Too busy to post

I've been busy (thankfully) lately. I especially appreciate this during this current recession (my third since opening my studio). This job was a lot of fun. I spent three days shooting in a high security storage facility in NYC's upper east side. This job involved shooting still-lifes of many different antiques that were going to auction. These were for the catalog. I shot a Chagall pastel as well as other works of art, furniture and many beautiful things. The room I set up in was small so I had to get creative with the light. I even lit the art work with my modeling lights (tungsten) because I couldn't get the strobes low enough.
Hey, it's money with a camera and in the end it was all fun.

more rock 'n roll

As a photographer I love teaching because it keeps me connected to kids. I have 2 of my own and it even helps me communicate with them. To that end I also love to help out the screaming rock bands. This was a shoot for their Think Quick clothing line. They were tons of fun. Just like it should be...

Wolves vs Lions

Okay, I'm old. But I love hanging (for limited amounts of time) around with the bands that Wolves vs Lions designs shirts for. This band is Ender plus there were some shots of friends of the company. The shoot was fun and we got 12 GB of great shots. Remember: if it's not fun, it's not worth doing......

a favorite

I am known mostly as a food photographer by my clients although I have been hired to shoot fashion, portraits and products as well in the last year or so. This image was taken in Spain while my wife Barb and I sat in an alcove next to a hallway in the hotel lobby. I was playing with my camera when I happened to notice a bride and groom almost passing before us. It strikes me as funny that the people sitting in the alcove had no idea that this was one couple's most important day. I love this image because it is one of those bazaar moments in time. It could have been capturred in the 40's.

Have I mentioned that it's all about light?

I've said it before and I really believe it. Commercial Photography is always about light. If you can master the control of light you can shoot anything. My other blog is primarily food because I am known as a food photographer but you can't make a living in this economy shooting just one thing. That is why I say it's all about the light and if you can light, you can shoot anything. It just adds to the fun. These images of jewelry were part of a 3 day booking. I shot with two other photographers and just had FUN! What could be better than that?

It's only Rock 'n Roll but I like it...

I did two shots this time for the Wolves vs Lions T-Shirt company. This is the band Sirens who use band shirts designed by the Wolves vs Lions folk. Here they are wearing Wolves vs Lions' own designs. We shot this image in the woods and a second in a garage while they broke up computer equipment (I'm not sure why). I got punched in the eye a few weeks ago as I shot this band by a whirling idiot. At least I was able to keep the camera safe. If you live anywhere near northern NJ, go see this band. They drive hard and I like it. Just watch out for the "dancers".

Commercial Photographers Can Light Anything

Jewelry photography like this takes a special lighting set up. It also takes some practice with hot glue and a BBQ igniter. However, when you are a true commercial photographer (commercial photographers differ from amateurs in that they will work when sick) the learning curve is not steep and you can be up and running in no time at all. What I do is look at my subject, imagine how I believe it should look and then move lights around until what I see matches my mind's picture. Keep this in mind: It can be a human, an animal or even jewelry it all needs a purposeful light to be shot.

Photo retoching

I just finished replacing backgrounds on 101 portraits for many Nestle Power Point presentations. I recognized many as those I have shot but some had trees and buildings behind so I assume they were scanned from prints. The one trouble I had was that they were all tiny 72dpi jpgs. I used Photoshop CS5's quick select tool and refine selection brush. That and an identical gradient made all of the power point images look the same.

I tell my studio lighting students that in 2011 each and every photographer has to know Photoshop so that they can pre-vision a shot and know how Photoshop can help them. I used to shoot Oreo's in ice cream. Oreos demand a certain light and ice cream needs something different, By knowing that one can light the ice cream beautifully and shoot first, then replace the lights for the Oreo and shoot secondly you can have both lit perfectly and put together in one final shot. Remember; you get paid if you light and shoot or retouch. Most of my earning this February has been from retouching. Thank God. Thank Adobe.

Panoramas

This job was nothing but fun. Akiva and I went into NYC yesterday to a Zales jewelry store. It was there that I shot some panoramas of the interior. The image above shows panoramas made in Photoshop. One was shot with a 20mm manual lens on my Nikon D700, the other was shot with a 28-75 AF zoom set to 28mm. There are programs that can take these images and turn them into very cool VR Panoramas for the web. It's all fun and after overlapping the images around 50% as I shot, Photoshop took over and did most of the rest. Here is a hint if anyone wants to try this: Each layer has a mask attached. If a layer is off slightly, unlink the mask and carefully transform the layer into place. Then re-link the mask. That seemed to work perfectly.