Not Keeping Up

Model Kat Gulling

I've missed doing a blog post the last few weeks.  That's what happens when you do lots of photoshoots and make commitments to turn the photos around quickly.  Bottomline, something has to give.  And hey, my employer would frown on me if I decided to do photo processing or blog posting during the business day....

 

Anyway, what have I been doing you say.  Why, thanks for asking.  I've decided to move from a PC based platform over to the world of Macs.  Yes, some might say I've gone to the darkside, but with as much horsepower that all the Adobe products required I decided to upgrade and go to a MacBook Pro with Retina Display.  It's taking me some time to get everything up and going.

 

Also I've been doing quite a few model shoots.   These have either been portfolio shoots or lighting tests.  Every one of the shoots was a great time with some really skilled models, MUA & hair stylist.  I promise I'll write a blog post or two this month and then get back on pace.  Anyway here are some sneak peaks of photos from some of the sessions!

 

Lighting test with Anna Reed

Session with Model April Berry

Photoshoot with model Kristen Grable

Portfolio shoot for model / dancer Caroline Nauth

 

Model Cecilia Hernandez of BMG Models Chicago

 

 

Tim Burton Style

Something a bit different.  During a Creative Meet-up I was chatting with a model friend, Caroline Nauth. She said she was interested in doing something Tim Burton-like.  That’s like dangling a piece of string in front of a cat, I jumped at the idea.  First, I wanted to do something different versus the fashion-type portraits I’ve been focusing on, and secondly it was an opportunity to play with different lighting / location moods.

I lined up a MUA after we agreed to work together.  I used Sasha Star because she’s good with these types of concepts.  You’ll note from my earlier posts I use Sasha often.  I talked / emailed / FB’d both Sasha and Caroline over the course of a couple of weeks to lock down the clothes, mood, makeup, etc., etc. We locked down a date and off we went.

On shoot day it was interesting because I allowed another photographer, Mike Arledge, to use the studio in exchange for watching him shoot.  Mike has a nice style, so I wanted to pick up a few tips.  Guess what, he had arranged to use Caroline for his shoot as well.  That made things easy.  After Mike’s shoot was over, Sasha arrived and we got to work turning Caroline into a full-on Tim Burton freak. 

Half the fun was just watching Sasha and Caroline work while chatting them up.  I also brought one of my old school Polaroid cameras, so I took a few shots with an expired pack of instant film.  Instagram old school!  Also, while they were working I set the studio up for my shoot.

I planned 2 locations and 2 lighting setups for the shoot.  The 1^st shoot was in the studio, and the second in an industrial part of the building where the studio is located. For the studio shoot, the lighting was straight up.  Like recent shoots I simply used 1 light.  I set up an Elinchrom D-Lite 4 with an Elinchrom 27” beauty dish reflector.  This was shot against a fashion grey seamless sweep.

I used my Nikon D600 with a AF-SNikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens.  I set my speed at 1/160, ISO at 200 and used my Sekonic light meter to adjust the D-Lite power so I could get f/8.  Straight forward.  I set the light at approximately 70” camera right (to start) aiming at Caroline’s midsection.

Makeup on, Tim Burton styled clothes picked out and on, so off we went.  I took about 30 minutes worth of photos against the grey sweep.  During the shoot I moved the light constantly from camera right to camera left and adjusted the height and direction multiple times.  The goal was to get very interesting shadows.  After about 30 minutes we finished with this portion of the shoot.

Next we moved to an abandoned space next to the studio.  The space used to be a garage for the original company that used to be in the building.  Very gritty.  For this part of the shoot I used a second Elinchrom D-Lite 4, but added a simple reflector with a 30 degree grid.  This allowed me to put a focused beam of diffused light on Caroline and get some mystery.  I controlled the amount of light falling on Caroline by moving the light forward or back and increasing or decreasing the power.  Worked great. 

In the space there is an old circuit breaker box so we started there.  Got lots of fun shots, asking Caroline to move constantly.  The goal was to get lots of edge on the photos.  After about 15 minutes I moved Caroline against an oil stained wall and again asked her to move.  This time I also asked her to crouch down and slink around.  Even though the floor was a mess she was a real trooper.  During this time I moved the light all around and at all heights.  

Camera settings for this portion were adjusted to open up the aperture to f/7.1 and the speed to 1/160.  ISO remained at 200.  Also I switched to my AF-S Nikkor 24-70mmf/2.8G lens so I could get a bit wider.

After about another 15 minutes we were done.  Overall the shoot including MU took about 3 hours, and we all had a blast. 

After action: 

• Scout your locations out before hand.  I did this for the industrial portion of the shoot so I knew exactly where I wanted to position Caroline.  When you are paying a model it’s best to spend your time shooting versus looking at your shoot location.

• If you have a Polaroid, bring it.  So much fun.

• Do something different.  As I mentioned earlier I have been on a fashion bender for about 6 months. Doing something completely different while at the same time using lighting techniques I was comfortable with made for a unique shoot.

• Be mindful of everyone’s time.  I knew Caroline had to boogie at a set time, and if I hadn’t been watching the time we would have been there for a couple of hours longer since I was having fun. 

• Experiment.  I had absolutely no idea if the theme was going to be pulled off, but we did it anyway and I think we hit it.

Busy, But Did 3 Shoots

It's been a busy couple of weeks, so I haven't been able to contribute to my blog as I want.  Anyway, as you know from my earlier post I purchased some upgraded lighting and modifiers for the studio.  I've had a chance to use the new equipment 3 times over the past week.  I did 2 lighting test shoots with models I will be working with again in the near future (at least one of the models), and a full shoot with another model.  Not only did I get a chance to try out my new kit, but also work with 3 models I haven't worked with previously. 

 

I'll make a more formal post ASAP, but bottomline, the new Elinchrom and Rotalux equipment is uber.

 

Teaser photos from the shoots

 

Lighting test with model Cecilia Hernandez - won't be able to shoot with her again as she was just signed by BMG

Lighting test with model Laine Lindsey

Model shoot with Cynthia Cai

 

Candy Store

Whoop, whoop B&H Camera & Video delivery arrived today.  I'm a happy boy.  I wanted to get equipment that complimented what what my studio mates already had and what I needed.  The following was purchased:

• Elinchrom 20x51" Rotalux rectangular softbox x 2
• Impact wall mount system for 3 seamless background rolls
• Elinchrom 53" Rotalux Octa softbox
• Elinchrom Digital Style 1200RX Flash studio light
• Nikon SB-910 AF Speedlight (mainly for non studio use)
• Elinchrom 36x43" Rotalux Strip softbox
• Elinchrom Skyport Universal speed trigger set
• Elinchrom EL-Skyport RX receiver (for the 1200RX)
• Elinchrom Honeycomb 8" grid set with 8.25" reflector
• Manfrotto 025BS Super Boom stand
   

 

OK, so now I have get the super boom set up, and start using the lighting modifiers.  Exciting stuff for a photographer!

 

Jacks Von Liria in Black & White

Makup Artist and Stylist, Jacks Von Liria

I had the chance to help makeup artist Jacks Von Liria with a project by creating a series of photographs he wanted to use on his website.  He reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in helping him out by doing a few headshots, portraits & profile images for his various online uses.  Since he wanted Black & White photos I volunteered.  I was in the middle of a B&W theme so timing was perfect.  We agreed to a trade.  I would shoot his images, and he would do the MUA job for one of my shoots.

Jacks is a local makeup artist and hair stylist so he wanted photos with more of a fashion vibe.  He would bring 2 models and his website designer.   The plan was straight forward.  Since the shoot was B&W would work on a fashion grey sweep using a single Elinchrom D-Lite 4 studio strobe equipped with an Elinchrom 27” beauty dish reflector.  The idea was to get a balanced, offset light with moderate to strong shadows.  Everything was to be photographed using my Nikon D600 with the AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 ED-G lens.  Camera metered in at ISO 160, f/11 & speed at either 1/100 or 1/125.

Everyone arrived on time and Jacks immediately started making up the models, Caroline Nauth (if you’ve read my blog you know I’ve worked with Caroline several times) and Crystal Kay Velez.  While Jacks was getting the models ready to go I played around with Caroline photographing her against a grey wall and showing Jacks website designer, Shonn Piersol, how the control light with a camera.  Fun stuff…ok, fun stuff for a photographer.  I also photographed both on the grey seamless and got some good photos, although they were not part of the series.

Shonn Getting Into The Action

The models were finished and away we go.  We did a number of settings for Jacks.  He did a good deal of directing since he had a vision in mind what he wanted and I took it from there.  We did multiple arrangements with Jacks alone, Jacks with Shonn, Jacks holding his MU brushes, the models, and the models with Jacks, etc. etc.  I photographed standing up, sitting down and moving around.  I constantly moved the light around as well to get different shadowing.  I arranged the group multiple ways to get the desired effects.  This was working great.  I was a bit concern that the sweep wouldn’t be wide enough, but it ultimately wasn’t a problem.  Jacks was wearing high end attire on so things were looking good.

Jacks & Shonn

 

Caroline, Jacks, Crystal & Shonn

Finally, Jacks changed into very high end casual styled clothes and I did a series of head shots.  These also turned out really well.  He has a very expressive face with works very well in B&W.   As with the group shots I took a good deal of guidance from Jacks since he had a look in mind and then I posed him from there.  And after about 3 hours, it was a wrap.  It was a fun time with the entire group, I got to meet a model I’ve wanted to meet, met a new friend in Jacks, and got to meet another local Indy business man who also did well in front of the camera.  It was a wrap.

After action tips:

• Remember Steve, makeup takes a long time, especially if you throw in hair.  I've got to find something constructive to do while I have this time to kill.  The new studio will help with this,
• Talk to your client.  Jacks had a very distinct look in mind for the photographs and if I just took over it wouldn't have worked out,
• Take advantage of barter deals such as this.  The following weekend Jacks returned the favor and did an amazing MU job on Caroline (again) for another one of my shoots,
• Try something new.  I've not shot a group fo 4 in studio, so I thought this would be a bit of a miss, but with simple posing, positioning and shooting angles it came out great.

 

M10 Studio's New Space

Panorama of the sitting area one display wall - Paul's Red, Yellow & Blue works

Yes sir, M10 Studio is in new digs.  Same building but in a new studio.  We've moved from about 900 square feet to more than double that amount.  On top of that we have a nicer seating area, an office, seperate gallery, a kitchen and longer shooting area.  Needless to say, I'm a happy boy. 

 

Another display wall which can double as a simple grey background for headshots - Paul's Green works

We had our public opening this past Friday during downtown Indianapolis' IDADA First Friday.  Studio mate, Paul D'Andrea was the main exhibition with his amazing Colors project.  It was so cool.  We had tons of people, friends and other creatives come out and visit the studio.  I even had a chance to display 3 of my recent black & white model shoot photographs. 

 

Another display wall - my photos of models Peyton Drew, Emmy Lindgren & Caroline Nauth

I even celebrated by placing a large order with B&H Camera & Video in NYC to get an additional Elinchrom studio light, several new light diffusers / softfboxes, an Manfrotto Super Boom and some more Elinchrom EL-SkyPort triggers / receivers.  My wallet is a bit lighter with the move and the new kit, but I'm pumped.  Now I just have to schedule some shoots.  Stay tuned!  PS, sorry for the image quality - photos shot with my iPhone...

Expanding !!

I've been in a photo studio here in Indianapolis for almost a year.  M10 Studio is located in the Circle City Industrial Complex in downtown Indianapolis near the corner of Mass Avenue (Massachusetts Avenue on the map) & 10th Street.  I share the space with 2 other local photographers.

 

Well guess what, I didn't think it would happen, but we've outgrown the space.  And with that, we are moving to bigger digs.  The nice thing is that the new studio is in the same building.  We are doubling our size and with it the new space includes an office, kitchen and a seperate gallery.  POW, now we can leave our equipement up between shoots!!.

 

We've been spending the last few weekends getting ready and actually doing the move.  We are about done, but still have a few housecleaning and layout issues to finalize.  These will be done over the next few weeks.  Our new opening is this Friday during Indianapolis's artist's First Friday.  Real excited!

 

My photography adventure continues.

New Model Katie

I recently photographed new model, Katie Willock, at M10 Studio.  I met Katie a few weeks previously when she joined me during a session with Caroline & Emmy.  She just wanted to check out this modeling thing.  During the shoot I told her to contact me if she wanted to do a formalized TFP (time for photo) shoot.  She did, so we arranged a B&W fashion centric shoot.

 

Since Katie is a new model I made sure she was fully aware of all steps and plans for getting together, who the makeup artist would be, what style we were going to shoot, and what clothes to bring.  Also, as always bring a friend if she wanted to.

 

For this session I was doing 3 backgrounds.  One a fashion grey sweep, one against a black backdrop and one against a DIY backdrop.  I simply cut apart a bunch of fashion magazines and taped the pictures on the wall.  It created a really interesting backdrop.

 

 

Katie & my favorite makeup artist, Sasha Star, arrived and we got going.  I set up the studio the evening before, so I didn’t have tons to do until Katie was ready.  Since the shoot was to be processed in B&W I set my Nikon D600 monitor set to monochrome and asked Sasha to apply makeup with B&W in mind.  I’ve worked with Sasha a number of times so she has muscle memory on what I want for this type of shoot.  So easy when you have skilled operators.  I spent my time getting my camera set, chatting with Sasha & Katie, and talking to Katie’s guests.

 

Lighting for this shoot was a standard lighting kit that I’ve used recently.  An Elinchrom D-Lite 4 with an Elinchrom 27” beauty dish reflector with only the diffuser sock.  Also, for the black and magazine backdrop an Elinchrom D-Lite 4 with a 30 degree grid in-front of the bare bulb.  Both studio lights were mounted on integrated Manfrotto boom arm light stand.  During the shoot I used only my AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G prime.

 

 

Makeup and hair done so off we go.  I started off using my Sekonic L-358FlashMaster light meter to meter to f/11.  I set my camera at 1/125 & ISO at 160.  Pretty standard setup that has worked well for me.  I had Katie in a simply tube top and a very large t-shirt for the first shoot.  The idea was to direct her on some standard poses with the t-shirt pulled down over her shoulder or just hanging loose.   I directed Katie for about 15 minutes and then had her change into a simple white sleeveless top.  Again I posed her for about 15 minutes while shooting her from a standing & sitting position (me, not her).  During the process I showed her what we were getting so she could see what poses and expressions she liked the best.  She was doing very well.  Final shoot against the grey sweep was to have her put on a very loose cabled sweater.  I wanted her to get the feel of having to do multiple changes during a shoot.  Most shoots were done with a 9x12 crop in mind.

 

After this shoot I asked her to change into a black dress and moved her in front of the black backdrop.  These were primarily head shots.  She brought a pair of sunglasses and I had her wear them for part of the shoot.  I switched to the gridded D-Lite for this series and once again I metered the light power to f/11.  We cranked off about 30 minutes worth of images with different poses.  Again, I showed her what we were getting along the way.  

 

 

We got some really nice images against the black backdrop.  I moved her position from the backdrop a number of times achieve different lighting effects.  Also the light was moved around a fair amount.

 

Final set was against the fashion magazine DIY backdrop.  For this shoot I asked her to put on a blue scarf she brought and start off with the sunglasses.  Again, posing, moving and changing up the light.  This was really fun, but a bit more challenging because the studio light created a fair amount of glare on the backdrop.  We simply lowered the light power and moved it around to minimize glare.  I had Katie pose for about 15 minutes while taking shots from various angles and moving the light around to get different shadow effects.

 

OK, one in color!

And with that we were done.  Katie was fun to work with and seems to be a natural in front of the camera.  We talked the entire time and after the shoot about my knowledge of the modeling and photography business – of course, constantly reminding her that my main gig was a business guy, not a pro photographer!  Anyway, as always some after action comments:

 

·         For a new model be very specific about pose instructions.  I’ve become fairly good posing models (at least in my own head) so I enjoyed working with Katie on her posing,

·        Show your model your images, but be careful about showing images that are no good.  The idea is to make sure they are comfortable that you are making them look nice,

·       Try DIY backdrops.  A photography friend of mine had done the fashion magazine backdrop idea first, so I take no credit for it, but it turned out great.  I’ve got to put my thinking cap on to come up with other ideas,

·       Remember not everyone is comfortable in-front of a camera.  Talk and encourage your subject throughout the shoot.  This isn’t really a problem for me, because….well, I just like talking to people!

Model Photoshoots Galore!!

 

Wow, I've been crazy busy in studio doing model photography.  I've been lucky enough to work with some skilled models and makeup artist recently.  12 shoots in January and 3 so far this month.  Needless to say I'm behind on my blog posting about the shoots.  In the meantime a few images.  Blog posts to follow.

 

Model - Mina Vee

Model - Peyton Drew

Model - Emmy Lindgren

 

Sculpted Light with Emmy & Caroline

I recently did a shoot at M10 Studio with models Emmy Lindgren & Caroline Nauth.  The theme for this shoot was sculpted & controlled light.  I wanted to do this shoot in studio and the industrial portion of Circle City Industrial Complex, where M10 Studio is located using controlled and directional light.  The goal was to create a dark atmosphere, but the models lit.  While at it lets squeeze in a shoot against a fashion grey seamless why don’t we.

The first setting was in the industrial space.  I used a single Elinchrom D-Lite 4 with a 24” Vagabond softbox.  The space had only a small amount of ambient light from overhead industrial style windows.  I set the strobe 70” high with the softbox aimed at a spot on the ground about 12 feet away.  The idea was to have Emmy and Caroline walk to me and as they walked through the area where the light aimed take the shot.

To accomplish this I marked a spot on the concrete floor about 8 feet away from the strobe.  When the models got to this point I would take the photo.  I metered the strobe by having them stand at this spot and I used my Sekonic L-358 FlashMaster lightmeter.  I adjusted the power of the strobe so I could get ISO 200, 1/125 second & f/5.6.  I wanted the image sharp enough to get Emmy & Caroline in focus, but the background fairly out of focus.  I wanted as much contrast as I could get between light and dark as these images were going to be processed in B&W (I set my camera monitor to monochrome so I could chimp in B&W).  I also used a large silver reflector camera right on some shots to throw some light back onto my models.  This worked well.

For this series I used my NikonD600 with an AF-S 50mm f/1.4G lens.  I wanted the option to go full bright with the lens as needed with minimal need to adjust my light.

With everything set I backed my models off the spot, and then told them to walk to me.  About 1 step behind the mark I took a 4 frame burst.  This setup took lots of attempts to get it right.  The biggest challenge was that even with a D600 and the 50mm lens I had some focus speed issues.  I switched to manual focus for some shots to help.

We tried this style at 2 locations in the complex.  I asked both models to be as expressive as possible while walking.  Move their bodies, flip their hair, look at each other, look away, etc.  Basically, I wanted to get something like the vibe of walking through a dark city alley after coming home from a night out….you get the idea, don’t you?  Anyway after about 45 minutes we had what I thought were going to be some good shots. 

For the next set we went back into the studio.  I set up our studio’s sofa against a plain dark grey concrete wall in the studio.  The plan for this set was to have Emmy & Caroline sit & recline on the sofa and the floor in front of the sofa.  I was going to light the sofa with a single Nikon SB-600 speedlight with a HonlPhoto Professional ¼” Speed Grid mounted on a boom arm.  The speedlight was triggered with an Elinchrom EL-Skyport.  

The plan was to start with the speedlight overhead and then adjust it throughout the series to get the light to fall at various spots on the floor and sofa.  I initially set the set the speedlight at ½ power, arranged the models on the sofa, turned off the studio lights and then metered the light.  I wanted a dark effect so I wanted the light as low as possible.  The effect was very nice, but with the studio lights off my camera wouldn’t focus…. No dramas, I simply closed down my aperture to approximately f/11, ISO 100, 1/125 and kept the studio lights on.  I metered again and POW.  Worked great.  I got a nice circle of light that I was able to play with by moving the speedlight around on the boom.  I also brought in a second speedlight during the second part of this series at very low power 1/16 & 1/32 to get selective fill.  I mounted a simple translucent domed diffuser on the speedlight and put it on a light stand.  I had to play with this light quite a bit to get the effect I wanted.

For this shoot I moved around quite a bit.  I stood on a step stool, sat on the floor, laid on the floor – I know, this is no way for a FINANCE exec to act…and move around both of the models.  Throughout the series both Emmy and Caroline were changing positions.  

About ready to wrap up, but hey I already had the grey seamless set up, so over to the background where I had set up another Elinchrom D-Lite 4 with an Elinchrom 27” beauty dish reflector.  As I had learned with a previous shoot I left the internal reflector / diffuser off the beauty dish, using only the diffuser sock.  I had both the models switch into a black dress and pose together.  We cranked the music up and had them move to the music.  No more than 15 minutes on the seamless, and we – were – done! Once again this was going to be processed in B&W so the black dresses and the light metered at f/11 created some nice contrasts.

Overall, a good shoot.  It’s always fun working with models that know what they are doing and don’t mind that I spend ½ the shoot adjusting / playing with the lights.