by successfulbob | fine art photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, macro, photography, photography education, photography gear
I took my Lumix GH4 out for a hike yesterday. I was accompanied by it’s friends the 7-14mm f4, it’s cousin 12-35 f2.8 and it’s big brother the 35-100mm f2.8. This combination of camera and lenses gives me the 35mm equivalent focal range of 14-to 200mm with fast glass. Add a spare battery, a five in one 20 inch Westcott reflector, some extension tubes and put it all in a small Tenba ‘Switch 10’ bag and I’m ready for almost anything I might come across photographically.
Oh, did I mention all of that gear weighs just a bit over six pounds? Throw in a MeFoto backpacker tripod and water for the hike and it’s still under ten pounds. TOTAL.
The Lumix Micro 4/3rds Mirrorless system rocks!
Happened upon this stand of delicate little lavender flowers.
Mounted the GH4 with 35-100mm on the tripod. Added a 10mm Vello extension tube and it looks like this in full sun.
Open the 5 in 1 Westcott reflector, take off the cover and use the scrim between the sun and the flower and look at the change.
I think I’ll take the kit out for a hike again tomorrow.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – If you use the links to Amazon.com as an affiliate I will receive a small percentage form the sale. It helps support photographer education and the Successful-Photographer web site. TIA.
by successfulbob | commercial photography, fine art musician portrait, graphic design, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography, photography, photography lighting resources
Honored…
That’s what I am when I am asked to help fellow artists, in this case musicians, to photograph and create images and packaging to help them sell their CD.
Eric Miller and Ralf Illenberger are releasing a new music project on March 22nd at Relics Restaurant in Sedona and asked me to come by and make a photo showing them in their creation space. Of course, I asked what vision was in their mind and I headed for the shoot with all sorts of ideas on how I was going to light the scene. And then found them in this ‘closet-like’ space and had to start from scratch on what I was going to do. First we had to revisit the vision. Recreate working the feeling of working late into the night… Possible moods to depict? Serious, fun, thoughtful, etc…
Small room. Large window. First task – make the sun go away by blocking the light from the window. 2nd task – find a way to light the scene. Used the wall to bounce a large strobe because there was no room for light modifiers. Note that the walls are painted reflective gold and deal with the color change that would occur. Add a small LED light from camera left to fill shadows and add detail. Find point of view. Choose a viewpoint outside the door looking in to give the viewer a sense of peeking in at these guys at work. Almost voyeuristic.
Process image for the mood I was looking. Change mind as experimentation led to processing a warmer gold tone image taking advantage of the golden walls. Sharp. But layers of soft at the same time. A little painterly kind of fantasy look.
To the design. Choose one working photo for the cover and add several additional photos to help tell the different moods of the story. Choose fonts. Design.
Show initial layout. Get feedback and more information. Refine layout. Retouch.
Repeat.
Move graphics and refine to create CD information. Send for final review of layout, spelling clearance and last minute tweaks.
Convert files for the printer. (repeat a couple times as we found a couple small errors and additions)
And here it is.
Heart Tree CD Jacket for Ralf and Eric
The capture was with the Lumix GH4 and the 12-35mm f2.8 Vario Lens. I ended up using just the 250 watt modeling light on the Paul C Buff White Lightning X-3200 light plus a little kicker fill from the Fiilex Brick LED light This is a pretty handy light to have in your quiver. Color balance and brightness is adjustable and the light is quite soft. Give you a nice WYSIWYG and doubles as a video light.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | event, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography education
The parties move around to a different restaurant each night during the Sedona Film Fest and last night it was Sounds Bites Grill playing hot with a great spread and music by Ralf Illenberger on guitar and Troy Perkins on his handmade bass. Just seeing the work Troy did on his bass guitar shows me he’s a pretty incredible carpenter! (missed the name of the drummer… sorry about that!)
Michele asked me to stop by to create some stock advertising images for future promotion of the restaurant showing how they take care of biz for group events. Here’s a few.
Chef kicking out the Bananas Foster
Capturing the crowd from behind the stage
Looking round from the regular direction, crowd to band photo.
A little slice of the stage with the Sound Bites logo lit on the wall.
Images were captured with the Lumix GH4 and a bit of on camera fill flash. Always try to not make the flash apparent by dragging the shutter (slow shutter speed) to allow the background to register with the ambient light and then a kiss of flash to freeze and fill the foreground.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH3, Lumix GH4, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography education
I’m here in Richmond, Virginia at the Four Points Sheraton for the Virginia Professional Photographers Association Annual Convention (VPPA). Thanks to Panasonic and the Lumix Mirrorless line of cameras for sponsoring me to be here. It looks to be a really great turnout. I’ll be speaking tonight (Friday) from 6-8PM and judging with a fine panel tomorrow. If you are in the area you might want to come on by to see my program called Photo-Synthesis on creating painterly artwork using your photographic images.
Lots of other great speakers for the next few days too.
Here’s my speaker badge. First time I’ve seen the new designation M.Artist. in my credentials. Way cool!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | commercial photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography, photography
Wow!
What an entertainer with solid stage presence. Marley Taylor really rocked the house at Sound Bites Grill last Friday night. She was there with her Marley Taylor Trio. Marley, originally from Pittsburgh, grew up singing professionally in Houston at age 12. In 1994 after spending a few years in Nashville, she was signed to Sony Publishing for a songwriting contract. She also appeared on The Nashville Network TV show series Riders In The Sky. After moving to Arizona a few years later, Marley became a staple in the Scottsdale/Phoenix music scene with the popular act Zowie Bowie. The group became a hit at Scottsdale’s premier nightclub, Barcelona, later signing with Station Casinos in Las Vegas for a lengthy contract.
Image from behind the stage at Sound Bites Grill with the Marley Taylor Trio
When prepping images for newspaper releases I will often make the conversion to black and white to get the best quality possible. Often the graphics people will just push the greyscale button which doesn’t give the best contrast for the image. I will also over-sharpen the image so that when printed on newsprint and the ink spreads the image will still appear sharp.
And of course the Marley Taylor Trio made it to the ‘Wall of Fame’
Images were captured with the Panasonic Lumix GH4 and the 35-100mm Lumix Vario f2.8 lens. With the density range this camera has there are less problems with capturing the LED lighting that is used exclusively on-stage.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | commercial photography, landscape photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography
Did a pre-dawn run to help create some marketing images for Red Rock Jeep Tours with the Jane Zane Ad Agency. Worked in a great spot that allowed us to have a view of the red rocks in the background. It was wonderful collaborating with Jane. This is the first time I’ve worked with her and look forward more photo shoots in the future…
Red Rock Jeep Tours jeep in early AM light.
Another view of Red Rock Jeep
Images captured with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100 f2.8 Lumix Vario glass. Exposure 1/80 sec f9 ISO 200. Multiple images were made to control contrast of the scene and blended together…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
