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Day 353 of 365
"Portrait 353"
Today's portrait.........well, I just love the subject. All I had to do in order for her to pose for me was to bring the ipad with me to the studio. I then taped a balloon to the wall, and set up a flashlight to shine on it. She is actually sitting on a posing stool, and didn't even fall off once!! Great parenting. The sweater is a very fancy hand-me-down. Our key light is a gridded and barn-doored strobe, very close at camera-left. There is a flag to block most of the light, just allowing a strip of light to reach our subject. There is a snooted speedlight behind our model, and it creates just a subtle spot behind her head. Lastly, there is an on-camera ringflash, used to just fill in some of the shadows. While there are several outtakes of her laughing and smiling, I went with the more composed image. Though she has brilliant blue eyes, I thought a black and white version would be interesting. She is a huge "Game of Thrones" fan. Thanks for stopping by!!
#portrait #toddler #studioportrait #girl #gameofthrones #blackandwhite #vintage #furrysweater #canon5dmarkIII #canon580exII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #grid #snoot #eyes
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story.
One of several versatile looks put forth by Model and Tattoo Artist Alë Cat. Please visit her profile on Model Mayhem at: www.modelmayhem.com/thetattooedcat
Photo Specs: Canon 1dsMarkIII- EF85mm 1.2L II USM - Paul C. Buff Einsteins (Studio Monolights) - F 2.5 - 1/200 - ISO 100 - Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 4 - Photoshop CS5
Copyright 2012 by David K. Smith of DKS Media Solutions
Website: www.dksmediasolutions.com/
Email: info@dksmediasolutions.com
ENTROPY; \ˈen-trə-pē\
1. The degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity
2. Lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.
:Chaos
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story.
This is Jared from a shoot last month. I mostly shot digital, but made sure to shoot some film.
strobist: I'm pretty sure this was my Paul C. Buff Einstein into a 45" umbrella to camera left. powered with Vagabond Mini and fired with Pocket Wizard Plus II's.
Day 281 of 365
"Wooden Bust"
The family and I spent some time in Costa Rica several years ago ( before children), and we came home with this lovely carved piece of wood. We met her in Playa del Coco. I always liked the lines of the young lady, but was not sure how to light her. Do you go with a small light source and create hard shadows, or a large source and create quick falloff? In the end, I went with the middle choice. I used a strip light at camera-left, and used a piece of foamcore at camera-right, about a foot from our model. It creates just a bit of fill light on her side, and separates her from the background. While I do enjoy using multiple lights, sometimes one light is enough. Simple, but to the points!! Thanks for dropping in.
#CostaRica #WoodCarving #Wood #Sculpture #Bust #Woman #Blackandwhite #Anatomy #Canon5DMark2 #PaulCBuffInc #PaulCBuffEinstein #PocketWizards #Canon100Macro #StripBank #PlayaDelCoco
Sent from my iPhone
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story. Mara characer played by Tara Platt.
Day 154 of 365
"Somebody Spiked the Punch"
As I mentioned just yesterday, I was not finished with ferrofluid. After taking my own advice and putting on gloves, I had to venture again into the strange world of ferrofluid. What you are looking at here is a small amount of ferrofluid on the underside of a petri dish. By using the underside I am able to keep the dish out of the camera's view. Since you asked about the behavior of ferrofluid (nobody asked any such question), I'll offer a couple of lessons. The closer the fluid is to the magnet, the smaller the spikes and valleys. Therefore, I had to place smaller magnets between the petri dish and magnet. As you hold the dish of fluid above the magnet, it starts to come to life, and that is when the large spikes appear. As for the light, there is a strip box directly overhead......and I mean directly. It is just out of the vision of the lens. I wanted the light to smother the spikes in softness. At the last moment I decided to throw a speedlight on to the white background, just to offer a subtle gradient at the bottom. While the black background version is sexy....I thought this was more interesting. The substance is addictive.........and stains everything!!! Thanks for stopping in!!
#ferrofluid #spikes #macro #canon5dmarkIII #canon100mm #canon580exII #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #pocketwizard #liquid
Day 162 of an Unknown Number
"Care to Dance?"
This is Paul. Paul knows muay thai. Paul really knows muay thai. Many years ago, Paul taught me to swing dance. We were never dance partners, but he taught me everything I know. I had not seen Paul in person for about........20 years? That's possible. A long time ago, we were part of the swing dance scene at The Derby in Los Angeles. It was before "Swingers" (though it took place all around us), before the "Zootsuit Riot" video, and before the Squirrel Nut Zippers became popular. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy exploded on the scene during my time there, and that was a phenomenon. It was an amazing time, and I am grateful that I was a part of it. Anyway, Paul is a trainer at Echo Park Boxing, and I shot some images for him. This portrait is a three-light setup. Our key is a gridded beauty dish, just in front of and above Paul. Our second light is a strip bank at camera-right. It delivers that edge light along his cheek. Lastly, there is a gelled speedlight with a grid on the background. I wanted to create a little halo behind our subject. If there had been more time, I would have used a ring flash to get a little sparkle in his eyes. However, given the intensity of the portrait, it probably works without it. Thanks for swinging by!! Too easy.
#portrait #echoparkboxing #muaythai #gym #echopark #losangeles #swingers #swingdancing #derby #canon5dmarkIII #canon24105 #canon580exII #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #enviornmentalportrait #martialarts
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story. Thacher character played by Yuri Lowenthal.
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story.
Day 121 of 365
"Art With a Fork In It"
What does one do when one has absolutely no idea what to photograph? Put a geode into a pool of water, and............realize it was a stupid, desperate idea. Then you remember you have those conical magnets that make a funny sound when they come together!!! Then you spot a CD on the ground....and a tiny fork!!! Then you realize you are a genius!!!!! Actually, you just realize you are desperate, and you now have magnets, an old CD, and a tiny fork. So, you go with it. One strip bank on each side of the show, tilted slightly until each reflects a fun rainbow of colors. Thanks for looking the spectrum of my work!!
#cdreflection #desperatetimes #tinyfork #fork #funwithmagnets #magnets #reflection #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #stripbank
Day 67 of an Unknown Number
"Portrait of a Pfill"
With my recently acquisition of a herniated disk, I thought I should profile one of my aids in recovery. This little pill supposedly helps with nerve pain, though I cannot state without questio that it helps. With that said, I guess I'll keep taking it. By the way, go and buy a TENS unit. That thing is a blast! Who doesn't love electrocuting themselves and watching their body twerk on its own? As for the shoot, this is my new portrait lighting setup. Our key light is a gridded strobe, very close at camera-left. I decided to place some diffusion in front of it, just to make the light source larger. It initially caused a specular highlight that I did not approve of. Next, there is a strip light at camera-right, behind our subject. It delivers the subtle edge of light. Frankly, it reads better on the human face. Lastly, there is another strip light at camera-left. Its performance is more subtle, as it is on the same side as the key light. I believe I will photograph myself tomorrow with the same lighting. It may be harder to look at, but the intention of the lighting will be more clear. Thanks for dropping in!!
#pill #lyrica #capsule #macro #pharmacy #pfizer #medicine #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #striplight #portrait #pin
Day 318
"That Neighbor"
We all have or had a neighbor like Mrs. Nitz. She's always making sure the neighborhood kids don't walk on her grass, keeps the ball if it falls in her yard, she knocks on the door if things are a little too loud, and she doesn't like people in general. I digress. I am currently working for a company which manufactures all sorts of metal pipes, filters and widgets. I've almost finished the job, and the sulfur and green powder are two of the last products to shoot. I thought this should be the final image I present to the client. Good idea? I used my trusty Light Blaster to project an image of a farm house on the white background, though because of the macro lens, it is rather blurry. My key light was initially a tightly snooted speedlight, directly above our farm maiden. When I realized that the Light Blaster was leaking light on to Mrs. Nitz.....I liked the light, and went with it. With the yellow background and the sulphur, the image sort of painted itself. It had the warm, afternoon summer tones I was going for......and it was all lit with one light. Oh, her wooden platform is a tongue depressor. I admit, I do respect her attention to detail. Thanks for sweeping through!!
#sweep #sulfur #powder #holipowder #farm #farmhand #summer #sunlight #lightblaster #figurine #miniature #tonguedepressor #doll #hills #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #farmscene
Day 165 of 365
"Imagine This"
Only 200 images to go! So, my wife saw her ophthalmologist today, and it was suggested that she try some daily contacts. Upon showing me this diminutive time machine/iron maiden, I knew I had my subject for today's posting. But how to light the little doohickie? For some unknown reason I knew I was going to snoot a green-gelled speedlight at the background. I have no idea. As for the contraption itself, I stuck a strip bank directly overhead, and shot into my shiny, black tile beheath the.....thing. The horizon line vanished nicely, as the tile simply reflects the background. Lastly, the nut-like thing at the bottom was very dark, so I had to do something to bring up the exposure. On the last frame, I hit the screw with a focused flashlight, and composited it into the image of the widget and background. Ta-dah......? Thanks for saline by!!!!
#contactlenses #contactcleaningthing #timemachine #ironmaiden #whatdotheycallthis #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #canon580exII #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #stripbank #
Here is the second of the two dirt portraits I recently shot. So, there is a strip bank (a long, rectangular light modifier) at camera-left, wrapping around just enough to light the left eye. There is a snooted speedlight behind me, bringing up just a little exposure on the black seamless background (you can see it over the camera-right shoulder). In my hands is a piece of foamcore, and it is covered in dirt. With the camera remote in my hand, I tossed the dirt up, and triggered the camera. I like the bit of dust at the bottom, and the fact that some of the dirt is still in focus. This is one of the two I selected. Thanks for stopping in!! #dirt #dirtface #portrait #manportrait #soil #dust #yousillytwit #canon5dmarkIII #stripbank #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #mudmask #pocketwizard
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story.
Day 31 of an Unknown Number
"Gillian"
My friend recently reached out to me, informing me that this week was the first anniversary of her breast cancer diagnosis. She has fought back, and has an incredibly upbeat attitude about the whole thing. Take it from a guy who does not always have the most positive attitude.......optimism can go a long way......or so I'm told. When I asked Gillian if she minded if I revealed her medical condition, she responded, "Use any words you want; 'single mastectomy', 'one stripper breast', 'cancer', 'lover of dogs.'" Now that's the right attitude to take! Back to our photograph! Directly above Gillian's head is a large diffused umbrella. It lights her hair, shoulders, and our background canvas. Her key light is a medium Octa bank at camera-left, at the classic 45/45 angle. At camera-right is a piece of white foamcore, used to fill in the shadows. In post, I went back-and-forth as to whether or not I would go black and white. In the end, I did, and I'm pretty happy. I think Gillian said it best when seeing the portrait. She told me, "That is a beautiful photo of me....I teared up. That is how I look in my head!" Believe me, I didn't include the quote in order to pat myself on the back. I am simply so happy that I was able to assist in creating a portrait which moved the client. That's my job, right? Damn, her response got me choked up. To be honest, I just set up the lights, and took the photograph. She did the rest. Gillian, you are awesome, and thanks for sharing your story with me. To my other friend who is dealing with the same diagnosis at this very moment....I wish you the best. She is having her procedure today. I will be posting her before and after images in the coming weeks. Thanks for stopping in. By the way, we shot this portrait without telling her husband. This is probably a surprise. Surprise!
#breastcancer #cancer #cancersucks #chemotherapy #portrait #studioportrait #canon5dmarkIII #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #octabox #pocketwizard #blackandwhite #survivor #canceralsoblows #disney
Day 295 of 365
"Portraits 295"
I see this Bougainvillea plant every day at my daughter's school. Sure, it is pretty, but how does one do anything unique with the little guy? I imagined the flower would look pretty sexy against a black background....but then thought I should try it against a white background. Finally, I decided to go with both. I thought I would attempt to do something in-camera that looks as though it was done in post. So, could I create two different backgrounds in-camera? With the white background pulled down, I then placed a piece of black board behind the camera-left flower, close enough that the light working on the white background would not leak on to the black board. There is a medium-sized softbox at camera-left, and it is just inches away from that flower. By only using one light on both flowers, this was also a demonstration of the Inverse Square Law. That is to say, by having the light source so close to the camera-left flower, the light falloff is abrupt, leaving the camera-right flower considerably darker in exposure. However, by placing it against the brightly exposed white background (lit with a Paul C. Buff Einstein strobe), the flower is lit from behind. So, even though the camera-right flower is darker, it has a similar level of contrast, being against the bright background. The only post work performed was extending the stem of the camera-right flower. It was a bit lower than the other, so I wanted to raise it a bit. I could imagine this concept with two people of different skin tones. Hmmmmm. Thanks for stopping by!!
#blackandwhite #flower #bougainvillea #pinkflower #bloom #contrast #pink #ebonyandivory #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #pocketwizard #plant #flowers
Day 38 of an Undetermined Number
"Forcepped Smile"
My first photograph loaded to and uploaded with my laptop!!! They said it couldn't be done. So, we had some odd jobs around the house to do, so I bought a soldering kit. In order to see what I was/would be doing, I purchased a helping-hands magnifier. Naturally I soon realized that the little hands could hold one's mouth open, and that the magnifying glass might make for an interesting visual element. With no willing victim...volunteer, I was forced to be my own guinea pig. I used my new Mountdog pop-up ring flash as my key light, and it is powered by a Paul C. Buff Einstein. I have a snooted Canon 580EX II at camera-left, and it is my second key. Actually, the ring flash is used to fill in the shadows of the 580, but because of the close proximity of the camera, it became the key. There is a strip bank over my left shoulder, and it offers a little edge light. Lastly, there is a second speedlight aimed very low on the white seamless behind me to create the gradient. There are black flags on both sides of me, preventing any ambient light from brightening up my cheeks. I used a wider lens than normal, just to add that additional element of discomfort. Well....that's the story. Thanks for stopping by!!!
#portrait #man #studio #forceps #magnifyingglass #smile #canon5dmarkIII #canon24105 #paulcbuffeinstein #paulcbuffinc #canon580exII #ringflash #mountdog
Clearly Farmers Francois and Martha did not see this coming. Well, they are about to have a little more iron in their diet!!! So, I was about to shoot another image with my miniature friends, when I saw this glass with iron filings in it. The small filings in the front resembled plants or vegetables, and those directly over the magnet resembled a monster. What was I to do? I stuck a bare strobe directly overhead, and shot away. Shooting with my 100 macro lens, the background creature went completely out of focus, so I went with a smaller aperture, and partially brought it into focus. Very simple lighting in accord with some fun textures. As for the strange striations in the image, I attribute it to the imperfections in the glass. Thanks for sticking around to read this!! #farmers #miniature #ironfilings #monster #magnets #magnetic #blackhole #lookout #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story.
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story.
Jared and I met up to shoot some portraits. While we were shooting, I made sure to shoot some film, and with the Hasselblad I only made 2 frames. One Polaroid, and one real frame. I gave Jared the polaroid, and knew that this frame came out solid! I love this one! I can really dive into it!
strobist: Paul C. Buff Einstein into 22" socked beauty dish to camera left. Powered by Vagabond Mini and fired with Pocket Wizard Plus II's.
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story.
This was one of the first serious frames I made with my new Nikon F100. I ran a cheap roll of Rite Aid film through it in a day to see if it works, and it does, so I bought some Fuji Slide film! I love that camera, and I love shooting film! I'm glad I finally invested in a good scanner!
strobist: Paul C. Buff Einstein into 22" socked beauty dish to camera left. powered with a Vagabond Mini and fired with pocket wizard Plus II's.
Day 358 of 365
"Ben"
Today's subject arrived on my doorstep this evening. Not only is Ben a fantastic singer.......but I also call him a friend. Ben and Elana dropped by to give our kids some hand-me-downs, and I grabbed Ben for a very quick portrait. I already had the look in mind, so lighting only took a couple of minutes. I shot some of the images for Ben's previous promo package, and I had a new look in mind for today's mini shoot. I planned to keep it simple. He's got this great hair going, and I thought it would look great in silhouette, against a blown-out background. I then thought that snooting his eyes alone would be the final touch on the portrait. We shot about ten exposures, and this was my favorite. Once I heard the baby crying....I knew the shoot was over. Thanks for dropping by!
#portrait #benjamindaniel #singer #canon580exII #canon5dmarkIII #tamron70-200 #studioportrait #musician #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #silhouette #blackandwhite
Choreographer & Dancer Kash Munbodh lives by rhythm and music. Please see his port at: www.facebook.com/kashstep - Copyright 2011 by David K. Smith of DKS Media Solutions - Website: www.dksmediasolutions.com/ - Email: info@dksmediasolutions.com
Day 199 of an Unknown Number
"My Inferiority is Complex"
I believe I came up with the image's title before I thought of the image. I stuck a grid on a strobe, and played for the next thirty minutes in order to place the light in the correct spot. When working for a hard shadow (and shadows in general), there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First of all, a hard shadow requires some distance between the light and the subject. Also, a small light source is required, as one does not want the light to wrap around the subject, resulting in a soft shadow. However, given that my studio is approximately the size of a garage, I could only push the light back so far. In addition, the angle at which the light hits the subjects will dictate the the distortion of the shadow. While a more angled light location helped in separation between the subject and the shadow, it also results in a stretched appearance. As you may have guessed, this is a blending of two exposures. I made a point to maintain the same location, as I wanted the original shadow and the laughing shadow to remain consistent. In post, I simply had to swap out the heads. The grid on the strobe created the vignetted effect in the corners. Thanks for stopping by!!
#portrait #man #sad #sadman #silhouette #shadow #laughingshadow #studio #studioportrait #canon5dmarkIII #canon24105 #pocketwizard #paulcbuffeinstein #grid #paulcbuffinc #selfesteem #inferioritycomplex
Day 37 of an Unknown Number
"Image 37"
Today's image was a lesson in selecting a perspective. I decided I would photograph an onion skin I had stashed away for a future shoot. The only problem was, I had no idea how to approach the shoot. Should I shoot vertically or horizontally? Should I shoot the inner or outer side? What lens should I use? After some experimenting, I nixed the "shooting into a bowl" perspective, and walked around to the side of the skin. Much more interesting! That is to say, I think it was. Not only did I like the lines of the skin from this angle, but I also got to play with how our subject is perceived. What do I mean? Well, we are actually looking into the bowl of the skin, but from the side angle. Because of the way the human eye works, one might assume we are looking at the outer edge of the skin, and not the receding area of the skin. Because we perceive brighter things as being closer to the eye, our perspective is fooled a bit. The fact is, the far edge of the skin is brightly lit, whereas the near edge is almost in shadow. In reality, we are not seeing the outer edge of the skin at all, but our eye sees shadow, and therefore assumes it is the back edge of the skin. Make sense? In regards to the lighting.....you are looking at it! There is a strip box above the piece of black Plexiglass, and I changed the angle of the light until it made me happy. If I rotated the light a few inches either way, the onion skin would be floating in blackness. Are you still looking at it? Excellent. Thanks for stopping in!!
#onion #onionskin #skin #cells #macro #red #lines #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #plexiglass #vegetable #foodphotography #perspective #paulcbuffeinstein #paulcbuffinc #pocketwizard
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story.
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story. Mara characer played by Tara Platt.
Day 311 of 365
"Eye to Eye...to Eye.....to Eye....to Eye...."
Yes, I may have used my macro extension tube for this portrait. The initial concept for today's image was to freeze our young subject with a blast of canned air. If inverted, canned air becomes a freezer-in-a-can. Good times!!! Unfortunately, once frozen, our Musca domestica was unrecognizable. So, I went with the thawed version today. We used three strobes for this one. There is a softbox at camera-right, one at camera-left, and a ringflash on top of the camera. I really wanted to make sure to light all the intricate parts of the diptera's visage. Who knew there were so many parts to the face of a cyclorrhapha?!!! I attempted to focus stack several layers of our friend, but even the computer could not tell where on whisker stopped, and another began. Therefore, I only used two layers. The second one only defined the outer edge of the eyeballs. I have no idea why people are so disgusted by these things!! Thanks for flying by!!
#fly #housefly #disgusting #proboscis #insect #macrophotography #macro #closeup #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffeinstein #paulcbuffinc #rayflash #ringflash #pocketwizard #canon
Day 253 of 365
"Victory for Mankind"
I'm not saying that the electric fly swatter is the greatest thing since sliced bread.......but I've never witnessed a piece of bread kill and cook a fly at the same time. We shall let history decide. We have occasional periods of massive fly infestations, and we still don't understand why. I have carnivorous plants, we've used fly paper, spray, fly bags, I've fixed the screen, I've taped every hole to the outside world....but the flies continue to invade our home. So, I just discovered the electric fly swatter, and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that it has changed my life. Ironically, there is not a single fly in the house, but I'm sure that will change in the near future. I should certainly digress. The lighting was accomplished with three strobes. I used my trusty Light Blaster to project an image of a bull's eye target on the white seamless background. Next, I positioned a speedlight with a purple gel behind and beneath the swatter. It is the complementary color to the foul yellow color of the swatter, so I thought they would work nicely together. Lastly, I tightly snooted a speedlight to light just the company's name. Very lastly, heed the warning on the tag....this is NOT a toy. Assuming the device used just enough zapping power to down a housefly, I had to play the role of human guinea pig and test it for myself. Have you ever smelled the odor of burning human flesh? Ok, it did not hit that hard.........but it hurt. Please be warned. Thanks for buzzing by!!
#flyswatter #bug #fly #housefly #electrocution #productphotography #bugzapper #deadfly #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #canon580exII #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #lightblaster
Day 172 of an Unknown Number
"Price of a Snack"
Unfortunately, I found today's model under our recycling bin. He or she had clearly been there for some time, and apparently had been caught off-guard during a meal. My apologies. The question is, what in the hell was our subject eating? It looks like an enormous snack!! I mean, he/she was partaking in a Fred Flintstone-sized tidbit!! I digest. Our key light was a strip bank at camera-left. Then a second strip was brought in on the camera-right side, just to fill in some shadows. I originally shot this with a ringflash, but did not care for the reflection. He/she was reclining on a piece of white Plexiglass. Thanks for stopping by for a morsel!!
#lizard #fredflintstone #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #foodphotography #animal #dragon #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #stripbank #studio #portrait #petrified
Yay!!!! Today is a milestone....about one-third of the way through the year!!! I hope I can think of a few more concepts. Anywho, someone was force......volunteered for a portrait sitting. Technically, she IS strapped into her chair, so she really had no say in the matter. With that said, she was smiling and laughing through the entire shoot. So why did I select this image? Because it was the vision I had before the shoot. The song, "Tears of a Clown" came to mind. Our key light is a gridded beauty dish, right down the center. Then my patented (no patent) strip lights are working both sides from behind. I love the rim lights on her chubby cheeks. She was an awesome participant today!! Thanks for hopping by!
#bunnyears #rabbitears #babyportrait #portrait #baby #girl #studio #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #striplights #boosterseat
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story. Mara characer played by Tara Platt.
Day 10 of an Unknown Number
"Image 10"
Today's image was a spec project. I was asked by a potential client if I could shoot a product in a style similar to their sample image. Though I was not paid for it, the shoot took about five minutes. Also, it gave me a reason to shoot something in the studio. We both win!! The sample images supplied all showed products with hard, crisp shadows on white paper. That made the assignment relatively easy to recreate. That is because hard shadows mean.....small light sources!! All I had to do was to position the key light at the "correct" distance to create the quality of shadow I desired. So, I placed a snooted (without grids) speedlight about four or five feet at camera-left, and it created the lovely shadow. If I had brought the light any closer, the shadow would have soft edges, and that was not the assignment. With that said, given the small size of the light source, I knew it would leave unattractive specular highlights on the glass. Specular highlights are simply the direct reflection of the light itself on the subject. I don't know about you, but I don't care for tiny dots of light in my images. Therefore, at the last minute, I brought in a strobe with a long strip light, and moved it in very closely on the same axis as the original speedlight. It delivers that fun swish of light at the bottom of the neck of the bottle. Had I had more time to play around with it, I would have brought the light directly next to the bottle, and it would have supplied a nice, even highlight along the entire bottle. Again, I was not being paid, and......nobody cares, aside from myself. In post, all I had to do was to mask out the bottle from the first image, but use the lovely, sharp shadow. Start to finish, the project probably took about twenty minutes.....but don't tell your client that. Thanks for stopping by for a drink!!
#skyy #vodka #alcohol #foodphotography #drinkphotography #bottle #blue #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #canon580exII #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #pocketwizard #stripbank #drink
Day 44 of and Undetermined Number
"Image 44"
Today I shot in the Los Angeles CNN building!! They don't shoot any programs there, so it was not very exciting. I imagined touching Wolf Blitzer's beard. Is that strange? Anyway I had the pleasure of working with Mike. He is a criminal defense attorney. The moment we met, I could tell that Mike had his own style. He is a cross between Don Draper and Laurence Olivier. After shooting our "safe" headshots, we shot a few different looks in his office. Mike wanted a strong, serious look in addition to the softer headshots, so I used a speedlight in a medium softbox. To be specific, I used a Canon 580EX II inside of a Lastolite Ezybox Softbox. I exposed for the grey, raining Hollywood sky, and used the softbox to light Mike. Because the softbox was relatively small, I needed a second strobe to bring up the general exposure in the room. At camera-left there is a Paul C. Buff Einstein strobe with no diffusion, bouncing light into the wall and ceiling. It just fills in the shadows, and brings up the shadow on Mike's right cheek. After moving the lights a few times (in order to avoid reflections), we came away with this image. I tweaked it a bit in post, adding a retro, Polaroid look. Thanks for stopping by!!
#DefenseLawyer #Hollywood #Portrait #Lawyer #LawFirm #DonDraper #LawrenceOlivier #Canon5DMarkIII #Canon24105 #Canon580EX2 #PocketWizard #PaulCBuffEinstein #Paulcbuff #Lastolite #ezybox #cavalluzzi #CNN
Day 260 of 365
"Spoon Bending"
Any Uri Geller fans out there?!!!!! No? Alrighty, then. I was writing a potential client about photographing flatware, suggesting that we shoot against a black background, and not white. Because we typically define metal with the use of highlights, shooting on a light background can result in overexposed backgrounds. So, I thought I'd put my lighting where my mouth was......? I first placed a piece of plexiglass on top of a piece of black felt. This provided a shiny black surface on which to photograph my spoons. I then lowered a medium Octa almost straight down upon the spoons. An Octa is an eight-sided box of light. This large light source is literally a couple of inches above the spoons. This was done to fill as much of the reflection surfaces with the light. Because I was shooting with a 100 macro lens, my field of view is very small. Though the background is simply a piece of plexiglass on a top of a piece of black material, it is the direct reflection of the light that becomes our background. Without that direct reflection, the surface would truly be black....but then the lighting would most likely be very specular and uninteresting. If the camera were lowered a bit, one could see the end of the glass, and it would fade to black. Though the gradient was sort of cool, I decided to keep the surface consistent. I initially focused on the foreground tip of the spoon, but then everything behind the tip was completely out of focus. I then decided that the bend in the spoon was more interesting. I added the two additional spoons at the last moment, just for some symmetry. Thanks for dropping in!!
#spoons #silverware #flatware #reflection #tabletopphotography #productphotography #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #pocketwizard #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #octabank
Day 277 of 365
"Who Shall I Be Today?: An Ode to 'Westworld'"
My Body Kun DX Set (Gray Color Ver.) finally arrived!!! I know....it IS exciting. The little articulated action figure is used by artists to render specific poses. He comes with a gun, sword, and a laptop. The laptop is very imposing. Sure, he can shoot you or cut you up.......but he can also destroy your online credit. I have named him Super Choppy Martial Arts Credit Killer Man. As for the lighting......we have only one light working. It is a strip bank at camera-left, and it is aimed well in front of him, thereby allowing most of the light to pass Mr. Super Choppy Martial Arts Credit Killer Man. I wanted to show off his physique, and this lighting allowed his muscles to really show through. I used a piece of foamcore directly opposite the light, and it delivers that sliver of an edge light at camera-right. When I got him against the black background, I thought of the storage facility on HBO's "Westworld", where they keep the decommissioned robots. I am planning more scenarios with Mr. Man in the future. Thanks for chopping by!
#bodykun #figurine #actionfigure #martialarts #killer #geico #model #man #studio #portrait #westworld #dynamic #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #striplight #blackandwhite #pocketwizard
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story. Mara characer played by Tara Platt.
Unit Stills and Promotional Photography for the Crystal Crypt. A sci-fi indie short film directed by Shahab Zargari and based on the Philip K. Dick short story.
Day 223 of 365
"Women"
My sister and niece have moved to Los Angeles from Germany!! Their friends visited us before heading off to Vegas, and we took a moment to shoot a portrait. Our key light is a large diffused umbrella at camera-left. I would have used my large softbox, but I was too lazy to assemble the thing. There is a bare beauty dish behind our subjects at camera-right. If gives the edge light, and a subtle separation from the grey background. Lastly, there is a ring flash on-camera, just filling in the shadows created by the key light. I cooled things down a tad in post, as I felt it contributed to the bad-ass attitude of these women. Thanks for stopping in!!
#portrait #studio #women #girls #canon5dmarkIII #pocketwizards #canon24105 #paulcubbinc #paulcbuffeinstein #umbrella #beautydish #germanyinthehouse #edgelight
Day 328 of 365
"Balls and Bokeh"
Tinkering yet again with some of the products from an ongoing job, I am working on showing the scale of the company's products. These are the larger ball bearings used as a coating for some of their metal tubing. As I understand, some of these little guys were attached to the Mars Rover. I had envisioned a bouncing wall of these tiny spheres, but timing it was near impossible. I could have used my Mumford Time Machine to trigger the shutter off of the sound of the balls hitting the Plexiglass, but that is a whole production. I also didn't want thousands of tiny balls on the floor. Yes, one can slip on a few of these things. So, I focused on the tip of this pen, and corralled a few of the balls around the pen tip. As I dropped a pinch of them on the glass, one little guy managed to hide in the nib hole. Since I've been having so much fun with it, I attached my macro extension tube to my 100mm macro lens, and focused on the tip of the pen. Because the depth of field is so small, everything outside of that field blurs rather quickly. Despite what one might believe, I performed no post work on the image. The bokeh (the dreamy appearance of the out of focus balls) is natural, and works nicely with the reflection in the Plexiglass. Our key light is a strip box, very close at camera-left. One can see the white highlight in the edge of the tip of the pen. The second light is a bare speedlight, and it is bouncing off of a white seamless behind the piece of Plexiglass upon which the pen lies. I gelled the speedlight with a purple gel, and because the glass is simply reflecting the paper, the glass appears to be purple. The slight gradient from top to bottom is the result of the light illuminating the lower part of the paper, and the light dissipating as it reaches higher on the paper. Thanks for dropping in!!
#balls #ballbearings #marsrover #pen #macrophotography #depthoffield #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #macro #plexiglass #gels #purple #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #stripbox #pocketwizard
Day 322 of 365
"Image 322"
I was playing the mandolin this evening, and..............oh, that's not exactly true. Actually, I was using a mandoline while preparing dinner. If you don't have a madoline, go on the internet and buy one now!!! Not only are the good ones rather expensive, but they ALSO are extremely sharp, and you are likely to cut yourself just taking it out of the box. You can get one now at Williams Sonoma that used to be $313, and now it is going for a cool $249.95!! Reasons enough? Calm down. So, I was preparing dinner, I wanted matchstick potatoes.....but it gave me ruffle....things. I decided to make lemonade out of potatoes, and saved a slice for today's posting. I shot two different images, and went with the first. I have a new, sexy black piece of Plexiglass, and it seemed appropriate for my abstract potato portrait. Our key light is a strip bank at camera-left, and it is feathered towards the camera in order to prevent the light from leaking on to the white background. Why did I use a white seamless background for this image? Well, I'm still working on another job that uses a white seamless, and I was too lazy to swap it out for a black one. Fortunately for me, assuming you don't throw light on to an object, it will appear......................black, that's right!!! My second light is a snooted speedlight, and it is directly above our spud stud. It delivers the glow. I had one piece of my macro extension tube on my macro lens, and focused on the near edge of the tuber. Thanks for popping in!! As-salanumʿalaykum!!
#potato #chip #potatochip #mandolin #mandolinslicer #abstract #macrophotography #macroextensiontube #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #stripbox #plexiglass #spud #tater #vegetable