So this week I wanted to do a natural light portrait. This was part of a walk around with a couple of friends. They decided to take my camera and take some of me. Most of them were out of focus but this is the only one that worked. Sorry to keep it short but here is week 34.
52 Week Project: Number 25: Breathing Fire
Planing, planing and more planning. Planning is key into making a portrait into okay to awesome. When you come up with a concept or a portrait try to make a work sheet or a sketch of what you want your outcome to be. I use a worksheet on most of my portraits. It explains what equipment I need, a sketch of what the outcome will be be, location of the shoot and contact info. It really helps me not to stress on the day of the shoot.
So this week I wanted to do something a little more on the edge. I recently saw an image by Von Wong, a portrait photographer from Canada. He recently did a portrait session in Singapore with a fire performers. So I wanted to replicate one of his photos.
During the planning stages of this portrait I had to do some test with the fire, since I have never breathed fire before. I did some research and found out that cornstarch would be the safest. I did some test on saturday to see if I could make the biggest flame. I found out that cornstarch taste terrible so I just put it in my hand and just played with it.
The lighting for the portrait was pretty simple. I used two lights with orange gels to make it look light the fire was giving off the light. A soft box on camera right and a accent light on the left.
I did a behind the scene video on this shoot. It explains the different planning stages for the image.
52 Week Project: Number 23
Alright so this week I did not prewrite my blog like I normally do on Monday. I was working on a special project which I can not wait to share with everyone. This week I am writing this blog on my phone on the way to a funeral (my great uncle just passed on Thursday). I do like the fact I can blog right on my iPhone. When I go on a trip it makes it so I can stay connected with everyone.
So this week was a little different for me. While I was at the beach last weekend I had an idea for a portrait. The idea was for me to hold up a sign that says "free kisses" and see everyone's reaction. I was going to do that after the pier portrait but since I loved how the portrait went I decided not to do it. I'll save that one for a later week.
Setting up for this portrait was pretty easy. I had my partner in crime Jordan wright the words on the carboard. (You wouldn't be able to read my hand wrighting). After we headed to the street in front of the studio. I had to be careful about where I put the light since I didn't want to blind any drivers. The light was to the left side of the camera with my travel softbox. I really like the fact that I now have a travel kit. I do need to upgrade the flash and the transmitters but hey I get what I need with the equipment I have. This week I went back to the good ol Fuji. I do like this camera way more then my DSLR (I know I keep saying this, buy one and you will see).
Well that's it for this week. As always let me know what you think of the portrait.
-TD
52 Week Project: Number 21: Happy 21st Birthday
Happy birthday. Well it's not my birthday but it's Jordan and I 21st self portrait. This time I wanted it to celebrate it with a "birthday party" theme. So I went to walmart and got the supplies. I found these awesome light up balloons. I knew right when I got them I was going to do something sweet.
Anyway onto how I got the portrait. I decided to photograph it normally at a 60th of a second to see what I would get. The portrait was really dark. I wanted to expose for the balloons. So I grabbed my sweet awesome tripod. A long exposure is the only way I could do it so I didn't have to boost the ISO to 6400. I did bump the ISO to 1600 and do an exposure of 2.5 seconds. Originally the photo was suppose to be like this.
I really didn't like how it turned out. Jordan gave me the idea of sitting on the couch instead of standing.
It didn't feel like a party so I asked my friends Jordan and Orie to jump in. After fooling around for about 30 minutes. We finally came up with a portrait that would work. Onto lighting, I used a new one and a half foot softbox for a Canon or Nikon flash not a strobe. When i was looking at getting a new softbox I was trying to think of something that would make me faster and I wouldn't have to lug around a huge strobe. I do like using it for one reason, it's easy. It makes doing quick on the spot on location portraits very easy.
I would like to give a big thank you to Jordan, Orie, Erika and Lexie for helping me in creating this weeks portrait.
Yeah didn't really turn out right but hey I like it. I don't like the couches bar going though my head but it works.
TD
52 Week Project: Number 20
20 weeks into this project. What this means is Jordan and I have had 20 portraits. It's pretty crazy. We both have learned a lot. Trying all kinds of techniques that we learn.
Anyway on to this week self portrait. Not much to say about this one. I used a basic three lighting set up. I wanted to keep it simple. I decided to use the X100s again. Instead of using it at 1000th like last week I used it at 500th at f/8. I really love this camera. The color out of the camera is awesome. The sharpness on point.
Anyway onto the lighting setup. I used a soft box off to the left of me. Also there is a hair light right above me. Last there is a accent light behind me. Below is the lighting set up.
That's it for this week. Sorry for the short post.
-TD
52 Week Project: Number 18
So as some of you might know, my camera broke (sad face). I should be receiving it today, hopefully.
Anyway onto week number 18. I decided to bust out the good ol Fuji x100s for this one. I'm just going to say this. I FREAKIN LOVE THIS CAMERA. Why have I not been using this camera all along?! With the built in neutral density filter and a leaf shutter so I can shoot at 500th of a second with strobes. Yes the sky is the limit with this camera. I do need to pick up the wide angle attachment for this camera. Would be sweet to have.
I keep forgetting that I have it with me. Now I have an eye-fi card and can view my images on my Ipad. Oh well, I will be using that camera just a little bit more and might start a personal digital film series.
So with this image I wanted to go for a more film look. Something a 1970s camera would have. I also wanted to keep it simple. With one light and one camera. I think I accomplished just that.
TD
52 Week Project: Number 2!
Brrr its cold here in va today! Its not even going to hit 20 today. Anyway last night me and Jordan went to find a location for our week 2 self portrait! We decided that a field would be best for us.
We sought out on our adventure to Pole Green Park! Very nice open field that we could drive on. (if anyone from the county is reading this then I apologize for driving out there). I was going for a sunset kind of photo with nice warm colors! just as the sun was setting a huge cloud covered the sun! I was furious but grabbed another strobe and through a nice orange gel on and got this amazing photo!
Lighting diagram for the shoot is below! I will post a video on how I edited this photo or how I would edit it again sometime this week!
TD