Posts Tagged ‘Canon’
Canon 5D Mark III – my first shoot and experience
As I mentioned on my post about the Elinchrom Ranger, when I get new equipment I take it out and test with it. Up until my shoot with Kiana I had only managed to shoot a handful of images of my kids and was blown away at how new the Mark III and settings were. The Mark III is my seventh Canon digital body. With many of my previous upgrades, the upgrade was based on the image quality and size upgrade. The Mark III is a giant leap in quality, focal points and provides me with a full frame body that I have been missing for months.
Dancers with Beauty and Grace
As part of an ongoing series and to test some new equipment I have enlisted the help of dancers. My goal with the shoots is to learn about my new Elinchrom Ranger as well as to document the extraordinary ability and grace that these dancers have.
Ryan Marks
Kelley Koski
I also shot a time lapse of my shoot with Kelley. It includes a few more edited images. The shoot lasted about 30 minutes; it’s shown here in 46 seconds. Yes, I did use my daughter’s wagon as a cart on the sand.
How it’s made
A few month’s ago Seth showed me the latest art he had been making. Seth, who goes by the name MeexOne in the art and graffiti world, incorporated using the damask patterns he used in his art with a model in the photo below. I loved the image and immediately wanted to take it a step further and paint it on a larger scale.
©Seth Wilder - MeexOne - the inspiration for our shoot
I began looking for a model and got lucky with Kyara Tyler. I say lucky because she’s had a lot of experience modeling body paint and that ended up helping quite a bit in during the shoot. Although I’ve seen a lot of body paint images I’d never seen the process or knew how well the idea would translate. Seth painted the backdrop a few weeks ago and used a graffiti marker called Krink which took about ten days to full dry.
MeexOne - backdrop painting
MeexOne
Early this week we finally were all available on the same day. Once Kyara was in the studio, we experimented with lighting before Seth began the process of painting her. Unlike the wall he used a latex based paint that was safe for her skin. After I found a lighting setup I liked it took Seth about 90 minutes to paint her. The actual shoot took about 15.
Seth paiting Kyara
Kyara Tyler
I wanted to document the process. The following was filmed using a 7D and an old Canon G9 point and shoot which I used to film a time-lapse of painting the backdrop and then again on the day of the shoot. The following video shows the process and what was involved in making it work.
To see more stills from the shoot check out this gallery.
To see more of Seth’s work check out his site and this recent article.
Shooting personal work keeps me sane
It’s been a busy couple of weeks. I’ve started to scratch out a couple blog posts over the past month but each time I start a job comes up and takes precedence. This week I vowed to shoot for me. Shooting personal work keeps me sane. When I end up working on shoots for other people for weeks at a time I can feel the itch to go out and shoot a concept I have control over. Family portraits, TV commercials, architecture, Galas, receptions and pretty much every other paid job means my client is running the show. I often have creative input on my jobs but photographing people giving speeches and shaking hands doesn’t give me the satisfaction of going out and making great photographs.
This week the stars lined up and I got to shoot with three of my favorite models. I enjoy working with them because I know we’ll get great results and I’ve developed friendships with them over the years.
Eva was in town visiting from Germany. We’ve tried getting together for a shoot every time she’s in LA, but it’s only worked out once since she moved away a few years ago. I met Eva in July 2004. To put the history into perspective; I got my first DSLR in August of 2003. I looked back at my archives and she was the 17th model I worked with. Needless to say in the summer of 2004 I was green. Despite being a novice we got some great shots that still stand today. Since 2004 we’ve worked together a handful of times and I’ve always been happy with the results.
This week I wanted to shoot and I knew if we got together the concept for the shoot would work itself out. We ended up with some great fashion images and my style of a beauty portrait. If you call it a head shot and I take offense. I tend to think most head shots aren’t true representations of the person. Head shots are sales tools, portraits are personal. I want my photos to be true to the subject.
Eva - Santa Monica Pier - July 2007
Eva - boxer - April 2005
Eva Portrait shoot August 2011
Eva - Portrait August 2011
I also got to work with Tiffany Selby this week. We met in April 2009 after spending months trying to get together to shoot. When the day finally came it proved to be challenging. We were scheduled to start with swimsuits on the beach and then head to my place to work on fashion and portraits. We were blessed with beautiful blue skies but the temps had dropped down into the 50s. We figured since we were there we’d give it a shoot. I got my first shot off at 8:20 AM and by 8:44 we had shot two looks and were packing up. One of those shots ended up as a centerfold in a magazine.
This week we made the same plans. Start on the beach and then head to my studio (read my garage) for fashion and portraits. After our shoot she did makeup for a friend’s niece, an aspiring model.
Tiffany - El Segundo April 2009
Tiffany - beauty portrait - April 2009
Tiffany - fashion look August 2011
Tiffany - fashion swimsuit look - August 2011
I also managed to shoot with Neyla. She is in town visiting from London and, like Eva, we’ve tried to get together when she’s in LA. This week our schedules matched. I met Neyla in April 2007; at the time her name was Stephanie but that’s her story. In 2007 I shot a friend of hers who referred me to Neyla. We had a great shoot and vowed to do it again. A few months later she saved my ass. I had scheduled a shoot in Pasadena and enlisted the help of a makeup artist and a wardrobe stylist. The model flaked. A complete no-show. I didn’t want our efforts to go to waste so I called Neyla early that morning and asked her help me out. She rallied and the results were amazing. Like Eva and Tiffany the images from that day still stand.
Neyla’s trying to get a new portfolio together and when she showed me her concepts they were in-line with what I wanted to shoot. We had a great time and came away with a lot of amazing photos.
Stephanie Fashion & Portrait Shoot - May 2007
Stephanie Fashion & Portrait Shoot - Pasadena May 2007
Neyla - beauty portrait - August 2011
Neyla fashion look - Studio lighting - August 2011
Relationships make for great photos. It’s one thing to meet a perfect stranger and work together as professionals with the same goal of great photos. But when there’s history and a relationship between the model and the photographer the level of comfort and trust help to make the images even better. Add the fact that all three of these women are great models and I had a great week.
Some Models Have It….
I’ve worked with a lot of models and actors over the years. Some models have it; some think they do, but don’t. It’s always a great experience to work with someone who is really great at what they do, knowing that when I work with them the results will be amazing. In this case it was shooting with Tiffany Toth down in Laguna Beach. Tiffany and I have had the pleasure of working together on three different occasions and every time we shoot together we get the caliber of images that stand out.
Great Photography works for condos too
Once upon a time while I was still working at the investment bank I began to look into buying a house. Like a lot of people I spent part of my workday browsing the MLS and other websites looking for homes that were worth taking the time to go and see. If most people are conducting their search for a home in the same fashion, wouldn’t you want to make sure that the photos representing the listing are as inviting as possible?
A couple weeks ago I shot a condo listing for a new Real Estate Agent. We met during my presentation about Real Estate Photography at the Keller Williams Realty office in Hermosa Beach. This was the first time she had ever used a professional photographer to help market one of her listings.
In addition to my usual camera set-up for real estate photography, Canon 5D and 16-35mm lens, I took my Canon G9 which is a high-end point and shoot camera. I wanted to demonstrate not only the importance of using the right equipment for the job but to compare a professional image to one that was shot with a point and shoot camera.
The following shot was taken with my Canon 5D and lit with three flashes in addition to the sunlight behind the camera coming through the sliding glass doors.
The following shot was taken from the exact same position and lit with the on-camera flash plus the window light. Which home would you want to go visit?
