I just wanted to share the technique that I use for dodging and burning, using two curves layers.

This is a step by step of my retouching workflow for a basic clean beauty shot.  

Many thanks to David McDonnell of Imagenomic for his support and for making Portraiture such a wonderful program to use.

kendavie asked: Idle Hands images. These images replicate soft window light so well that I'm blown away. How about a few more technical details or lighting and space diagram.

thanks ken.  i honestly wouldn’t be able to tell you much as far as technical details are concerned because, well there really isn’t much to elaborate about.  

i used one light in an elinchrom octabank with the diffusion over the face off to the side; camera right.  i don’t take note of distance measurements and what not as i work visually when i light a set.  i’m just not a very technical person when it comes to that sort of thing.

what you have to keep in mind are the relationships between your working space, the quality of your modifier, the size of your modifier, and the relative distance you are using it in respect to your subject.  if you’re not achieving a desired result, you have to take the above into consideration - one of those things is not working properly in the equation.  you have to really work with a modifier to understand how light leaves it - you can’t just point a modifier at your subject and let it do it’s thing.  discovering its eccentricities is all part of experimentation and shaping light.  

as far as exposure data, i shot these at about 5.6, maybe 8 on an 85 1.8 on a 5D.

Idle Hands

Here’s a look at the first day of the Prep To Post Fashion Photography Workshop last month.  We had a great turnout and were able to work with a fantastic group of people.  Being able to share my experience as a photographer with others as a benefit to them in some form makes these workshops worth doing.  I will be taking a break from workshops for a short while to focus on other things, but we will definitely pick things back up in a few months.

imustbedead asked: Hey guy, I watched your BTSV and had a question or two about your set up. First of all. I can find big white foam board, but not the black ones you have, did you make them black or buy them black? I'm just trying to figure out a cheap solution to having some big black cards. Also what are you using to hold the bottom silver fill card in the video? Is it just like a light stand with a clamp? Anyhow thanks if you have time to answe them, My email is imustbedead@gmail.com

foamboard or foamcore comes in pretty much every color, including black.  you can find them at the larger art supply places or at photographic or theatrical supply stores.  i’m pretty sure if you googled foamcore you could find a place near you or that can drop ship it to your location.

i just used a baby c-stand and attached a flag to support the silver fill.  you can mcgyver anything that works, including having the model hold the reflector.

After a couple of weeks of finding my way around Final Cut Pro 7, I wanted to try shooting my first fashion short film.  I was quite nervous having never really shot anything like this - all my other videos have been a behind the scenes look at my photoshoots.  To be able to create a story around a mood with fashion definitely took me out of my comfort zone, both from a photography standpoint and a director’s standpoint.  However I decided to approach it as a photographer, not necessarily a film maker, and basically shot what I felt would be a moving fashion editorial.  The process, surprisingly, went quite smoothly, and I was able to edit the story in about an hour and a half or so.  

What took me the longest time to do were the titles in the opening sequence.  I am still learning the basics of Motion, and it literally took me an entire day to create titles out of four words.

I shot this with Dondee’s Canon 7D with a 50mm 1.4, an 85mm 1.8, and a 180mm 3.5L Macro.  I used one light modified by an Elinchrom Octabank.  Many thanks to Jade for being an awesome model and for being patient with me.

I came upon this fantastic website, FStoppers.com, which features Behind the Scenes videos from photographers and videographers.  It was created by Patrick Hall and Lee Morris, and it seems like such a great resource for professionals and amateurs alike.  I love the fact that this online community is built upon sharing knowledge and experience and is bringing a sense of community amongst creatives.

I wrote Lee and offered my existing BTS videos to post on their site.  He politely turned them down, citing they were not informational enough.  He then suggested I enter a contest they were holding.  I thought, what a great way to give back to the industry that has given so much to my life and have a chance to win a camera that would help me continue to keep producing videos like this.  Doing my Prep To Post Workshops has enabled me to reach out to photographers, but FStoppers would allow me to reach out worldwide.  I had already planned on producing content like this, but Lee pretty much kick started it for me.  

This project would not have been possible without the help of Jade Corinne, Karuna Karmarkar, Dondee Quincena, Jon Gonzales, and Stephanie Elise.

FStoppers.com is free to join, and again, it is a great resource to learn from other photographers around the world.  If you would like to vote for my entry, you must first be a registered member.

Now this is quite amazingly stunning.  I love the depth, the richness of the colors and the emotional quality portrayed in these images.

One night last week Jade and I were bored.  It’s been said that idle hands are the devil’s playground, but for me boredom sparks creativity and inspiration.  Model + Photographer + empty studio = playtime.  

Lately I’ve been making an effort to re-discover the photography that inspired me in the first place - the works of Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon, and Helmut Newton all have one common denominator: iconic imagery that is classic and simple.  You can take any of the images in their archive, publish it in any fashion magazine today and it would still be relevant.  That is something that I strive for and hope to one day be able to achieve.  

After experimenting with a couple of lighting scenarios, I decided to use just two lights; one diffused 7” reflector to light the background, and a diffused Elinchrom Octabank off to the side for the key.  I wanted to get back to the basics of light and shadow and focus on the placement of my transitions from lights to dark in an interesting but beautiful way.  The Elinchrom Octabank is just so versatile and there are literally a bajillion ways you can utilize it.  I wanted to work on exploring it’s subtleties as a single light source on my subject.

I shot these on a Canon 5D with an 85mm 1.8, bouncing around between F5.6 and F8.  We shot less than 8GB worth of stuff, and I’m finding more and more that I tend to not shoot as many frames as I used to, really just slowing down and aiming to get the shots I really want, much like I did when I used to shoot film.

My work is constantly in a state of flux, and I think this type of direction is going to be more prevalent in the near future for myself.   

Here’s a behind the scenes video of a lifestyle fashion shoot with what is probably the smallest crew I’ve shot with in a long time.  This was shot late last year when I was just getting into shooting outdoor ambient light.  It feels good to get out of the studio with just your camera and your subject and capture life.  

I produced this shoot to add some lifestyle images to my portfolio as well as everyone else’s books.  Jade Corinne was in the process of shopping for an agency so these shots would be of great use to her, and she later ended up signing with Q Model Management in LA.  Christina Guerra and Lyndzi Trang were also looking to add some commercial lifestyle imagery to their books so it all worked out well for us that day.

Not having to lug around extra gear allows you to be more fluid, and having less forces you to be more creative with the environment you are in.  I shot these on a 5D and switched around between a 50mm 1.4, an 85mm 1.8, and a 180mm 3.5L Macro.  I chose to shoot wide open to blur out any extraneous elements and bring focus to Jade while still maintaining a sense of environment and location.

My good friend Dondee Quincena sent me this shot the other day.  It looks like Wet Seal is opening up another store at Mission Viejo Mall.  It’s always such a great feeling to see my work in print, and even better when it’s larger than life :)

We shot Wet Seal’s Denim line last May at my studio.  It was a full house, with five models, two makeup artists, and two hairstylists, along with the usual suspects.

It was a very simple concept - the five different types of denim were to be given their own “personality” by each of the models, such as the “showstopper.”  Lighting was very straightforward and meant to showcase the denim’s washes and colors.

We lit it with an Elinchrom Octabank pointed straight on towards the model right behind my shooting position.  The background was lit with a single head from up high fitted with a custom globe that I made with tracing paper which lights my cyc evenly without having to use the usual four umbrella setup commonly seen.  Everything was shot on a 5D with a 50mm 1.4 at F16.

Towards the end of the day, the art director decided to throw me a curve ball and requested to do some outdoor shots.  We quickly ran out to the street and shot some ambient light, still using the 50mm 1.4 but this time opening up to F2 and getting the shots above.

This is pretty typical on a Wet Seal shoot, where the art direction may change at a moment’s notice.  They’re not a client that I have the luxury of sitting down with a couple of days before the shoot to discuss concepts at a pre-production meeting.  This is something we discuss the day of the shoot and it’s up to me to deliver what they need.  Being able to stay flexible and spontaneous has helped me overcome this challenge.

"Every time you press that shutter, you get better. Every time you evaluate your photos, you get better. The better you get, the more you will be able to adapt to unplanned situations and get the most out of every photographic experience."

— Ryan Taylor 

Ron Egatz with the MAC Group (whose brands include Mamiya, Sekonic, Pocketwizard, Tenba, and Profoto) was gracious enough to write an article about my work and my career.  I have been using MAC Group brand products for over 6 years now, and they have been essential tools in the work that I do.  Click on this link to read the article.

As I was planning the details of my trip out to Virginia, Luis half-jokingly mentioned doing an underwater shoot in his pool.  I have always wanted to do a fashion or beauty shoot underwater, so I brought my serious underwater photo gear:  My trusty Olympus FE-230 point and shoot and the Olympus PT-038 underwater housing.  I had used my point and shoot before when I dove in Honolulu a couple of years ago and it performed pretty well, so I wanted to see what I could do with it in a photoshoot situation.  

Kathy Aragon lent her fantastic makeup skills using Face Atelier’s transforming gel and foundation which held up amazingly underwater.

In all honesty, I was quite impressed with the images considering it was from an older model point and shoot camera.  I don’t do enough underwater photography to justify purchasing a DSLR housing, but I would consider upgrading to something like a Canon G10 which has a RAW file format and manual exposure control and getting the WP-DC28 for it.

Many thanks to Luis Aragon for the behind the scenes shots.