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 | 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, fine art portrait, graphic design, people photography, photography, photography education
Self assignments.
Love ’em!
Tlaquepaque our local Sedona Mexican Shopping Village and gathering center, put on a very colorful event in honor of the Day of the Dead AKA Dia de Muertos.
Here’s the first line of explanation from Wikipedia… “Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday observed throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died.”
It’s a very colorful event. People dress in costume, actors perform, musicians play, sky dancers fly and artisans display. In short a photographer’s paradise. I met a lovely lady who was costumed as a Catrina which is one of the most popular figures from the celebration. She entranced me so I gave myself the assignment of making her the centerpiece of art based on some of the images I made during my visit.
Pash Galbavy, dressed as a Catrina, as the focus of one of my Dia de Muertos art images…
When I asked Pash if she would mind my making her image she said, “No problem!” then began to move like a model… With good reason! She is an artist in her own right. (learn more about Pash at unmaskit.com and artofpash.com)
Using multiple images from the day and some of my texture files I worked with Adobe Photoshop creating layer after layer utilizing blend modes and masks to combine images in many ways to get to the result you see above.
Look for more ‘self-assignments’ from this ‘busman’s holiday’ at Tlaquepaque in future posts here at Successful Photographer.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – What are you working on to stretch your photography skills??
by successfulbob | commercial photography, fine art musician portrait, graphic design, musician photography, people photography, photography
Received a wonderful email today! Thought I’d share with you.
Hi Bob:
Just a quick note to let you know that Smokin’ Blues won Best Acoustic Blues Album 2014 at the BBMAs (Blues Blast magazine Awards) last week. I went to the ceremonies in Illinois and it was amazing. I played and got to meet a bunch of heavy people…
The mag is going to run a feature story on me and Smokin’ Blues – You can see it on line and I think it comes out this Thursday. If not, the following Thursday. Your art work is getting some major coverage – their website gets over 2,000,000 hits a month with subscriptions in the USA and over 90 countries.
Thank you so much for all of your support Bob. Best to Holly and also the crew…
mark
Mark T. Small – voted Best Acoustic Blues Album 2014 – Blues Blast Magazine (critics choice & peoples choice)
Solo Delta & Chicago Style Blues
www.marktsmall.com
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” – Charles Swindoll
Here’s the reason Mark sent the email. I named the album, designed his CD cover and marketing materials for Smokin’ Blues. So excited for Mark. He works so hard at his craft and it’s great to see him rewarded!
Smokin’ Blues CD album cover for Mark T Small buy the album here I think you’ll like it!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | people photography, photography
Got a call from Benji about doing a bit of a model shoot for him about 2 weeks ago and today was the day… I just have a quick image of the set-up and will show you some finished images a bit later in the week.
Getting prepped for body builder model shoot. Actually moved the lights in to get a square format for Instagram.
Benji was great to work with and know what he wants… By the way the chain? That’s about thirty pounds. Better him than me! Benji works at Snap Fitness Center in Sedona, Arizona.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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
