Q&A

Q&A: What do I Charge

Posted by Sean Armenta on Sep 15, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

Expanding on the “how much do you charge” question. As someone who is considered a leading professional in this industry, i’m curious to see how you handle client pricing for say beauty work. Does it depend on usage rights, i.e. promo or commercial, in an…

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Q&A: Sharpening

Posted by Sean Armenta on Sep 8, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

Hi Sean, a little question: with capture one and canon 5d, how much unsharp mask you set and when you trasform the raw for ps use, keep the same values or not? and i think the noise tab is set to zero? thanks marco.

i actually like the default sharpen of Capture One. i honestly don’t really do any noise adjustments. it’s a nice pre-sharpening, then after my editing in PS, i sharpen once more using smart sharpen.

Q&A: Patch Tool

Posted by Sean Armenta on Sep 5, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

Sean been watching your tutorial at Fstoppers. I only have one question about the patch when said something about feather or something else. My question is there a shortcut of keys for that?

there is. on a mac it’s CMD+SHFT+F, on a pc it’s CTRL+SHFT+F

you have to do this right after the patch tool does its thing, because you can’t go back and do it.

Q&A: Lighting Equipment

Posted by Sean Armenta on Sep 5, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

Hi sean, you have told in an old post that the brand is not important. The most important thing is get to know own equipment. I'm agree but i would ask you: what is the difference between a chinese economic flash and yours in term of light quality and color? thanks for attention, you are really amazing! Peppe Morales!

can you tell which of my images were shot with a profoto, a speedotron, or an alien bee?

probably not.

but in a 12 hour day of shooting catalog on the same background with the same lighting could you tell the difference between cheap lights and more expensive lights from frame to frame? yes.

so if your work consists of family portraits, or personal work, or you are just starting out, then you probably won’t really notice a difference, and therefore it wouldn’t make much sense for you to drop 10K on lighting. but if you are a commercial photographer where consistency in exposure and color is critical, then you should be investing in higher end equipment.

Q&A: Mola Beauty Dish

Posted by Sean Armenta on Sep 5, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

Sean, I just watched your one-light beauty set-up video, and it looks like you are using a Mola Setti beauty dish. Have you compared its performance to other beauty dishes like the profoto or the (much less expensive) Paul Buff? By the way, from the perspective of someone just getting started in lighting, that is a great–and very helpful–video. Thanks. Nathan

hi nathan

actually that is a speedotron beauty dish, which is modeled from the mola shape and hundreds of dollars cheaper. each beauty dish will have it’s own characteristic, but the basic quality of light will be similar, that of a contrasty diffused light. i have used the profoto which i also like, and the alien bees beauty dish. again, the brand doesn’t really matter, it’s how you use the modifier to get your desired results.

Q&A: Brooks Institute

Posted by Sean Armenta on Jul 15, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

Thank you for today guest speaking in Nino's class. You totally bring me back to the ground….

Cheers,

Benjo.

it was absolutely my pleasure. i wish you all the best!

Q&A: Inspiration

Posted by Sean Armenta on Jul 15, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

Thanks for following my blog Sean, Love you work. my Last 4 shots have that are on my blog are a single light set up inspired by your video, so thanks..

J

thanks jason, that means a lot! glad it benefitted you.

Q&A: Capture One

Posted by Sean Armenta on Jun 22, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

I Sean, i love your works! my name is marco i am an italian photographer. If is possible i want to ask you two things I see in your capture one, the output 150% ?? and your black white workflow?

Many Thanks!!

yes, Capture One actually has a great upsizing algorithm. I automatically process larger TIFFs to compensate for any cropping done to the image.

for black and white I use Silver Efex Pro usually, but sometimes I’ll play around with channels and other methods.

Q&A: Spotlight

Posted by Sean Armenta on Jun 22, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

Hi Sean,

I saw that you use a Zoom Spot in some of you shootings. I like the results very much and I’m using the one from Elinchrom. What bothers me a bit is the color fringing on the edges of the Light Spot it produces. I see them in some of you pictures too. Are you happy with them or do you color correct them afterwards sometimes?

I’d like something to avoid them.

Any tips?

Thanks a lot.

Morris

The fringing is a flaw of the focusing lenses. It used to bother me, but I figured, it is what it is. It’s become something that I incorporate instead of try to fight with.

Q&A: Ringflash

Posted by Sean Armenta on May 20, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

Hey Sean,

love your tutorials, please keep up the great work!

I'm curious, do you ever use a ringflash in your work? I see them used often in fashion and glamour but have never seen you use one in any of your videos

exactly

Q&A: Filipino

Posted by Sean Armenta on May 13, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

are you a filipino sean?

I sure am.

Q&A: Filipino

Posted by Sean Armenta on May 13, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

Hi Sean! Just want to thank you for sharing your one light beauty shot video! Tried it last week and your video was very helpful! Just found out from your recent post that you have a Filipina grandmother!

Keep on posting and sharing your ideas 'coz it inspires us a lot!

maraming salamat at masaya ako na nakakatulong din yun mga posts ko kahit papaano taga olongapo ang pamilya ko – saan ka sa atin?

Q&A: Skin Tones

Posted by Sean Armenta on Apr 16, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

Hi Sean, i love your works and your style. I love the skin tone of your pictures and i was wondering the way you do white balance. I hope you will come in Italy for same shoot or any workshop ale

Thank you – I hope one day I would be able to come to Italy!

I shoot a white balance target at the beginning of each setup. I then shoot another white balance target each time I change my lighting. That way I have a reference to work with later on when I process RAW files in Capture One.

Q&A: Camera Support

Posted by Sean Armenta on Apr 7, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

I've seen a tilt/pan head and manfrotto mount system you have. What head and mount is that??? You have it attached to your custom pole rig thingie.

Thanks!

it’s a very old, out of production manfrotto/bogen head. it’s a basic 3-way pan/tilt model; the one we have is capable of supporting up to a 4×5 view camera. the actual studio stand it is mounted on is an older cambo.

Q&A: V Flats

Posted by Sean Armenta on Apr 7, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

I just saw your shooting beauty with a single light on Youtube and I was just curious where you bought the material for your v flats and how they are constructed they look rather nice =) Thanks. Love your work.

v flats are made out of two 4’x8’ sheets of foamcore or foamboard, usually in 1/8’ – 1/2” thickness. you simply butt the long sides next to each other, use gaff tape or paper tape to attach it all the way down, fold it together, and tape the backside of it the same way, basically creating a hinge out of tape.

you can also see a video i made HERE

Q&A: Internship

Posted by Sean Armenta on Apr 6, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

I am so in love with your work. Hopefully, the Art Institute will set up my internship with you. Your work has so much variety of the styles I want to shoot. The colors and contrast in your images are amazing too. So excited!

thank you so much kaitlyn – i hope we can work something out as well.

Q&A: Lighting

Posted by Sean Armenta on Apr 6, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

Hi Sean! What kind of lighting did you use for your shoot with Kathy Aragon and Michelle Hayden? I love it!!!

Also what do you this is necessary for every beauty shoot?

Thanks!

thank you.

i just used a 16” silver reflector which you can see here - http://goo.gl/4Bw61

INTERVIEW: Tristan Jud RAW

Posted by Sean Armenta on Mar 30, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

Link: an Interview with Tristan Jud

Check out Tristan Jud’s RAW where he posts some great informative stuff about our industry and his own progress as a photographer. He asked me some questions a few weeks ago, and I was happy to give him some answers.

Q&A: Boom

Posted by Sean Armenta on Mar 23, 2011 in Q & A | 0 comments

One the Fstoppers video, what is the boom stand your using. I have been trying to get opinions on a good one for a while now and so far i have had no luck. What would you suggest

i’m not sure what video you are referring to. in the studio i use a bogen superboom.