Thanksgiving Smiles

This past Thanksgiving we did a little semi-impromptu family portrait session. It took some coaxing but we eventually got some great smiles out of little Jackson.

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SOOC Sunday #1

Above is a screenshot from Bridge showing the before (the only thing done here is some slight cropping), the initial after and then a tri-tone image (it is this last image I am going to be focusing on below).

In the initial after image I have obviously done added a vignette and performed some sharpening but I have also removed some clutter in the background, softened her skin ever so slightly and cleaned up some rough edges of her hair. If memory serves, I added a little bit of contrast to her eyes (focusing on not changing the colour) as well.

In the tri-tone image I basically took the initial after image and performed a technique called Duotone in Photoshop. To start this process here is what to do:

1. With the image open in Photoshop select Image then Mode. The current selection will most likely be RGB mode. This is the typical mode that camera’s take images in – it is how my photos start out.

2. Select Grayscale. A couple of warnings will popup. The first is asking whether or not you want to merge your layers (if you had no layers then you will not have this warning). I typically do not merge them, however, it is best if you do. The second is asking whether or not you want to discard the colour information, click discard.

3. Once this is done, you can now go back into Image then Mode and select Duotone (it was grayed out before).

4. Up pops a dialog box – this is where the fun begins. The dialog box will bring up whatever Toning you last created/worked with. If you haven’t used this feature before, it will start in a Monotone setting (one colour to be used throughout the image). To change the number of colours used change Monotone to Duotone (2 colours), Tritone (3 colours) or Quadtone (4 colours). To change the colour click on the colour box and then select the one you want. You can either browse through the ‘swatches’ that are there or you can use the normal colour picker by hitting the Picker button on the right hand side of the newest dialog box.

5. The trickiest thing about this application are those little graphs beside the colour boxes. Essentially these are just like Curves boxes and show you the distribution of the colour throughout your image. On the Left are your highlight and the Right are you shadows. As you move the curve around you change how that specific colour acts in each of the areas. You can make the colour only show up in the highlights or switch it completely around and have it only in the shadows, or anything in between. It takes some time to get used to this and I would suggest not jumping right to Quad-tone when you are starting out.

Here’s a screen shot for the Tri-tone box I used for the above image.
As you can see, I used a fairly normal curve for my black and darker pink colour and then brought in a lighter pink in the highlights. The bottom colour bar shows the distribution of colours throughout the image. In a normal image, this bar would go from white to black.

Try it out sometime and let me know how it goes for you.

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Two

I did a pet photography session with my Chris’ new little kitten a couple of weeks ago. Her name is Two and she is adorable! She didn’t sit still for very long, but we managed to get some great shots of her anyway.

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Perfection

Jackson Robert Beach

July 19, 2011
8lbs. 1oz.

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Waiting…

I have several ideas for what could be some really interesting portrait shoots. I have the gear to get the quality of shots I want. I have a repertoire of models to use. Unfortunately I do not have the weather I want. I don’t want my models to freeze to death in the coldness that is Ottawa winters so let’s all start thinking warm Spring-like thoughts so I can get moving with my ideas. Okay, we are all in agreement – Spring needs to come now!

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Lean on Me

I mentioned the other day that I had done a shoot with Dave and his sister Jessica – it was for their parent’s Christmas present and the above photo is possibly my favourite from the day. I am sure there will be more to come from this shoot.

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Wonderful Man

This is actually a shot of Dave from the recent shoot I did with him and his sister. Today is our 7 year anniversary and I just wanted to let the whole world know how much I love him.

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PHO5598: Final Assignment

The final assignment for my Lighting Techniques course was to produce a Magazine Cover. We were allowed to make any sort of magazine we wanted, from wildlife to animal based or even crafting or carpentry. I however, chose to do a Fashion Magazine and am so happy with how it came out. Chris was my model and I was able to use my Bowens 400/400 lighting kit for the first time. Chris and I took the photo using the Bowens kit and then I manipulated the background and text in Photoshop. Slap in a fake UPC and create some clever/interesting article titles (thanks to Chris and Dave for the help there) and you have yourself a magazine cover. This can be found on Flickr as well.

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PHO5598: Assignment 9

Assignment 9 was a little difficult for me to distinguish from my other photos as it was all about diffused or bounced flash. I say this because it is very rare that I use direct flash so almost any of my small flash portraits could have been used for this assignment. I ended up submitting the two below photos. The first was shot with the flash in an umbrella setup. The flash was bounced off the white umbrella and onto the subject. The second photo was shot using the small flash attached to the camera and using a diffuser on it while also bouncing it off of the white ceiling above the subject. Diffusing or bouncing the light often enables you to soften the light up which can be harsh and unflattering otherwise. As always, these photos can be found on Flickr as well.

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PHO5598: Assignment 8

Assignment 8 was another small flash assignment – specifically small flash while doing an environmental portrait. I like environmental portraits as it shows the subject in their surroundings (environment). These photos can be found on Flickr as well.

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PHO5598: Assignment 7

Fill Flash was used for most of the remaining assignments. In this assignment we were to use it as Fill Flash in an outdoor photo. Chris came down for a few days last month and stayed with Dave and I. On the first day she was hear we ploughed through my assignments and the majority of them turned out quite nicely. The first photo below is the traditional use of fill-flash where the lighting on background and the subject are balanced with the use of a small flash. The second photo shows the technique sometimes called day-to-night where the flash and background lighting are not balance producing a darker background and therefore giving the feeling of haven taken the shot at night. The photos can be found on Flickr as well.

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Mirrored Beauty

Another image from the shoot with Jenn and Alli. I am so incredibly happy with how this photo came out. The idea was to have Jenn and Alli mimicking each other as if one was the mirror image of the other. I love it!!

This photo was entered in Best Face Photo 2010 contest at iheartfaces.

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PHO5598: Three Quarter Portrait

One of my latest assignments is a small flash assignment – three quarter portrait to be precise. The assignment was to do three quarter portrait in both broad (lit side of the face is towards the camera) and short (shadow side of the face is towards the camera) lighting. As she is in town for a few days, Chris was my lovely model. We did a couple different poses, but the fan series seen below is my personal favourite.

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Fire Photos

In the summer I had the opportunity to take shots of John in his fire gear. He had recently retired from being a Captain and wanted some photos of his gear and dress attire before he turned it all in. It was a fun shoot both on location and in studio. The two photos here are just a taste of what was done throughout the shoot, check out the Flickr set to see them all.

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Cousin Tag Team

Last night I had a photo shoot with Jenn and her cousin Alli and it was fantastic! I have so many great shots I didn’t know where to start in terms of editing them so I just went to the beginning of the night. The above shot was one of the first ones we took after getting warmed up and watching another set of models go through our lighting setup. The rest of the night only got better from here on but you will have to wait to see them all --- t

o see the sets as they are completed visit the following Flickr albums;

Jenn, Alli,

Jenn and Alli.

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PHO5598: Assignment 5

I had been looking forward to the fifth assignment since the beginning of the course: Portraits. We had to shoo the same subject in the five different types of basic lighting  (broad, loop/short, butterfly, Rembrandt and split). Kate was my subject and she did a marvellous job. I am really happy with how the shots came out.

The above images are the five I submitted for the actual assignment, but I finished others and plan on doing even more in the next little while. Check it out on Flickr.

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Wedding Photos

The above photo of my sister-in-law was uploaded to Flickr along with others from her wedding to my brother back in September 2008. I hadn't finished them before now as every time I was in the mode to, the hard drive with the photos on it was nowhere near me (aka I had forgotten to bring it with me). I finally finished them and they are up for viewing. (Thanks to Dave for helping me with these photos during the actual wedding as I was part of the bridal party and had to be in some of the photos - at least that is what my family told me ;) )

On a similar note, I also finished the photos from Nico and Alison's wedding and they too are uploaded onto Flickr. Both sets can be found in my Wedding Collection.

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Nikon AS-15

I bought this one day before my second PHO5598 course as it is pretty much mandatory for completion of the course. This item itself isn’t essentially, but the ability to plug into the studio lights using a synch cord is and my camera (Nikon d80) doesn’t have that ability without this accessory.
I have however used this before as someone in a previous course had it and let me borrow it for our portrait assignment. The AS-15 is a simple accessory and not too expensive either, only $29.99 (plus taxes) at Henry’s. If you are interested in studio lighting and have an opportunity to use some nice lights, I would suggest picking one up, but check to make sure you need it first (aka make sure you camera doesn’t have this terminal on the camera itself).

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Bridal Excitement

Super excited Alison as she walked down the aisle. I really love the expression on her face.

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PHO5598

I have attended two sessions of my current Algonquin College course entitled Lighting Techniques and I absolutely love it so far! I have been looking forward to this course for some time now and it does not look like I am going to be disappointed whatsoever. Throughout the next few months I will obviously be learning lighting techniques, but I will be doing so both in and out of the studio and with both animate and inanimate objects. Last week and this upcoming week are for inanimate, non-metallic, non-glass objects. Then we move onto metallic then glass and then onto portraits (formal and environmental). There are some other categories that I can’t seem to remember right now but I am looking forward to all of them.

I put this course off as I wanted to ensure I got the most out of it and felt that other courses were essential to take prior to this one.

Algonquin’s website describes the course as:

"Students learn to use a variety of lighting techniques in regards to subject matter; desired effect are discussed and demonstrated. This course includes the use of electronic flash lighting equipment, lighting ratios, portrait lighting, product lighting, exposure determination using a studio flash meter, and a variety of specialized lighting techniques for studio and location photography."

I will of course be posting my assignments here as I complete them. All of our assignments have to be submitted in hardcopy – prints rather than electronic files, so that should be interesting too.

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