’t realize how quickly. Here is the shot breakdown:

Setup #1: 2 minutes, 38 seconds. 48 proof images

Setup #2:3 minutes, 37 seconds, 65 proof images

Setup #3: 49 seconds, 15 proof images.

Shooting time: 7 minutes, 4 seconds; 130 images (two were in the car)

Total shoot time: 20 minutes from first shot to last shot; about 40 minutes total, as we drove around a bit at the ...read more

A while back Lexus Lee and I had started conversing about a non-glamour photoshoot, something fun and different. One thing we both zero’d in on was the idea of an Underworld / Selene look… NO sparkles for us! I really like shooting in landscape orientation (ie, wide), as if making a movie, so this was something I could get into. And she got to do something that was interesting to her, personally… this wasn’t just another T&A shoot (which she ...read more

I was just reviewing some shots of Kasandra (one was poster earlier). She is a make up artist that did double-duty as model on a recent shoot, and what a gem she is:

I had been experimenting with white umbrellas (reflective, not shoot through), and found I really prefer the light over a harder reflective material, like silver.

This shoot would be a chance to try out a lighting arrangement ...read more

Sometimes things just come together just right; the model (Miriam) is terrific, the light is fantastic (and my reflector isn’t blowing around), and lessons about subject isolation, both from a depth-of-field effect and angle-of-view effect really hit home. Here I was lucky to be able to shoot at f/2.8 and ISO 100 without blowing out anything, which was pretty handy. And the angle of the 50mm was just right to include some interesting background, and exclude the pathfull of passers-by.

Sometimes technical qualities of a photo take a back seat to the needs of the shot, and it looks better, despite being ‘imperfect’.

I shot this yesterday in late afternoon/early evening sun, no flash, no reflector. 50mm f/1.2 (yep, 1.2, not 1.4), ISO 100, 1/640. I was looking for a nice paper thin focus plane on her eyes and lots of ‘nothing’ behind her.

But shooting this wide creates a ’soft’ image, which is usually a Bad Thing. Looking at the softness ...read more

Well, two, actually.

On a hunch the other day I decided to hang some black fabric on either side of the model to control spill. For about 3 months I’ve been thinking that shooting in confined studio spaces that have white walls has really been crapping on my contrast levels.

The other “Ah-Ha!” moment was when lighting ratios became automatic. Not just stuff you know, but stuff you can feel. It’s weird when you realize that you can see the inverse square ...read more

Here is a shot from Tuesday night. I did a series outdoors and wanted to capture the lights of the city behind a model. To use a fairly low ISO I had to use long-ish exposures, this one was 2 seconds. The flash froze the foreground, although there was enough ambient light that most of shots were a little blurry because it’s impossible to stand totally still. Next time I’ll choose a VERY dark spot for the subject to stand.

In ...read more

TFP, or ‘Time For Prints’ refers to a model working for prints instead of money, and nowdays it’s sometimes called TFCD – althought even that is a little dated (where the model gets a CD), since it’s easier to just to put everything online (I use zenfolio). I still like putting finished product on CD or DVD just for the more permanent nature of the media, but that’s another post.

But back to the premise, which is a growing confusion of ...read more

Last night saw a packed house for the Glam Jam; I’m curious on the final head-count, but at the high point of the night it was impossible to move around much. I’m not really a big meet-and-greet kinda person, so at least that part of the venue was perfect… you pretty much couldn’t move without literally bumping into someone new.

In terms of networking photographers to models it was pretty interesting to start the same conversation with a dozen models, and ...read more

After two weeks of back to back shoots, I’ve been busy buried under the sorting and post-processing of almost a thousand images.

Why the rush?

The Calgary Glam Jam

After talking to a few folks I’ve found out there is some interest in the event, so I decided to actually get my faves printed and build a real physical portfolio book.

Tomorrow I hope to shuffle the web site around a bit so when I give out my moo cards the folks visiting this ...read more