Strobist Boot Camp II: Interior Lighting Assignment

David Hobby over at Strobist recently posted the details of the third assignment of Boot Camp II which is to create an artistic, well-lit architectural interior.

It had been a while since I photographed any interiors so for the first pass I wanted to create a 'safe shot' just to see if I still had the techniques required to create an even blanket of light within a space without creating any gnarly shadows. First pass was a success from a lighting standpoint but the image wasn't overly interesting.

For the second pass (the assignment and image above) I wracked my brain trying to think of a creative lighting technique that would result in a more interesting image than what the 'safe shot' yielded. I decided to challenge myself by lighting the entire scene with one strobe. The twist is that I decided to only light one element of the scene at a time and composite the individual results into a finished product that shows lots of light coming from lots of directions.

This has proven to be a fun exercise in experimental lighting and the finished product ended up being a composite of 10 separate images.

Strobist Info:
1 SB800 fired at specific elements within the scene over the course of multiple exposures and layered together in PS to create a finished product that has the appearance of being lit by many light sources.

To see more of my work visit my commercial photography website.

Camera Phone Part 2: Dog Against the Machine

We are the dogs in leisure suits.
Let's get down,
Don't let the baby drown.

Why waste time as a dog against the machine.
You are the start of our new American Dream.

Excellent little bit of 'found art' I stumbled across. I was actually ducking through some bushes to explore under a billboard (curiosity hard at work) when I found the image above painted on a wall.

Bryce Canyon, UT

We recently spent several days camping and hiking in Bryce Canyon, UT. What a magical place - and the temperatures there were about 30 degrees cooler than Phoenix!

To see more of my work visit my commercial photography website.

What Is The Best Camera?

Now more than ever the debate over megapixels, dynamic range, color balance, etc. is raging in the marketplace. We are being overloaded with camera data and being lured into the habit of 'pixel-peeping' to see really how good the camera we want/need/have is.

I recently read an article written by Chase Jarvis who said the best camera is the one you have with you. Well, when I came upon the scene above the camera I had with me was my 5 year old, 3 megapixel piece of crap half-dead point and shoot. What to do? Why, take a photo, of course!

The technical quality of this image may be shitty when viewed at full resolution, but you know what? I came home with a cool photo nonetheless.

Smoke 'em if ya got 'em! Metaphorically of course ;-)

To see more of my work visit my commercial photography website.

Bedtime Reading

As a commercial photographer I rarely capture those fleeting moments that photojournalistic photographers are such experts at recording. Rather I create moments that never existed; I fabricate reality to tell stories that never happened.

This shot is different - he was really in bed and the scene was really lit this way as opposed to my creating a complex lighting scheme to replicate the light a child might read in bed by.

I got lucky this time and am interested in periodically incorporating a more photojournalistic approach to making photographs - sometimes its nice to reflect on an actual moment or experience that really happened in my life as opposed to the stream of fiction I usually create to demonstrate an idea, product, or service.

To see more of my work visit my commercial photography website.

Home and Garden

As an artist and photographer, I repeatedly push myself both creatively and technically. For this image, I wanted to create something that had a Better Homes & Gardens type of imagery - something light and ethereal; an image that could be used to support an article about gardening or yard improvement.

I think I achieved that with this backlit image of a landscape detail.

Strobist Info:
N/A - all natural light (backlit by the late afternoon sun)

To see more of my work visit my commercial photography website.

Little Girls Have Big Eyes

I recently hosted a photography party at my house. The idea was to get a group of photographers together to prepare and subsequently photograph appetizers. I had the best intentions complete with recipe ideas and lighting concepts all worked out in my head beforehand to make some great food photographs . . .

. . . so it only makes sense that I would neither prepare nor photograph any food - but I got a shot of a little girl. ;-) Oh well, the best laid plans . . .

Strobist Info
1 SB900 behind a shoot-through umbrella high and camera left.

To see more of my work visit my commercial photography website.

Corporate Headshot

I made a series of Corporate Portraits this morning. I am rather pleased that I was able to use creative lighting techniques to turn this fluorescently lit office into a more inviting environment.

Strobist Info:
1 SB800 behind shoot-through umbrella camera right
1 SB900 camera left and bounced off the ceiling for fill
1 SB800 behind the frosted glass aimed at the black wall behind the "C" with a CTO gel to warm it up
1 SB800 camera right and behind subject for rim/edge/texture

To see more of my work visit my commercial photography website.

Lower Case "i"

I have a Corporate Headshot type portrait session this afternoon and wanted to mess around a little with some lighting and such.

This shot is actually outside at 9:00 a.m. (granted, it's in the shade but it is still outside nonetheless). I chose an exposure that would send the ambient light down very dark to make the background very low key. The lighting is coming from one umbrella and one bare speedlight. I fired both with Nikon's wireless system (which I am pretty stoked about because the strobe behind the umbrella was successfully triggered despite line-of-site being blocked by the umbrella).

Strobist Info
1 SB800 behind shoot-through umbrella camera right and high
1 SB800 camera left and behind subject
Both fired by on-camera SB900 (set NOT to contribute to the exposure but only to trigger the off-camera flashes.

To see more of my work visit my commercial photography website.

Camera Phone: Part 1 of . . . ?

I've been toying a lot lately with the idea of whether or not to include photographs I take with my phone into my stream of blog posts. Consider this one an experiment.

Would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section.

To see more of my work visit my commercial photography website.