LOCATION: An unused office building/warehouse in St. Louis, Missouri. Several photographers and fitness models got together for an afternoon of shooting and we used this building as one of the models knew the person who owned the building.

CAMERA: Nikon D90 with a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens at 42mm. 1/200 @ f/11 at ISO 400. I bumped to ISO so I could use a smaller aperture to maintain more detail and focus.

LOCATION: Eileen Mason Photography where I am the head of the Creative Team. I encourage all of our Photographers to produce exciting images that motivate them to take better photographs for our Clients. I had seen Jason on a website and approached him to pose for me.

CAMERA: We used was Hasselblad H2 80mm lens P21 Phase digital back.

LIGHTING: Bowens with ‘Beauty Dish’ (this is great for showing softness with a hard edge) plus a large 8ft reflector about 5 feet to the left.

CREATIVE PROCESS: I was looking for a gritty hard image, showing character. I choose a dark backdrop and strong lighting; I wanted to make the shot moody and manly. Expression is everything on this image I knew it was a great look from the model when I took the shot and I remember being excited to get it into Photoshop and work on it.

POST PRODUCTION: I changed the image to sepia because I loved the tone of this subject’s skin. I increased the Contrast slightly in Photoshop; eyes were slightly highlighted using the dodge tool. I darkened the edges of the image to bring more focus into the middle. NO softening was used on this image to keep it looking gritty!

Portraits – Photographer Jason Beet – Website www.eileenmason.co.uk

LOCATION: This portrait was created as of a range of images taken of a family group with Mum and Dad. The venue was Eileen Mason Photography where we have a very talented creative team. I concentrated on producing some really great group shots and the individuals of Ruby that hopefully Mum and Dad couldn’t resist. Ruby a 4year old live wire responded wonderfully to a full range of different poses we tried and she loved dressing up.

CAMERA: We used was Hasselblad H2 80mm lens P21 Phase digital back.

LIGHTING: Bowens Esprit with 50’’ soft box close to subject, fill was an Esprit bounced from the back walls. Fill also came from a gold reflector placed under the girls face bouncing light upwards.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This little girl had such an intense inquisitive look throughout the shoot, I knew after about 5 minutes of shooting the family groups she would photography beautifully. I wanted to create a slightly haunting image; I wanted the image to reflect her personality and show off eyes. I always insist on the studio being a quiet and tranquil environment so I can talk and connect with the model. I feel children respond well to this. I took mainly close up images to show off her features and choose the gold material to compliment Ruby’s pale complexion and golden hair.

POST PRODUCTION: Using Adobe Photoshop the image was tweaked in curves to lighten, it was then high passed through filters to heighten the intensity in the eyes. I then softened the image with Gaussian blur on 30% opacity brought back the eyes and darkened the edges.

LOCATION:  Korean Pagoda in Seattle, WA USA

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D300 with Nikkor 28mm f/2.8. Settings were 3 seconds, f2.8, ISO 200. Since I wanted to add an abstract element of ambient lights from the surroundings I needed a long shutter to paint the light shapes. I also wanted these lights to have a soft, blurred edge so I choose the lens’ largest aperture.

LIGHTING: Camera right I had two Nikon SB800’s in one 54″ Wescott Halo and far back camera left an Alienbees AB800 as a backlight.

CREATIVE PROCESS: I like this shot a lot. It shows the kind of dark mood that I was shooting for. But I also like this image because of all of the technicalities involved in creating it. The shot had to happen in near darkness so that the pagoda and the model jumping in mid air were capture sharply by the flash. I wanted an f-stop of 2.8 so the focus was very crucial and with the model taking a few steps and jumping in the dark there was some guess-work on both our parts to maintain the focus distance. Then immediately after the flash fired I had less than 3 seconds to turn the camera to my side towards the ambient street lights more than 50 yards away and blindly shake and move the camera around hoping to paint shapes on the frame without covering up too much of the model. All of this at 3:30am at 36 degrees Fahrenheit.

POST PRODUCTION: In post I touched up the hair. The hair stylist, Heather Nichols, had very limited time to make the concept happen and we knew we would be relying on photoshop to polish up the “hair cones”. Then I cleaned up some bird poop on the railing, selectively adjusted the color of the fog at the top created by ambient light from green/yellow to red, and applied some lens correction.

Fashion – Photographer Brett Harkness – Website www.brettharknessphotography.com

LOCATION: This image was taken during our overnight workshop on the woods in York. It was the last shot at around 9.30pm just as we were losing the light. We found this small clearing in the woods and thought it would be a great final scene to end the first day. With our model draped in “vintage chique” petticoats from a great company called Love Miss Daisy we set up the shot. The whole group was standing knee deep in water to get this shot. The reflection was very important to the success of the shot and I love the way that Natasha, our very hardy model is staring directly at the camera. We shot some images without the stick but I found that this prop gave her a ” swamp witch” like appearance. I mean that in a nice way!

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon EOS 1DS Mark III, 70-200mm 2.8 IS USM II, 400ISO 100th sec @f8

LIGHTING: Elinchrom Ranger packs x2, 1 135 OCTA box ( main light on 1/2 power) 1 naked light to the rear to light the tree. We also used a handful of small smoke bombs to give us a little mystery in the shot.

CREATIVE PROCESS: We started off shooting facing to the right, as the shoot developed I spotted this fallen tree over in the corner. The shot immediately came to mind and within 5 mins we had it nailed!!

POST PRODUCTION: I was shooting jpg here so try and get the shot right in camera as near as I can. A little colour tweak and contrast and that was about it!

Weddings – Photographer Crash Taylor – Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION: Leicestershire, United Kingdom

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 16-35 2.8 L II

LIGHTING: Three Canon Speedlites. One on-camera as a master unit and two on the band’s speakers as slaves. The room was full of daylight coming through a huge floor to ceiling window on camera right. I wanted the photo to look like it was night time so I used a small aperture of F22 to overpower the ambient. The speedlites did a great job though they were screaming at me!

CREATIVE PROCESS: I loved the lines in the ceiling and wanted to show this off with a low angle and a wide angle lens set at 16mm. I also love the expression on the bride’s face and how everybody else in the photo is so concentrated on this once in a life time moment. The flash just adds awesome rim lighting to the bride and groom and also highlights the guests.

POST PRODUCTION: I used a Crash-Art black and white action and added some tonal contrast to make it pop in Photoshop CS4.

LOCATION: This image was created on one of our Art Nude workshops. The venue was very near to our studio just outside of Edinburgh, a deserted wood with plenty of opportunities to create some exciting images. We were working with Christiane, our model for the day, and I decided to venture further into the wood so left Faye and our delegates and went looking for other options. I eventually came across this fallen tree which I immediately visualised with a nude either lying on her back or preferably, if she was willing, on her front. I walked back to the group and told them of my discovery the only problem once we arrived at the tree was persuading Christiane to lie, on her stomach on the branch of a rotting decaying tree infested with goodness knows what. Of course Christiane being Christiane needed no persuading though we knew this would be the last shot of the day as the tree would mark her body quite badly. Once into the pre discussed position the image was fairly easy to capture and required only minimal body adjustment.

CAMERA & LENS: D700 + 85mm, only digital camera and lens that I own. Exposure 125th 4.5 manual.

LIGHTING: God’s own assisted by Faye reflecting some light back in from the left side of the image.

CREATIVE PROCESS: I can always pre visualise the final image and this was no exception. The human figure when set is such natural surroundings will always create an interesting image it is just a question of how you place the figure within that environment.

POST PRODUCTION: Very little as always. Converted the file to black and white and simply added a bit of tone to replicate the effect I used to get when I printed onto Kodak Ektalure paper.

LOCATION: My Studio, Buckinghamshire, UK

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon EOS 1D Mark III, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L

LIGHTING: 400w Elinchrom D-Lite-4 head with silver beauty dish above on camera left

CREATIVE PROCESS: Rock chick themed set. High contrast lighting to give strong lights and darks and then sat against the back of the backdrop to create shadows behind her.

POST PRODUCTION: Black & White conversion in Lightroom, skin retouching in Photoshop CS3…. I should really get rid of the white mark on her shoe… it bugs me!

Fashion – Photographer Jay McLaughlin – Website www.jmphotographer.com

LOCATION: My Studio, Buckinghamshire, UK

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon EOS 1D Mark III, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L

LIGHTING: 400w Elinchrom D-Lite-4 head with large softbox above on camera left

CREATIVE PROCESS: Retro look inspired by flower hair piece on her head. Soft lighting to help with the 60s/70s feel.

POST PRODUCTION: Retro colour treatment in Lightroom, with skin retouching in Photoshop.

LOCATION: Karl Taylor Studio

CAMERA AND LENS: Hasselblad H2, 80mm Lens.

LIGHTING: 1 Elinchrom 1200RX with Beauty Dish, 1 Elinchrom 1200RX with background reflector dish.

CREATIVE PROCESS: For this image I wanted to capture a beautiful model in an unconventional way. I had been toying with the idea in my mind for a shot of a girl slipping on a banana skin whilst carrying drinks, however I ditched the idea of the banana in favour of a more explosive looking image. The shot was achieved with just two studio lights and some large white polyboards and a crash mat. It took several attempts to get the jump right and capture the expression. The model Emma did a fantastic job and was very professional, repeating the jump over and over until I was happy with the pose. The silky dress was chosen for it’s “ripple in the wind” quality and the drinks were shot separately under the same lighting set up. It was all filmed for my Fashion & Beauty DVD and you can see the trailer on my website for more info. I love the feel of the shot and the subtlety of tonal range in the background and shadow.

POST PRODUCTION: The models image is pretty much as is, I then removed the crash mat from the scene and photographed the empty scene for the background. I then photographed two separate flying drink shots which my assistant threw in the air several times until I got the right spread of liquid. I comped the drinks into the main shot and defocused the foreground drink to add some depth to the image. and also added the shadow on the floor by drawing in an outline in Photoshop and filling with grey and building up several blurred and reduced opacity layers.

Note from Crash – Karl’s DVD’s are excellent and highly recommended. Check them out here: Fashion and Beauty DVD

Fashion – Photographer Karl Taylor – Website www.karltaylor.co.uk

LOCATION: Karl Taylor Studio

CAMERA AND LENS: Hasselblad H2, 80mm Lens.

LIGHTING: 4 Elinchrom lights, 1 with a Recta Softbox top back left and 3 other lights with honeycomb grids in various thicknesses to pinpoint  the light to where I  needed it.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This image was for a regular client of mine who manufacture bespoke furniture. The basically told me to make this chair look sexy! The trick here was to not let the model overpower the product shot so I placed her further back to give the chair more promenance at the front. Using the honeycomb grids I highlighted several areas of the chair to add mood and show off the richness of the wood. I tried to keep the lighting on the model more subtle and mysterious to help enhance the sexy feel to the shot. It took a little bit of time to identify the best pose but this was my favourite as the model is looking towards where the client logo and copy were to be placed in the final ad.

POST PRODUCTION: Post Production was limted to a little bit of cleaning up on the floor and extending the background out the left a little. Other than that there was only a little bit of Photoshop dodging and burning on the model and chair.

LOCATION: Julia Boggio Studios, Wimbledon, UK

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon EOS 5D Mk II with 24-70mm lens set to ISO 100 f/
13 at 1/160th.

LIGHTING: Broncolor Para 170 FB and Broncolor Pulso G 1600J head with
Pulsoflex C soft box attached

CREATIVE PROCESS: I was working on the portfolio for my new photography studio and was playing with the idea of shooting children as famous icons. My make-up artist’s son had long brown hair and I thought he’d make a great little Elvis. His parents even subjected him to Elvis videos on You Tube to help him perfect the King’s lip curl. I liked the idea of putting our little Elvis in front of the Union Jack, even though Elvis is an American icon. I’m an American in the UK, too, after all!

POST PRODUCTION: We removed a door from the flag because the flag is actually a bit of wallpaper in our studio and there is a big door that leads into our post-production area on the left side. I also added in some blur to bring focus to Elvis and then added grain to the whole image.

Portraits – Photographer Frank Doorhof – Website www.frankdoorhof.com

LOCATION: My studio in Emmeloord.

CAMERA AND LENS: Phase One DF with Leaf AptusII7 digital back

LIGHTING: One Elinchrom RX600 with reflector and grid and one strip light as fill in light to open up the shadows just a bit. The lamp was a gift from my parents for use in the studio and contains high wattage tungsten bulbs so we have lots of light when mixing it with strobes.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This one had some planning, we were planning for some time to do a session with clowns and a circus look in the studio, as you can see the session went another direction. I think that’s the good thing from free work, although you have a plan you can always expand on that plan and continue to build. In this case we build to something much more extreme than planned simply because our model could carry the expressions I wanted, in cases like this I can be very picky in what I choose, the shot has to be just the way I want, and to be honest two days later I will always see something I would have changed

POST PRODUCTION: Was mainly changing the colors and adding a sharpening layer, as mentioned with the other shots I see Photoshop as icing on the cake and use it mostly to finish what I couldn’t do with light or in camera, in this case the more sharpening and the color tone. All shots are always minor in Photoshop; my rule of thumb is often that one should not need more than 5-10 minutes in Photoshop.

Street – Photographer Crash Taylor - Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION: Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 24-105 f4 L IS

LIGHTING: Natural light

CREATIVE PROCESS: I was walking back to the car after shopping with my family and saw this awesome ruined hotel. I loved the textures and colours but it was missing something. It definitely needed something else to finish it off. I had a problem because it was an extremely busy road and it was probably 10 mins before there was a break in the traffic. Just as I was about to pack up, I got a 30 second traffic break and miraculously these 3 people walked right into the my frame and snap, job done.

POST PRODUCTION: I processed the image in Photoshop CS4 using my HDR techniques to give it that high contrast detailed surreal look. It really brings out the textures in the building etc… I muted the colours using curves and added a lens flare. I also added my cinematic yellow film filter action to warm it up a little and finished it off with some 800 ISO film grain.

LOCATION: Studio Emmeloord

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D with 70-200 f2.8 IS L

LIGHTING: Elinchrom – I used a beauty dish and two accents plus one strobe on the background.

CREATIVE PROCESS: I love the more “fantasy” side of photography; I’m always looking for something that is more than a posed model with jeans and a top. In this case the cup and saucer looked liked a fantastic addition to her red hair and almost white face. So from this, the idea was born and made to fit thanks to an amazing MUA and model of course.

POST PRODUCTION: As always was rather limited, I strongly believe that a shot should be 100% there when you press the shutter, if not you shouldn’t shoot but change things until it’s perfect. In this image, most of the work was done on the skin to even it out and give it that porcelain look. Most of the look was achieved by the MUA although Photoshop was needed to achieve the final result.

Fashion – Photographer Sarah Johnson  – Website www.sarahlouisephotography.com

LOCATION: Studio

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5d and 24-70mm lens

LIGHTING: I used a large reflector on the background and also one on the model, quite far away from her so the light was nice and soft.

CREATIVE PROCESS: The images were for a story about eco fashion, so I wanted to keep them light and fresh and natural, I did this with lots of light and a nice big amount of light on the background to keep it very bright.

POST PRODUCTION: I played around with the tones on this image to give the denim a slightly weathered hue; I wanted to keep the images soft and clean.

]]> http://www.thestillimagewithcrashtaylor.com/2010/04/06/the-still-image-with-crash-taylor-17/feed/ 0 http://www.thestillimagewithcrashtaylor.com/2010/03/31/the-still-image-with-crash-taylor-16/ http://www.thestillimagewithcrashtaylor.com/2010/03/31/the-still-image-with-crash-taylor-16/#comments Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:37:01 +0000 admin http://www.thestillimagewithcrashtaylor.com/?p=414 Editorial – Photographer Michael Greenberg – Website www.phototerra.com

LOCATION: Train museum.

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D3, 24-70 /2.8 set at about 50mm at f4, ISO 800, WB is set to flash.

LIGHTING: The lighting is a bit complex with total of 4 flashes (sb800) connected with each other wirelessly with TTL mode off. One fill light is coming from the window; the other one is gelled and set to maximum zoom while pointing at the sit next to the model. The third light is bouncing behind my back that creates overall fill. The forth light is also gelled and zoomed to 85mm while pointing at the ceiling where the male model is sitting.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This shot is one from the 6-spread fashion editorial for high-end wedding magazine that is distributed in Montreal and Toronto. The whole idea of the photo shoot was about a girl who travels around the globe to find her prince. One of the beginning shots was her boarding the train an accidentally dropping her suitcase. The suitcase, which we filled with lots of plush toys, opens on impact and the entire rail track is filled with toys. I thought this was a beautiful opening to the story. So, this shot is a continuation of the concept. I put the male model and asked him to observe the bride. I asked the bride to look into the window anxiously to make the whole moment natural and believable. No one is striking a pose and this is what makes this image work in my opinion.

POST PRODUCTION: The postproduction is simple and it is not. In terms of cropping and lighting it was there and I didn’t have to change anything. However I had to retouch her skin and shape her arms just a bit. Saturation boost of +15 was applied. WB was adjusted to cool off the image a bit. I always strive to have my photography as natural as possible. I believe in my photography skills rather than my Photoshop skills.

Portraits – Photographer Crash Taylor – Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION: Crash-Art studio, Nottingham, UK

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D and Canon 70-200mm 2.8 IS L

LIGHTING: Natural light coming from a huge window camera right and two small Jessops VL35 video lights set up camera left – to the side and behind the model.

CREATIVE PROCESS: I took this portrait approx 4 years ago when I just started getting back into photography. It’s a simple portrait of a friend and model. It was the last image of the day before packing up. I asked Kaylee to sit on the stairs and give me some attitude which she did perfectly. I love the lines and the colours in the image.

POST PRODUCTION: I saturated the colours in PS and smoothed her skin. That’s it, nice and easy and the whole image including shoot time and retouching took 15 mins.

Sports – Photographer Steve Bonini – Website www.stevebonini.com

LOCATION: This was shot on location in Arizona at a real life, but make shift gym where the hard core go to train.

CAMERA AND LENS: Camera was Canon 1 DS Mark 3 and the lens was the Canon 24-70 2.8. The 24-70 is a lens I use a lot because it can shoot wide as well as portrait perspectives. This was most likely shot at around the 40 mm mark so that the front weight enlarged a little bit, but not so much that the weight lifter shrank away because of the distance from the camera.

LIGHTING: Lighting was simple, and assembled quickly. One Profoto beauty dish with a grid camera right, and for the background, I used a medium soft box off to the left. As always, it’s a balancing act when adjusting light levels, but it came together fast because we knew we were on a schedule.

CREATIVE PROCESS: For me, the ” process ” is a result of many years of shooting as well as just knowing how you want it to end up. In the days of Ansel Adams, it was called pre-visualizing, and I suppose that’s still valid. The great thing today is that you can check your results on a monitor instantaneously to see if you chose a direction that works.

POST PRODUCTION: The post production was handed over to master retouch artist Scott Dorman at Smalldog Image Works based in Atlanta. Scott has worked on a few of these for me, and for the same client, and I love his style. Pretty much, the image was as you see it now, with the exception of adding the words on the weight plus some general beauty moves, which bring the show to life. Scott jokingly calls it his ” kick-ass filter ” and I’d agree a hundred percent!

]]> http://www.thestillimagewithcrashtaylor.com/2010/03/31/the-still-image-with-crash-taylor-16/feed/ 0 http://www.thestillimagewithcrashtaylor.com/2010/03/26/the-still-image-with-crash-taylor-15/ http://www.thestillimagewithcrashtaylor.com/2010/03/26/the-still-image-with-crash-taylor-15/#comments Fri, 26 Mar 2010 08:17:11 +0000 admin http://www.thestillimagewithcrashtaylor.com/?p=401 Portrait – Photographer Rick Wenner – Website www.rickwenner.com

LOCATION: In studio @ Brooklyn Studios – Brooklyn, NY

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 85mm 1.8 set at f/13 ISO 100.

LIGHTING: Elinchrom Ranger RX Speed AS 1100 in an Elinchrom 39″ Deep Octa, high camera left.

CREATIVE PROCESS: This photo was created during a test shoot with Rachel. I gave the stylists full creative control over one look and here’s what they came up with. I love this image because it almost has an old Hollywood feel to it. My only direction to Rachel for this photo was to keep her eyes to the light and she took care of the rest.

POST PRODUCTION: Adjustments in Lightroom of lowering the saturation rather than greyscale conversion, slight increase in clarity and contrast. Imported into Photoshop CS3 for basic skin retouching and stray hair removal. Little bit of dodging and burning for more contrast.

Fashion – Photographer Rachel Hanel – Website www.rhanelphotography.com

LOCATION: Michigan

CAMERA AND LENS: Nikon D700 with a 50mm nikor lens

LIGHTING: 1 Travelite 750 watt head with a medium soft box

CREATIVE PROCESS: I love the rawness of this image, and the model’s expression (Maddison Quinn with Ford Chicago), somehow it just all worked together perfectly. We were shooting an editorial out in the woods and we were using a house (generally used during the summer) and it had this awesome velvet couch that I just had to shoot somehow. The suit is a velvet Cavalli piece that just looked great with the couch. Stylist is Beckett McMahan, Hair/makeup by Morgan Blaul.

POST PRODUCTION: I used a color tone on this image (curves layers in Photoshop) and I added a lot of contrast. I love to bring some blue into the shadows and yellow into the highlights, and then add a little cyan for fun. There were a lot of layer masks and a lot of curves layers for this image. I love to manipulate the color manually instead of using a program or plug-in to do it for me. I really love to give each image a unique finish, since no 2 images are the same in tonal range.

Weddings – Photographer Crash Taylor – Website www.crashtaylor.com

LOCATION: Fawsley Hall, Northampton

CAMERA AND LENS: Canon 5D Mark II and the awesome Canon 16-35mm 2.8 II L

LIGHTING: Natural light

CREATIVE PROCESS: This is a image I try to capture at every wedding. It’s definitely not an easy shot and it did take some time to perfect. The bride and groom have no clue. We are walking back to the reception venue after taking some portraits. I’m walking with the camera holding it at ground level and firing away at 16mm. This is one of two exposures out of 10 that captured the moment. I love the angles, the movement in the dress and hair and how their feet are in sync as they walk. It’s different and the bride loved it.

POST PRODUCTION: I ran my cinematic film action which includes a hue/sat layer, a detail enhancer, a blending mode and an advanced blending option as well as some grain to give it that film tone look.