by successfulbob | architectural photography, commercial photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography gear, photography lighting resources
Had a full day shoot for the Phoenix Airport Hilton. They are going through an $8M renovation with a complete redo of all the rooms and an update on all the common areas in the hotel. They have asked me to photograph the changes. This is the second shoot and we are planning another two day shoot once the lobby and and a few other areas of renovation are completed.
Here are a few from the shoot…
Arizona King room photo at Hilton Phoenix Airport Hotel
Double Queen Room
Junior Suite Room
Images were captured with the Lumix GH4 using multiple exposures to capture the full range of tones from the deepest shadows to the view outside the windows. A handy tool is the on-board WIFI which allowed me to control the camera from the Panasonic App. Not touching the camera makes layering the multiple exposures more accurate because even when your camera is locked down on a tripod any touch of the camera can cause the images to not be in perfect registration.
When photographing for Hilton properties they have guidelines that include no curtains being closed in the room photos. I use a variety of techniques adding some light to the original capture and blending the various exposures using masks in Adobe Photoshop. For those who haven’t already made the upgrade to Photoshop CC 2014 here is a link to $9.99 per month Photoshop and Lightroom)
Sometimes you just want to add a little kick off light to a small area to bring out some detail and the small Fiilex P100 LED light comes in handy. It has the ability to adjust color temperature which is important in mixed lighting situations when working in rooms with natural light coming through the windows and the light from the light fixtures. (order fiilex light here)
Here’s a tip to save you some time in post production. Replace lights in lamps and ceiling fixtures with 15 watt bulbs. This will allow the lamps to read as lit but not give you blown out areas in your captures. It makes a huge difference in the amount of time in post.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography, photography education, photography gear
“Turn your face toward me please.”
I was talking to my friend Silvio from the back seat of the car. I had just noticed the rim light that was skimming one side of his face. I was shooting into the shadow side of his face AKA ‘short light’ which will tend to have more drama and slim down a person’s features. Here is what I saw…
Portrait grab of Silvio in a car.
It’s a great exercise to constantly be looking for lighting patterns in everyday lighting situations. Once you learn to recognize them it becomes A – easier to put people in the proper place when lighting in the field and B – to replicate the light in the studio because you have become more familiar with it.
In this particular case the lens I was using also had the added benefit of very shallow depth of field. Which allowed the background to fall off quickly. This was the LEICA DG NOCTICRON 42.5/F1.2 on the Lumix GH4. 1/400 sec; f/1.4; ISO 800 Aperture Priority
A – Rim light that highlights the edge of the face
B – Shadow side of the face is the larger side meaning this is a short light portrait
C – Bit of a kicker light adds interest and more form
D – Focus fall off AKA Bokeh. Even though the ‘background’ is pretty close it goes quite soft
By the way Silvio is a portrait photographer based in Scottsdale, Arizona you can check out his work here at Silvio Portrait Design.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | fine art musician portrait, Lumix GH4, musician photography, photography
The ‘Wall of Fame’ grows at Sound Bites Grill in Sedona, Arizona.
Last week Eddie Diamond and the AZ Diamond Band put on quite a show and I was there with my Lumix GH4 to capture the action and create the art pieces. The GH4 works well for this kind of work. It has a pretty large dynamic range which is helpful when working with the LED stage lighting. The best way to capture the moment you are looking for is to anticipate the performer’s movements and shoot at the peak of action. Some performers best moments are fleeting so the high Frame Rate of 12 frames per second can be of great help. Here’s Eddie during the show of his Neal Diamond tribute…
Eddie Diamond ‘Wall of Fame’ image.
Using Adobe Photoshop, layers, textures, Blend Modes and masks is how I work the artistic portion of creating the images. There’s now around 70 WOF photos hanging at the restaurant. Each one has a different treatment and while they all have a similar artistic feel each is and original. I really enjoy this project because I have to stretch to keep coming up with new techniques and push to keep the looks different. Here’s the whole band…
Eddie Diamond Band
Each musician is photographed separately during the performance then selected and placed into the composition. The signature autographs are gathered before the performance, scanned, inverted and then placed in the photos. If we had to try and get the autographs after the design and printing of the images most would be blank.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography, photography education, photography gear
Had the pleasure of working with Benji Santana who works at Snap Fitness in Sedona and Cottonwood as a trainer. He’s looking to pick up a bit of modeling work and asked me to shoot a some images. Looks like the camera likes him…
Benji is pretty well cut. Those abs look strong. That chain weighs about 30 pounds…
Benji fills out clothing pretty well too.
I used the Lumix GH4 for capture with the 35-100mm 2.8 lens. Shooting more toward the telephoto end of the lens compresses the scene and features. For the body builder images I took a lower angle to give Benji a more powerful feel as in the photo he is looking down at the viewer of the image. For the clothing shot I wanted a more friendly feel so moved the camera up so we were looking at eye level with the viewer. Bodybuilder lighting was with Paul C Buff Ultra Zap with a shoot through umbrella placed high to camera right just out of the frame to accentuate the abs but still give some slightly soft shadow edge transitions. A 4×6 silver reflector was added camera left to add some fill to the shadows. An unmodified second light was placed camera left and slightly behind to open up the shadows and give some separation from the background and add some interest.
Here is a ZED card I designed for the shoot as self-assignment and as an add-on possible sale…
Model Zed card design.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | fine art photography, landscape photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education, photoshop tutorial
I have the new Firmware upgrade on the Lumix GH4 and there is a bonus feature called 4K photo mode and I like it. You can set the camera to 4K capture and still have the choice to set your aspect ratio where you want it. But you can choose 16:9 to match your video wide screen or go 4:3 or 3:2. Even square will give you a 2880X2880 pixel size image to work with.
Years ago when I first heard about the idea of pulling still frames from video I was very skeptical. “What now I have to look through 1000’s of frames to make my choice?? NO way!”
Well that was then and this is now. It’s actually much easier than I thought it would be. You watch the video. When you see what you want stop the video move forward or backward a couple frames and capture it. Done!
Want a series from a child’s first birthday cake? Choose exactly the expressions you need with no, “Man, I wish I had caught that cute little smile…”
Capturing a lightning storm?
Hummingbirds at a feeder?
A stream with splashing water?
Bride and groom walking down the isle?
Roll some video and make your choice. With the Lumix cameras you can even play back the video and grab your still frames right in the camera before downloading! I’m sure you can think of many different instances where this feature could come in handy. I know I did when I started pondering more…
Let’s face it, no matter how good the technology is in our cameras mages need a little work in post to bring out their best. Here’s a still video capture from Oak Creek. I was experimenting with some ideas that didn’t work out involving water and Photoshop Blend Modes but I had this nice little bend in the stream captured as a square. Here’s how I gave it a little zing.
Original capture frame grab from 4K video.
There were a couple small hot spots addressed with a bit of cloning.
This needed a little curves bump to add contrast and a light vingette.
To add even more snap and ‘tooth’ to the rocks NIK’s Tonal Contrast filter was added.
A final NIK filter called Glamor Glow was used with a mask to keep the rocks sharp detail to contrast with the rest of the photo.
by successfulbob | charity photography, event, Lumix GH4, people photography, photography marketing, success education
One of the ways to keep your name and face in front of your community is through volunteering your photography services to help in raising awareness for causes or raising money for charities.
Last Saturday night was a case of creating images from the Oktoberfest event put on by one of the local Rotary Clubs. Funds are raised and Oktoberfest will support many local causes – The Rotary Club of Sedona Red Rocks and their efforts within the community. Our club offers Red Rock High School Seniors $1000 scholarships, supports the West Sedona School Summer Reading program, Teacher of the Year program, dentistry for qualifying needy children and we were instrumental in raising the funds needed to open the Sedona Splash Park – open in July 2014.
Rotary International is the world’s largest charitable organization whose stated purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.
Here’s a few images from the day…
Lots of people get into the spirit with the costuming. These are some of the volunteers and greeters.
The Red Rock Oktoberfest beer mugs that are part of the goodies people get with their donation.
People get into the spirit and come in costume to the event.
Things you should look for when volunteering…
Web site link recognition.
Recognition as a sponsor of the event.
Make sure images used for publicity for the event are credited on posters, advertising materials and news releases.
Make sure you send an invoice for your services so the organization knows the value of your donation.
Don’t do this just for the recognition. You should believe in and support the organization’s goals.
What are you waiting for? Get out there and support your favorite charity!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
Images created with the Lumix GH4
