View allAll Photos Tagged paulcbuffeinstein
Playing at some portraiture.
Strobist: Two Paul C Buff Einsteins. Key light just off frame camera left with small gridded softbox. Highlight camera right and slightly back of subject with 51 inch white PLM umbrella
Day 262 of 365
"White Crane Spreads Its Wings"
Yes, I stol.......borrowed this "Avatar" toy from my kid's school today. I actually asked her teacher, and she did not want to know why I wanted to borrow it. Once I saw the figure's stance, I immediately reflected back to my tà ijÃquán days. I practiced Yang style for about 16 years. Now that I have two small children, I believe I need it more than ever. With that being said.......the lighting. I initially tried lighting our Na'vi friend with small lights, but quickly realized that because of his translucence, there were too many specular highlights. So, I moved in with a small softbox at camera-left. I am using just the back edge of the light so the light will "wrap" around our little friend. I used a large piece of foamcore at camera-right to bounce some of the light on to his left side. Lastly, I loaded a slide of the Earth and another of an orange swirly thing into my Light Blaster, and projected them on to the white background. I still don't understand how they lit these guys on another planet, but my friend, Mark, was the still photographer on the film. Check out Mark's work (markfellmanphotography.com), and his Instagram account. Thanks for stopping in!
#avatar #navi #earth #taiji #martialarts #whitecranespeadsitswings #taichi #scifi #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #lightblaster #yangstyle #yang #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein
Day 206 of 365
"Sometimes I Just Commit to a Crappy Idea"
I had the greatest idea for today's image......but it was a terrible idea. In a near panic, I found this doll and her.....friend...? In my defense, the lighting would have worked nicely with a human model.......oh..........but, maybe without her friend. There is a strip box at camera-left, and the young lady is standing near the back edge of the light. You can tell this by the location of her shadow. Because the key light is rather close to her, there was quite a bit of falloff on her left cheek. To remedy this and the darker edge of her fecal friend, I positioned a piece of foamcore, just out of frame at camera-right. One can see the reflection in the poo's left cheek. There is a second snooted strobe working on the canvas background. I'm pretty sure Vermeer would be in awe. Please feel free to comment with your own title for the portrait. Thanks for plopping by!!
#vermeer #poo #poop #feces #portrait #girl #studioportrait #canon5dmarkIII #canon580exII #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #canvasbackground #softbox #dutchmasters
Day 15 of an Unknown Number
"Dave"
I call this portrait "Dave", because that is his name. I've known Dave for most of my life, but we only recently reconnected via social media. He now lives ten minutes away. When we were kids, we used to pick and stomp grapes in Napa Valley. Not as child laborers. Our families would help with the second picking of a nice little vineyard, and in exchange, we would take a few grapes home with us. I still have a few bottles of "Red Monk", circa 1985. It is probably swill. We called it "Red Monk" because I was wearing my Stanford sweater at the time. So, I had been experimenting earlier today with a lighting set up for a male portrait. When I heard Dave would be stopping by, I thought he might be game for posing for a few minutes. Dave was game. Our key light is a strobe with a silver dish and a grid. I just wanted to light the side of his face, and maybe get a touch of light into his camera-right eye. Our second light is a snooted speedlight directly behind Dave. It supplies the hair light, and just separates him from the background. I didn't want his hair to vanish into the darkness. He has a great head of hair, and no man our age wants to lose it in the shadows. Lastly, there is a bare speedlight at camera-right. It is aimed into the white wall and just delivers a pinch of light on the camera-right side of his face. I wanted it dark over there, but I want to viewer to look at that side of the frame. A rim light could have been cool, but I wanted something a little more subtle. We took about eight exposures, and this was my favorite. In the last one, he's smiling and looking into the light. I'm sure some people would prefer that image, but this one spoke to me. Thank for stopping in!!
#portrait #man #studioportrait #dave #blackandwhite #fourstarlife #canon580exII #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #beard
Day 282 of 365
"A Rotten Subject"
I had a vision today! Actually, I was just composting a banana peel when I realized that in 281 days, I had still not photographed our compost bowl!! Well....here we are. I knew I wanted to shoot directly from above, so I gingerly placed our subject on the ground. When I noticed the crack in the concrete, I realized it would make the image. Without the crack, it is just a portrait of a bowl of rotting fruit and vegetables. Let's be honest. As for the lighting, I went with two sources. There is a smallish sotbox, and it is at camera-left, but is placed very close to our subject. By being so close to our fruit and veggies, it actually is a large light source. Because it is a relatively large source, there was quite a bit of falloff, and the camera-right side of the frame went quite dark. To combat that, there is a piece of foamcore, the reflection of which can be seen in the rim of the bowl. To fill in the shadows from above, there is a ring flash on the camera, and it gets some photons into the darker crevices in the bowl. How about that crack?!! Thanks for dropping in!!
#stilllife #fruit #veggies #foodphotography #crack #concrete #fruitbowl #dutch #rotten #rotting #foodgonebad #canon5dmarkIII #canon24105 #canon580exII #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #pocketwizard #rayflash #ringflash
Day 247 of 365
"Portrait 247"
So, you know when you open your compost bin, and the top layer of sludge undulates? Well........that's our model for the day!!!! I believe he/she is the larva of the soldier fly. Whatever it is, it looks prehistoric, and does not smell very good. I used two strip boxes for the shoot, one at nine o'clock, and the other at about 10.30 o'clock. I then used a bounce board at three o'clock to.....bounce some of the light back on to our subject. I clutted about ten of our model's friends or family members, but he/she clearly shined and just craved the spotlight. So, I got down to eye (perhaps anus) level, and started shooting. I used my 100 macro lens so I could get in close, and for some dramatic shallow depth of field. He/she was clearly a pro, and the shoot was over before we knew it. You never know how something so ugly at a distance can appear..........so ugly up close. Thanks, larva!!! And thank YOU for dropping by!!
#larva #larvae #worm #worms #nasty #crawl #slither #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #stripbox #macro #upclose #nature #fly #soldierfly #
Day 331 of 365
"Portrait 331"
Quickly! When was the last time you used one? What......you don't own one? Just think of all the thing you can do with it!!!! Well, you are missing out. Have you ever had a day when you simply could not come up with a concept? Not me!!! Actually, today I had NO idea what I would be photographing. Also, I only had a few minutes to find something, shoot it, and resize the image for posting. My sister and niece took the little one for a walk, so I had to work quickly. I was pondering what to eat for dinner, spotted the egg slicer, and I had a vision!!!! To be honest, I had no idea how to approach the egg slicer. Sure, it is naturally a sexy subject, but how does one light it? I was working against time, so I snooted a speedlight, centered it on the white (yes, white) paper behind the slicer, and then pondered how to light the slicer itself. I first put a dish on my Paul C. Buff Einstein, but the light was too harsh. I then stuck a strip bank on it, and the light turned to butter!!! No more harsh light on the yellow plastic part, and Bob's your uncle!! In post, I simply boosted the saturation a bit, and that was it. I was quite happy with how the white background went blue. Insert sound of kissing all your finger tips at once. Thanks for cutting through.
#egg #eggslicer #slicer #blade #cut #culinary #foodpreparation #foodphotography #food #edible #studio #canon5dmarkIII #canon580exII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #striplight #stripbank #pocketwizard
Playing at some portraiture.
Strobist: Two Paul C Buff Einsteins. Key light just off frame camera left with small gridded softbox. Highlight camera right and slightly back of subject with 51 inch white PLM umbrella
This is my good friend, Hawaii. I took him to a new spot to shoot a skate photo.... After we got it, I explained that I wasn't done with him and I wanted to snap some portraits in hopes of finishing a roll of film. I started with a hassel-roid to make sure my lighting/exposure was correct, and then finished my roll of Kodak TMAX in the 'blad.
I don't always keep the hasselroids, because the real frame will look the same, but I liked this one. I've never really shot a strobist portrait @ Æ’2.8 through the hassey, and I just love the bokeh!
strobist: Paul C. Buff Einstein into 22" socked beauty dish to camera right. Powered by a Vagabond Mini and fired with Pocket Wizard Plus II's.
A couple of weekends ago, Ceirra and I went out for a little drive down Highway 1 until we saw a nice little park to walk through. Now there was a sign that said dogs weren't allowed, but we saw a few other people walking their dogs, so we went right ahead.
I decided to only bring a Hasselblad 500c/m with me around my neck, but only managed to fire one frame (which I over-exposed a little...). On our way back an old man got excited and called out "Hasselblad!" We were both pretty stoked, but kept walking right by each other...
When we got back to the car I was realllllyyyyy itching to use my new Paul C. Buff Einstein strobe! Cierra regretfully agreed to be my model for only 3 frames, so I setup, metered, and fired 3 shots. This lovely portrait was somewhere in there......
strobist: Einstein with 22" socked beauty dish to camera right. powered by Vagabond Mini. Fired with a Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 on camera with a Plus II on the strobe.
Playing at some portraiture.
Strobist: Two Paul C Buff Einsteins. Key light just off frame camera left with small gridded softbox. Highlight camera right and slightly back of subject with 51 inch white PLM umbrella
Day 153 of 365
"Untitled"
My large magnet arrived!!! Did you hear?!!! What you are looking at here is a coiled piece of wire, a large magnet (beneath the wire), and ferrofluid. For those who did not read my liquid metal lollipop post, ferrofluid is a fluid that becomes highly magnetized in the company of a magnet field. I dripped a few drops of the stuff upon the wire, and the magnet decided where the little spikes would form. The effect which causes these peaks and valleys is called Rosensweig instability. All I can say is that the fluid freaks out when it senses a magnet. I have a strobe directly above our subject, and the reflection can be seen in the top drip. When dealing with a completely black subject like this, specular highlights or reflections are the only way to show any depth. I then lit the white background with a second light to give some nice contrast to the fluid. I see more experiments in the future. Thanks for dripping in!!
#ferrofluid #ink #wire #spikes #rose #flower #canon5dmarkIII #canon580exII #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #pocketwizard #chemistry
Today a human wandered into the studio!! Thank you, Elana! I had a whole set-up arranged...and we basically did not use it for this image. I will go back and post one of the originally planned images, but I liked this one. You are looking at my Light Blaster projecting a grid on lovely Elana. The Blaster is attached to a speedlight, and is just out of frame at camera-right. There is a gridded beauty dish casting a touch of light on my canvas background (just for some separation), and a strip bank at camera-left, just puffing a little light on her shoulder and hair. Just a puff. While I would not use this as a formal portrait, it hopefully makes the viewer take a second look. Thanks for stopping by!! #grid #lightblaster #portrait #woman #studioportrait #eyes #canon580exII #canon5dmarkIII #canon24105 #pearls #canvasbackground #paulcbuffeinstein #paulcbuffinc #pocketwizard
Day 361 of 365
"Image 361"
A special somebody brought me two gifts from Seattle. Here is one of them. This ball rolls around in the sand, and leaves these lovely trails. Knowing I wanted to accentuate the grooves and texture in the sand and ball, I stuck a strip light at camera-right, just above the ball. The low angle helped to create the contrast in light and shadow. I then placed a bounce board at camera-left to fill in the shadows a bit. Finally, I performed a bit of cross processing, and the image was complete. I hope this left an impression!!
#ball #sand #impression #shadows #texture #canon5dmarkIII #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #striplight #pocketwizard
Quick one shot portrait session from last night.
Strobist: Two Paul C. Buff Einsteins. Key light: Camera left with 51" PLM white umbrella. Second with Gridded Softbox left and behind subject.
Quick portrait, because everyone else was having one.
Strobist: 3 Paul C Buff Einsteins. One bare bulb behind subject, key camera left with 51" PLM white umbrella, fill camera right bounced off wall (51" PLM)
Day 83 of an Unknown Number
"Just Kiddushing!"
While searching for a subject this evening, I asked my wife if I ever shot our kiddush cup before. When she said that I had not, the wheels started turning......very slowly. I thought it might be cool to backlight the cup, revealing just the shape of the vessel, and nothing more. In the end, I did just stick with the strip light behind and above our subject. However, while adjusting the placement of the goblet, I immediately noticed how freakish my arm appeared in the reflection. My simple, elegant image was immediately transformed into something completely different. Not only did my arm appear ghoulish, but the amazing laws of reflection provided an additional effect when my reflection met the tiny reflection at the neck of the cup. Bonus features!! So, the one overhead light was positioned so it would create the lovely rim light, but it did double duty in lighting my arm as well. Thansk, science!! And thank you for stopping in!
#reflection #cup #kiddush #kiddushcup #wedding #hand #arm #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #striplight #macro #distortion #jewishwedding
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.
Day 221 of 365
"Red Under Black"
Today's subject caught my attention the other night. I was taking out the trash bins in the dark, when I was suddenly overcome by strands of cobwebs in my hair and face. I really should turn the lights on before I venture outside into Spiderland. Lesson well learned. Anywho, when I spotted the potential guilty party, I went against my natural instincts, and decided she might make for a lovely portrait. But how to capture a Black Widow? For some unknown reason, I decided to use my daughter's "Frozen" snack cup as a trap. I scooped the spider up, and left her on the windowsill for a couple of days. The look she gave me with her eight beady eyes is a look I shall never forget. Chilling. I managed to extract her and slid her into a clear plastic tube, but soon realized that the reflections would be a pain when lighting her. I then poured her into a smooth plastic trough used for spackling. I stuck a small branch into the mouth of an A-clamp, carefully placed the clamp inside the trough, and she climbed to the top of the stick. The stage was now set. But the lighting!!! Going with the theme of the red belly, I figured a little red light would be apropos. So, there is a gridded AND snooted speedlight with a red gel just behind our subject, below the plastic trough. Not only did the backlight add the color, but it also separates the spider, and webs from the background. At camera-left is a beauty dish, without a grid or sock. I have it aimed slightly towards camera, as to avoid contaminating the black background. The most surprising moment during the shoot was after our subject had inspected the trough below. When she first set up shop, she tethered herself to the top of the branch. When she finished exploring, she suddenly shot up to the top of the branch, like a bloody Cirque du Soleil performer. No, I wasn't scared.......Anyway, thanks for creeping by!!
#spider #arachnid #blackwidow #insect #nature #web #cobweb #eyes #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #beautydish #monsterlighting
Day 32 of an Unknown Number
"Portrait 32"
I am currently prepping for a beauty line product shoot, and needed to work out a lighting set-up. So, in preparation, I thought I would use another subject. Logically, a halved brussel sprout made the most sense. The lighting I came up with is a three (maybe four) light situation. There are strip banks at both sides, just out of view of the camera. They supply all the light on the face of our young model. On a bottle, this light will create two similar bars of light, so commonly seen on product shots. With that being said, these two streaks of light could be a nuisance. This is because some of the bottles have logos with highly reflective, gold fonts. If the light is not even on the lettering, part is washed out, and some parts are brown. Because of this, I may decide to shoot the product names with a snooted speedlight from above. This will provide even lighting on the font, thereby eliminating the annoying white/brown issue. Are you still reading this? Thanks. Lastly, and not to be forgotten, is the strip bank behind the piece of Plexiglass, on which our model stands. The camera is staring directly into the light, and the black Plexiglass is directly reflecting the light, thereby eliminating the horizon line behind our veggie friend. If I didn't have a body, I would love to be photographed in this manner! Thanks for stopping through!!
#brusselsprout #food #foodphotography #veggie #vegetable #vegetarian #canon5dmarkIII #macro #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #stripbank #sprout #portrait #studioportrait
Rene Aldana - Tattoo Model in the studio; please visit his port at: www.modelmayhem.com/renealdana -- Copyright 2011 by David K. Smith of DKS Media Solutions ( www.dksmediasolutions.com/ ) - Email: info@dksmediasolutions.com
Day 214 of 365
"Inverted Tomato.....Upside Down"
So, we are growing tomatoes in one of those upside down, hanging things. Here is the first (only) fruit from the plant....as of yesterday. I had been lighting for a moody, human portrait, but decided that I would prefer shooting a tomato over photographing my mug. Our key light is a speedlight shooting through my Light Blaster, with the image of a circle. The slide of the circle helped to control the light. I stuck a yellow gel in it, and it creates the hot spot on the tomato. At the last second I decided to drape a piece of diffusion in front of the light, just to make it a little less specular. By the way, the hotspot gives our subject some shape and dimension. Without that light, the tomato would appear rather flat. Next, I brought in a strip light at camera-left, and it has a green gel on it. The color is subtle, and definitely more evident when I was shooting my white face. Next, there is a softbox at camera-right with a magenta gel. Again, the color is subtle, but can be seen. Lastly, there is a blue-gelled strobe behind our subject, aimed up slightly, giving the blue gradient on our white background. Ironically, this is one of my more involved lighting setups...and it was all for a grape tomato. Had I go into the shoot knowing I was photographing a red tomato, I certainly would have played around with different colored gels.There you have it. Thanks for checking out the fruit of my labor!!
#tomato #fruitorvegetable #fruit #vegetable #farm #foodphotography #macrophotography #red #stem #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #softbox #stripbank #gels #coloredlight #pocketwizard #canon580exII #lightblaster
Day 308 of 365
"Wilted and Frostbitten"
Today's image took longer than I had hoped. With that said, I'm pretty happy with it. A few years, I got into molecular gastronomy, and the book I purchased had several images of deconstructed food ideas. It has now been done a hundred times over, but this was my first attempt. Now, there are videos online of people who have constructed devices which toss or drop all the ingredients at one time, allowing for one or two exposures to be taken. I was not that ambitious.....and I was also too lazy (and cheap) to invest in several burgers. So, how was it done? I actually took a photograph of the set up, and will post it later. Anyway, I placed two light stands side-by-side, with a piece of monofilament tied to both. Actually, it was a left over piece of plastic wire from a weed whacker.....desperate times call for desperate measures. Once I had this string in place, I made sure to sand bag both stands and my tripod. The advantage to this arrangement was that once everything was locked down, each element (ingredient) could be photographed from the same perspective, without having to fake it in post. With the camera positioned a little low (I wanted to be looking up to the underside of the top bun), I placed the bun on to the monofilament. It immediately began to slide off, and I knew I had encountered my first issue. I got a pocket knife, and cut slashes into it, creating a little friction. Now my food does not slide. Yay! After shooting the bun ( softboxes at four o'clock and eight o'clock), I lowered the string a few inches, estimating where the pickles might reside. That process was very scientific. After shooting each element, I would hold my finger on my camera's LCD screen, then shoot the next ingredient, making sure it was below my finger. I had a third strobe making the spotlight on the background paper. With this locked-down system, each element was in it's true spatial location, and I was not forced to fake anything in post. As for the mustard and ketchup (catsup) squirts...that was a different matter. Once the food stuffs had been shot, I left all the lighting in place, then squirted the condiments in the dark, taking exposures after each squirt. I had some great shots of high-velocity ketchup and mustard, but ended not using them. How did I capture them, you ask? Well, I filled my mouth with ketchup, and spit!! I even have outtakes....which I will not reveal here. Anywho, thanks for driving through!!
#foodphotography #spittake #burger #hamburger #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #softbox #canon5dmarkIII #canon24105 #pocketwizard #drpraegers #veggieburger #deconstruction #explodingburger #frostbitten #wilted #vegetable #cheese
Day 261 of an Unknown Number
"Gunslinger"
Sprinkles!! Sure, we all eat them on our cupcakes and burgers, but have you ever had to clean them up after pouring thousands of them on to a piece of black acrylic glass? I have. Well...I will....eventually. I hope my wife does not read this. Our key light is a socked (diffused) beauty dish at camera-left, and it delivers a majority of our light. The second source is a snooted speedlight, behind and below the tabletop. It supplies just a bit of an edge light, and is almost imperceptible. I immediately realized the image was lacking something. I then copied it in post, and flipped it. Only then did it take on some life. Thanks for stopping in! Oh, can you spot the gunslinger and the levitating, alien Buddhist?
#spinkles #fancysprinkles #foodphotography #buddhist #gunslinger #reflection #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #pocketwizard #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #beautydish #canon580exII #alien
Day 176 of 365
"Nastiest Majoris"
There are not many things that make me squeamish, but for some reason I am.....irritated by the sound of a scurrying cockroach when one enters a room. Granted, it was the garage, but it was still rather unsavory. True, I did partake in a fried waterbug in Thailand.....but who didn't? Am I right? I will forget neither the crunch, nor the remaining moisture inside the surprisingly large treat. I actually had to share it with a friend. I digress. Having no intentions of fabricating a cockroach lasso, I knew I would have to wrangle our subject in some manner. Fortunately, I recently purchased some petri dishes, so one of them became his home during the shoot. Because there is a cover on our friend, I knew that would effect our lighting. Simply put, if I were to see a direct reflection of my light (a strip bank, low and close at camera-right), the image would be washed out, and even focusing would be difficult. With that in mind, I simply lowered the light, and had it sort of rake across our little friend. I also knew that I did not want his left side to vanish in the shadows, so I snooted a speedlight, turned it all the way down to 1/128th power, and created the specular highlight on his side. I didn't want this portrait to be TOO pretty. Lastly, I converted it to black and white. For the record, I decided to not remove the remnants of the petri dish at the lower-right edge. It is almost imperceptible, but if seen, it gives some reference to his location. Thanks for scuttling by!!
#cockroach #waterbug #pest #bug #exoskeleton #newyorkapartment #petridish #nasty #canon5dmarkIII #canon580exII #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #snoot
Presenting an diverse repertoire of on-camera charm and presence, Actor Kim Jurek Lukasik spent a Sunday afternoon creating head shots, editorial and portrait photos with the DKS Media Solutions' studio. Please see his profile at: www.modelmayhem.com/KJL
(July 24, 2011 - In Studio and On Location at Historic West Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, CA - USA | Copyright 2011 - DKS Media Solutions -- www.dksmediasolutions.com -- Email: info@dksmediasolutions.com )
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.
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. Cyrus Zohgi as Erickson.
Day 195 of 365
" Portrait of a Fungus"
I stumbled upon today's subject in the garden last night. Whilst I was a little apprehensive to touch it, I knew it might make for a portrait. But how to light a fungus? In the end I went with my third or fourth lighting setup. I first shot against a white backdrop, but it seemed a bit sterile. I then shot against a black backdrop, but it still lacked interest. Finally I brought out my new hand-painted canvas backdrop I made last week. I knew the warmth of the canvas would contrast nicely with some cooler light. So, with a pin in this fun guy's posterior, I propped him up in an A-clamp. The clamp has a blue rubber tip on it, and that will be relevant shortly. I set up a strobe with a standard reflector, and positioned it to work as a hairlight on our lovely model. It provides the rim around the edges on top of the little mushroom. I then shot a snooted speedlight into my new canvas. Because we were shooting at an f/2.8, the background is completely blurry, providing no evidence of the painstaking painting involved in making the backdrop. Poor me. Lastly, while shooting at about a half-second, I waved a tiny flashlight into the face of our your hero. I focused on such a small area that even the "beard" of the fungi is left in the dark. Very lastly, remember the blue clamp that held our subject in place? Well, it is picking up a bit of the light from the hairlight, and is bouncing back into the stem. Because I thought it kept my eye moving about the frame, I left it in. As is typical with any shoot, there were countless ways to approach this subject, and I just went with the third one. Hope you had a fung time stopping by!!
#funghi #fungi #mushroom #plant #mold #portrait #studioportrait #hairlight #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #canon580exIII #snoot #diybackdrop #organic
Presenting an diverse repertoire of on-camera charm and presence, Actor Kim Jurek Lukasik spent a Sunday afternoon creating head shots, editorial and portrait photos with the DKS Media Solutions' studio. Please see his port at: www.modelmayhem.com/KJL
Photo Specs: Canon 1dsMarkIII- EF85mm 1.2L II USM - Paul C. Buff Einsteins (Studio Monolights) - F 8.0 - 1/250 - ISO 100 - Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 4 - Photoshop CS5
Copyright 2012 - DKS Media Solution
Email: info@dksmediasolutions.com )
Day 100 of 365..................what do I win?!!!!
"Double Exposure: Blue Sky and Something Creepy in the Ivy"
So, I've been researching how to create a double exposure in my camera, and I'm finally getting a handle on it. This has certainly opened my eyes to the possibilities. Sure, you can easily create images like this in Photoshop with blending options, but there is something rewarding about doing it in-camera. As for the technique.....it is magic! Well, it depends on your definition of magic. I first took a portrait of this mug in the studio. His face is positioned just at the front edge of a softbox, allowing the foreground cheek to go dark. Then I blew out the white background, thereby allowing the second exposure to not appear in this area of the image. I then took a photograph of the ivy on our fence, with a bit of sky for variety. As for post work, all I did was to remove a bit of the ivy in the white area. Voila! This technique will be revisited in the near future. Thanks for exposing yourself to my "art." #doubleexposure #portrait #sky #ivy #canon5dmarkIII #tamron70200 #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein
Day 4 of an Unknown Number
"Blueberries Under Pressure"
I am NOT going to post every day this year! I am NOT going to post every day this year! I am NOT going to post every day this year! With that being said...here is Day 4. I went into the garage this morning to get breakfast, and............sure, didn't you? For those of you who know me, I enjoy cooking food sous vide. For those of you who don't know me....I like to cook things sous vide. It simply means that I vacuum-pack my food, drop it into a heated water bath, and cook things for hours.....or days at a very precise and consistent temperature. Have you ever had seventy-two hour pork ribs? Stop by sometime......but give me three days notice. So, with no intention of posting today, I thought my breakfast of blueberry oatmeal might make for an image. While I thought about setting up the shoot in the kitchen with the windows open.... I was lazy. Therefore, I used two lights here. There is a strip bank at camera-left, just out of frame. It clearly provides the hotspot on the lid, and for anyone analyzing the light, you can see that the camera-right side is considerably darker. I then placed a bounce board at camera-right, just to fill in the shadows a bit. Lastly, there is a bare speedlight in the background, lighting up the white background. I threw in the walnuts and raisins at the last moment. Though stark in appearance, I thought there was something interesting about the jar. Thanks for popping in!!
#breakfast #oatmeal #sousvide #waterbath #kerr #masonjar #canon5dmarkIII #canon100macro #blueberries #walnuts #raisins #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #pocketwizard #stripbank #jar
Day 155 of 365
"Drosera Binata"
Today's image is brought to you by the good folks at Worlds Rare Plants in Half Moon Bay. The shop is a Mecca for carnivorous plants, and I always make a point of dropping in when I'm in the neighborhood. The binata is a native of New Zealand and Australia, and I believe is one of the sexier drosera around. As for the lighting, you can't go wrong with a smaller source with a specimen like this. For those not familiar with sundews, the little droplets of dew at the end of the follicles are sweet......and sticky. When an unsuspecting insect lands on the plant, it gets caught in the sticky substance, the leaves slowly wrap around the prey, and the bug is no more. With that said, the smaller light source does a great job bringing out those tiny nectar droplets. I shot against a black background, though white would have worked as well because the plant and the light were a decent distance from the background. Anywho, thanks for sticking around!!
#drosera #sundew #droserabinata #carnivorousplants #carnivore #canon5dmarkIII #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #pocketwizard #worldsrareplants #halfmoonbay
This is my good friend, Rob Church. I haven't seen him in a few years, and somehow we got together and went skating....
We went through Berkeley (with a bunch of other homies) and ended up at this spot. I've never been here before, but I really wanted to shoot a photo!
I suggested b/s tailslide, and Rob was the man for the job. He started doing it, and then wanted me to shoot a sequence of him doing back tail shuv... I don't like to take sequences as much as stills (because I can make stills better. Sniper vs. Machine Gun?), so I suggested to just stick with the back tail. One last try and he rolled his ankle, so this is not actually a land. I like the photo a lot, and it's of a special friend of mine, so I'm posting it anyways.
strobist: Paul C. Buff Einstein into 7" reflector to camera left. 2 sb-900s to camera right, and a 3rd sb-900 on camera. fired by a Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 on camera with Plus II's all around.
Day 156 of 365
"Eisenia Fatida"
I compost. I'm not ashamed to say it. I compost. I currently have a pile of homemade dirt in the backyard. I guess I also raise earthworms. It's like an ecosystem in that compost!!! I digress. So, I stuck a long striplight above, and slightly behind our little friends here. I did not want the light to be subtle, and I also didn't want it to blow out the tile on which they slither. You can actually see the light all over their plump physiques. I'm going to be honest......I don't care for the look the one on the right is giving me. Thanks for squiggling by!
#worms #earthworms #earthwormsareasy #biology #compost #composting #dirt #mud #canon5dmarkIII #striplight #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #soil
Day 273 of an Unknown Number
"Let Them Eat Fettuccine!"
I knead dough......so I made pasta. Ha! So, as I mentioned several days ago, in an effort to entertain my daughters, I decided we would make homemade pasta. I made the dough, and we all took turns running it through the pasta maker. To kick it up a notch (did you know that Emeril has had THREE wives?), I added cocoa powder to the dough. For the sauce, I double-boiled some cream and Nutella, along with a pinch of salt. I would pour that sauce on absolutely anything. This batch of pasta sat on the pasta tree too long, and I threw it out after the photograph was taken. Sad. Our key light is a gridded beauty dish, and it is located just out of frame at camera-left. It lights our subject, as well as the circle of light on the do-it-myself canvas background. Secondly (and lastly), I had a snooted speedlight directly at camera-right, just adding a little fill from front. Very lastly, there is a piece of foamcore at camera-right, just filling in some of the shadows. The vignette was created entirely in-camera with the gridded beauty dish. Thanks for stopping in for a bite!
#imageoftheday #pasta #pastatree #foodphotography #food #italian #italianfood #fettuccine #canon5dmarkIII #canvas #background #chocolate #cocoapowder #cocoa #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #pocketwizard #chocolatepasta #alienskin4
Day 205 of 365
"Gallium...It's What's for Breakfast"
Gallium is unpredictable. That is to say, it does not know if it is a solid or a liquid. When in a solid state you can hold it in your hand, and it will slowly transition to a liquid. However, it moves not like water, nor like syrup. It's tricky like that!! Therefore, dripping it from a syringe does not produce predictable results. It comes out like a liquid, but then it may drip quickly.....or stop completely. Because of this fact, today's image was not easy to create. I will admit up front that I had to do a little gallium drip juggling to create the final image. Oh.....it is also upside down. As for the lighting......there is only one light working here. It is a small softbox, and it is pushed right up to the edge of frame at camera-left. It is pointed a little bit towards the camera in order to avoid any spill on the black background. Just to the right of frame is a piece of white foamcore, and it bounces back some of the light in order to fill in the camera-right edge of the fork. I did not want to lose it to the shadows. I was a little surprised to view the appearance of the fork, as it is a black, plastic fork from Chipotle. By no means do I intend to denigrate the flatware from Chipotle, I was just caught off guard by how much light it reflected, much like a metal counterpart. So, with my camera remote in hand, I used a medicine syringe (no, I will not use the syringe again) and dripped gallium many, many times, just hoping to catch a few drips in frame. After raising a few of the drops in post, I inverted the image, and there you have it. Thanks for dropping by!!
#gallium #metal #liquidmetal #mercury #canon5dmarkIII #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #softbox #macrophotography #fork #flatware #plastic #foodphotography #utensil
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 24 of an Unknown Number
"Fancy Pants"
Today's model not only put on a fancy shirt and fancy pants, but the lighting is a little more intricate than normal. We actually used four lights for this portrait. First, let me just say that our model was impatient, self-conscious, and generally difficult to work with. This is....a self-portrait. As for the technical aspects, our key light is a sharply focused speedlight with a snoot, and it is located just out of frame at camera-left. It lights the center of our "model's" face, and that triangle of light under the camera-right eye. Next, there is a strobe behind camera, shooting through my new roll of diffusion. It lights the shirt, pants and arms. Third, there is a very large diffused umbrella directly overhead of our subject, and it is working his hair, and a little something-something on the hand-painted canvas background. Lastly, there is a snooted speedlight behind our subject, delivering that circle of light behind his head. The light on the visage is the centerpiece of this set-up. Once it was in place, everything else was built up around it. Thanks for passing through!
#portrait #man #studioportrait #canon5dmarkIII #canon24105 #paulcbuffinc #paulcbuffeinstein #canvasbackground #fancypants #canon580exII #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. Thacher character played by Yuri Lowenthal.
Presenting an diverse repertoire of on-camera charm and presence, Actor Kim Jurek Lukasik spent a Sunday afternoon creating head shots, editorial and portrait photos with the DKS Media Solutions' studio. Please see his port: www.modelmayhem.com/KJL/
Photo Specs: Canon 1dsMarkIII- EF85mm 1.2L II USM - Paul C. Buff Einsteins (Studio Monolights) - F 11.0 - 1/250 - ISO 100 - Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 4 - Photoshop CS5
Copyright 2012 - Photographer David K. Smith of DKS Media Solutions
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dksmedia/
Email: info@dksmediasolutions.com
Website: www.dksmediasolutions.com
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.
Day 317 of 365
"Portrait 317"
I swore I would use my Body Kun DX Set figurine for another image this year. So, here it is. I recently read of a photographer who takes multiple exposures of an object while circling it. The results are quite surreal and painterly. I thought I would take a stab at it. In order to rotate precisely around the figurine, I initially placed a coaster on top of a fidget spinner. I quickly realized that it would not spin consistently in one place. So, I placed a marker on the table, and simply rotated the figurine seven times during my eight-frame multiple exposure. For the record, this is one multiple exposure, and was not assembled in Photoshop. With that said, I could have taken all of the exposures, and composed them in post. After the first two attempts, I decided it was lacking a little something. So, during each exposure, I stuck a red or blue gel on a handheld strobe, and shot from different angles. Oh, our key light is a soft box at camera-left. It is feathered well in front of our figure, preventing any light from hitting the black background. I see a lot of potential for future concepts. What about a portrait of a human being outside? Thanks for stopping by!
#MartialArts #Figurine #Ballet #Portrait #StudioPortrait #bodykundx
#MultipleExposure #ColorGels #Canon5DMarkIII #Canon580EXII #PaulCBuffinc #PaulCBuffEinstein