month: November 2010




11.25.2010

Sports – Photographer Mike Stokes – Website – www.tracksideimages.uk.com

LOCATION: Santapod Raceway

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 1D MkIII and Canon 300mm f2.8 IS.

LIGHTING: Natural daylight.

CREATIVE PROCESS: The use of this lens provides a really good level of compression between the car and the “Santapod” banner.  The “banner” is over the finish line of the drag strip which is a quarter of a mile away from the car.   Putting the image into black and white enhances the “retro” feel of the image and the angle of tilt provides an additional dimension.

POST PRODUCTION: The image was shot in RAW and final processing used Photoshop CS2 together with Corel Paint Shop Pro to increase the tonal contrast and clarify levels.

Fashion – Photographer – Titus Powell – Website www.tituspowell.com

LOCATION: My studio in Ealing, West London

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D200 with Nikon 18-200mm VR lens, which is a great all-purpose lens because of its enormous range. The image was taken a few years ago, hence the old camera.

LIGHTING: Two Bowens Esprit Gemini 500s. One main softbox in front and above, and one small low snoot to pick out detail at the bottom of the dress. The ‘halo’ effect was created in post production.

CREATIVE PROCESS: There’s a full step-by-step explanation of how I created this on my website (www.TitusPowell.com), with all the test and intermediary images. Briefly, though, I went for a ‘religious’ pose and lighting and then the doves were added in post.

POST PRODUCTION: There’s a lot of post in this image: the doves, the halo effect, and also stretching the model’s dress to be about 50% longer/taller.





11.08.2010

Fashion – Photographer Sean Shimmel – Website www.lifeascinema.blogspot.com

LOCATION: Home studio in Chicagoland with the simplest of setups. We started with an outdoor sunrise shoot at 6:15 am in a 50 degree chill then warmed up in the studio

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D300 and the ever classic 85 mm 1.4; In this case, I shot at ISO 500, 1/80 shutter speed and an f 2.8 aperture to add an extra punch of sharpness; Contrary to the norm, I love the higher iso and slower shutter speeds that give a painterly and even ethereal softness.

LIGHTING: Utterly simple… Employed my foldout black fabric background 6-8 feet behind the model and shot right through my continuous ring light from 2 feet back. I had it mounted on a light stand approximately 4 feet in front of the model. I’m always amazed it’s almost quicksilver rendition of highlights. Rather than use a ring light for the typical, punchy fashion look, I use it softly.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This shoot was part of a larger theme as an homage of sorts to the 1980′s Benneton ads with the use of several very different international models with greatly differing skin, traits and cultures. Dark skin, freckles, red hair, angular lines, soft curves. I love the addition of wind which adds to the mystery of the lighting.

POST PRODUCTION: My Lightroom and Photoshop work is always a little of this and a little of that. I pulled out some detail in the shadows and added some puffs of light in the highlights and midtones. Finally, I used much less skin softening than you’d imagine, relying instead on the 2.8 aperture and the 500 iso and 1/80th shutter speed.





11.03.2010

Weddings – Photographer Matthias Richter – Website www.hochzeitsfotograf-matthias-richter.de

LOCATION: Paris, the Louvre. Around 8pm August 2010. It’s very hard to take a picture without tourists at the Louvre, but we had the advantage of a white wedding dress, so the crowd was very kind and gave us some time.

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D MII with 45mm TSE Lens. I used the TSE Lens because I wanted a surreal effect for this image. It should look like a dream, somehow unreal.

LIGHTING: Available light, just a few minutes before sunset.

CREATIVE PROCESS: Usually I try to take pictures at familiar places that are different to what people have taken before. This was my target with this shoot.

POST PRODUCTION: I burned the highlights and did some toning, thats all. The rest was done with the 45mm TSE.