Starving Artistry

Day 57

// February 28th, 2011 // No Comments » // Photo, Project 365

Eighties Tights

I spent a good chunk of the morning watching these video tutorials about this guy Joel Grimes who does some crazy HDR flash photography. Like so:

Joel Grimes Photography

What I found out is that he just takes a normal HDR photo, and then superimposes a model onto the backdrop. I started by taking these photos with Tay, not sure how to dress her. I told her “chic” 80′s would probably be okay. I started applying all the effects to make her portrait look “edgy” but IMO it didn’t look too flattering. I think the soft look works best with Tay, she doesn’t have too much of an “edgy” quality to her look in general… maybe if I went back and re-edited those sword pictures…

Anyway, so I still brought these photos into photoshop. I applied a gaussian blur layer as an overlay over the original to make the color saturation just go crazy. I figured, if I’m gonna go with the 80′s look, I want super colors.

Here’s another shot I almost went with:

Outtake

Tay liked the bootie shot though, so that’s what I went with! I need a musician, or someone crazy to take “edgy” photos with. I wish I had learned about these techniques before I took pictures of Rob’s band. Supposedly I’m going to do an official photoshoot with Classified Frequency, so we’ll see…!

See you tomorrow!

Day 56

// February 27th, 2011 // No Comments » // Photo, Project 365

Basking in the Sun

Today was really nice and warm! I think it was like, 60 degrees out and sunny! Which meant of course that I wanted to take pictures outside. I’ve been dying to experiment with the flash outside, but it’s always been so cold… particularly since I have some engagement photo shoots coming up, I want to know what I’m doing with outdoor flash fills and stuff.

So, by the time we got around to shooting, the sun was starting to set. Which is both good and bad. It’s good because the natural light is pretty awesome at that time of day. It’s bad because it’s starting to get cold! We went out to Tay’s parents house to take the picture, since they have a nice lawn and a cool stone pillar thing to take a pic in front of. But as you can tell, Tay was already starting to get cold:

A little chilly

Also, based on how their house is sitting, I couldn’t find a good position for Tay so I could get the maximum of blue sky into the photo… let alone the sun! It was actually really overcast in the direction I was taking the pic, but fortunately there was a bit of break in the clouds which allowed for some nice saturated blue to get into the shot.

The basic idea is, I set my camera exposure to the brightness of the sky. Ordinarily if you do that, everything else except for the sky appears very dark. So you use the flash to fill in the rest of the picture, which is what I tried to do! I actually used all three flashes I own. One flash as the main light about 6 feet away with an orange gel (to try to match the color of the daylight), then two flashes on either side of her through umbrellas to balance out the shadows.

After we took a few pictures by the pillar, I wanted to take some wider shots, so we stood in the middle of the lawn for some shots.

Blue Sky, Pink Scarf

You can tell in the picture above, that the sky had already gotten a little darker because while Tay is exposed well with the flashes, the sky is just a TAD on the dark side at this point.

So now I wanted to try some jumps. I showed Tay how it was done… tuck your knees!

or… do a jumping jack!

And this is what she gave me:

I’m not even really sure what this is

Hmm. Anyway, partway through the shoot my boom stand fell with my umbrella and it got crushed. Sadness!

Umbrella Down!

Anyway, I’ll wrap things up with a couple shots of her cat Bingley. See you guys tomorrow!

Bingley the Cat

Day 55

// February 26th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // Photo, Project 365

Cactus

Today after a late start, Tay and I made our way down to DC to the botanical gardens to take some pictures. Being February and all lots of the exhibits were closed, but it was still an enjoyable outing. I don’t remember the last time I was at the botanical gardens, or if I’d actually ever been there at all. If only I were more of a plant and flower kind of person.

Anyway, the lighting in the greenhouse was VERY flat. The glass seemed to really dilute the harshness of the light. So, in order to make my photos look a little more dynamic, I had to boost the contrast and black levels in lightroom quite a bit. But I like the outcome! The pic I chose as my pic of the day was of a cluster of cacti. I had my 70-200 lens on so i stood on my tiptoes right over it to take the pic. I think it’s an interesting picture of a subject we see fairly regularly from a perspective we don’t often see. Sometimes the clusters of cacti looked like plans from an alien world… here are some other pics from the gardens.

Cacti 2

Floating Lillies

Single Flower

Spotted Yellow Flower

Backlit Flower

Tay Taking a Photo

After the botanical gardens, we walked around the mall for a little bit. I don’t think I have ever walked around this particular part of DC. I tried my hand at some HDR shots. Check ‘em out:

Okay, that’s all for now, see you tomorrow!

Day 54

// February 25th, 2011 // No Comments » // Photo, Project 365

Smoke

Well, it’s technically not smoke. You see, I ordered a fog machine that was on clearance for $15 so I could try to add smoke to some pictures. What I found out tonight after experimenting, was that it didn’t look like thick wafting smoke… just like a haze of fog. What’s up with that, fog from a fog machine?? Haha. Really, I just wanted an easy alternative to the whole dry ice thing, but I guess dry ice really is the way to go.

Anyway, after the machine finished firing it’s big thing of fog, it would let out this final wisp which looked pretty cool which is what I caught for the photo of the week. I turned it black and white to make the smoke pop out more. I had actually set up all three of my flashes with a blue, magenta, and green gels on them to get this kind of club / disco type lighting. It didn’t really come through so well, but it pops on this close up I did of the fog emitter… barrel? I dunno what to call it…

Smoking Barrel

Anyway, it is what it is! See you tomorrow!

Day 53

// February 24th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // Photo, Project 365

Don’t Drop the Lens!

So yesterday I got a package in the mail, and when I opened it, I saw a lens box for a Canon ef 24-100L. I looked at it for a second, dumbfounded. Did I REALLY order another lens? I closed the package to double check the name on the box. Maybe it said “Gretchen” Powell instead. Well, who knows, maybe I really did order another one (afterall, I am very rich)

So I take a closer look at the box. Ohhhhh. It’s no lens at all! It’s a cup! Now it all comes back to me, I ordered a CUP from amazon in the SHAPE of a lens. I didn’t realize the BOX would look exactly like a canon lens box as well! So I bought this (link) instead of this (link)! Actually, that first link isn’t the exact cup i bought, apparently the seller delisted the page… who knows why. Anyway, it’s a good thing too, because I don’t particularly WANT the lens! It was just a WOOT deal i saw and thought it would be fun to own.

It’s okay, it’s actually a cup!

So Tay said it would be funny to take a pic of her almost dropping the cup because it looks so much like a $1100 lens. Well, she left for bed before I could get her to take the pic, so it was back to a self-portrait! The timing was pretty difficult! I clicked the button on my remote, put it back in my pocket, and quickly tossed it in the air to try to get it right.

Here’s my setup shot:

My Setup

Anyway, amusing shot. I’m definitely ordering a shorter roll of paper next time to hang it in my basement differently so I can have more room. I have no way of getting a hair / backlight up without light spill on the backdrop. Sigh. One thing at a time!