Annual Report - Engineering. This image illustrates two techniques that helped make an effective story telling image. This location was very cluttered and messy. This is a common problem for location assignments, so try using a telephoto angle of view to eliminate the...
LST - Light, Shape and Texture. Subject: Wooden Spoon in Metal Can As a part of my Film Project, I shot this still life with 35mm film and small continuous lights. I enjoy creating black and white images with dramatic lighting, with subjects that create shape and...
Lonely House - Behind The Photo In the lower Catskills, NY circa 1976, I came upon this unique farmhouse. The house had a door and a window on the front and this side view sports a single window. The overcast sky crated the void that makes the house stand out even...
This was an accidental discovery that adds versatility to your Chimera beauty dish-- and getting more use from the same piece of gear is always a welcome benefit. The transition of the collapsible beauty dish is shown here on a DynaLite Baja monolight. The discovery...
Colorful Flowers - Soft Indirect Lighting set. I learned this technique from a Nancy Brown book, Photographing People for Advertising. Nancy used this lighting to create intense color in a shot of people with colorful attire. I incorporated this technique...
Light Masking or a tale of three maskings. Masking subjects for replacing the background can be very tedious. As a photographer, you could leave that task for the graphic artist. But if you, the photographer, supply the files with perfect clipping paths, you become...
Cross Polarization of Plastic - Magic I learned this way back at the beginning of my career, from a very technical photographer and one of the original Harmonicats - (goes back to the old Ed Sullivan Show days - look them up!). This technique, I was told, is a way to...
HDR Re-Purposed Popular now, is the long exposures to smooth motion in water, clouds, etc. This is a good technique via tripod, heavy ND filter and very long exposures. An alternative to long exposures is taking multiple exposures using HDR (High Dynamic Range) and...
QCC -- Quick Contrast Control "How To Change the Contrast On Your Subject In Two-Seconds!" Here is a fast and efficient method of controlling contrast using a shoot through panel (this one is from Chimera). Our assignment is to shoot an environmental portrait in a...
VARIATION -LIGHTING HIKEY SET This is my variation on lighting the background for high-key portraits. Most solutions I’ve seen others use to light the background, requires two lightbanks or strip lights. I eliminated these two modifiers and made the V-flats do both -...
Annual Report – Engineering. This image illustrates two techniques that helped make an effective story telling image. This location was very cluttered and messy. This is a common problem for location assignments, so try using a telephoto angle of view to eliminate the mess. Additionally, using a silhouette for one of the elements in the story can add to the overall effect of the image. I started by identifying the visual elements of the story – arranging the elements with a telephoto angle of view to eliminate the mess and dirty...
read moreLST – Light, Shape and Texture. Subject: Wooden Spoon in Metal Can As a part of my Film Project, I shot this still life with 35mm film and small continuous lights. I enjoy creating black and white images with dramatic lighting, with subjects that create shape and texture that mix with the film grain. Put all these attributes together and the image should be attractive and pleasing. Behind the photo: – The subject ( A ) is a retro metal container with the lid leaning and an old wooded spoon standing up. – The set was...
read moreLonely House – Behind The Photo In the lower Catskills, NY circa 1976, I came upon this unique farmhouse. The house had a door and a window on the front and this side view sports a single window. The overcast sky crated the void that makes the house stand out even more. An important aspect of this photo is this is a very early photo taken in the infancy of my photo career. Taken with a Miranda Sensorex camera, my first SLR, and with a cheap lens. From an early enlargement that was squirreled away, a digital copy was created and enhanced...
read moreThis was an accidental discovery that adds versatility to your Chimera beauty dish– and getting more use from the same piece of gear is always a welcome benefit. The transition of the collapsible beauty dish is shown here on a DynaLite Baja monolight. The discovery happened during the disassembly of the beauty dish — when I removed 2 poles and then the opposing 2 poles, producing the strip configuration (photo #6). It ain’t pretty and that’s ok, it produces another shape of light that makes this a versatile tool....
read moreColorful Flowers – Soft Indirect Lighting set. I learned this technique from a Nancy Brown book, Photographing People for Advertising. Nancy used this lighting to create intense color in a shot of people with colorful attire. I incorporated this technique for my “food store flowers”, a perfect lighting technique for this subject. All light coming from behind the subject was blocked by the black formica behind the flowers and the V-flats around the set. The camera shot through the small slit opening in the V-flats. The...
read moreLight Masking or a tale of three maskings. Masking subjects for replacing the background can be very tedious. As a photographer, you could leave that task for the graphic artist. But if you, the photographer, supply the files with perfect clipping paths, you become a more valuable part of the creative team. The masking challenges: Subject 1- stuffed animal with a feather – feather with delicate wisps. L to R: The set up on glass lets light show through all around subject — Main exposure for subject — Background...
read moreCross Polarization of Plastic – Magic I learned this way back at the beginning of my career, from a very technical photographer and one of the original Harmonicats – (goes back to the old Ed Sullivan Show days – look them up!). This technique, I was told, is a way to check stress in plastic manufacturing. I adopted it as a creative tool. The set up is a gel polarizing filter on a light box or light source. Position the plastic subject between your camera and the light. Add the polarizer filter on your lens and rotate until...
read moreHDR Re-Purposed Popular now, is the long exposures to smooth motion in water, clouds, etc. This is a good technique via tripod, heavy ND filter and very long exposures. An alternative to long exposures is taking multiple exposures using HDR (High Dynamic Range) and processing into one image. The effect is not better nor worse – only a bit different. 1. Flag in Wing First, here’s to all those who serve, and have served our country. To create the multiple positions of the flag in the wind, the camera was set on a tripod and multiple...
read moreQCC — Quick Contrast Control “How To Change the Contrast On Your Subject In Two-Seconds!” Here is a fast and efficient method of controlling contrast using a shoot through panel (this one is from Chimera). Our assignment is to shoot an environmental portrait in a work place. We position a 42×42″ frame with a standard diffusion for a “shoot-through” main light. The subject is seated on the edge of a desk, a window view in the back ground and the panel frame in position for the key light plus another...
read moreVARIATION -LIGHTING HIKEY SET This is my variation on lighting the background for high-key portraits. Most solutions I’ve seen others use to light the background, requires two lightbanks or strip lights. I eliminated these two modifiers and made the V-flats do both – light the background and control the “spill-around” light coming from the background. The V-flats I use are the Chimera Panel Frames with the elastic corners on the interchangeable fabrics. Each V-flat uses a Black/White and a Black/Silver panel. The diagram shows the...
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