Showing posts with label Elinchrom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elinchrom. Show all posts

August 24, 2009

Testing Light Tests Friendships



Okay they don't really test friendships...well actually maybe after all the pics I'm posting of him, they might test the friendship, but I got together with my friend Mike to basically fool around with lighting and grip gear and shoot a pile of lighting tests. I had a Profoto 7a pack for the weekend and two heads (lighting heads that is) to play with and pooled that with Mike's Elinchromm Ranger and a whack of Pocketwizards. Did I mention that Mike is a griphead? Dude has more stands, booms, arms, and clamps than anyone I know (he doesn't have a Justin Clamp yet, so I have him beat there!).



So we filled a good chunk of one of the patios at his place with our assorted kits, cameras, lights and gear and just fired away. (I forgot to grab a shot of all the stuff lying out everywhere. It looked like a studio had thrown up on the patio).


Really we're not going for award winning cover shot material in anything, and we're not TOO worried about composition or "getting it right," it's basically just a time to exercise our photoing muscles and see what we come up with, or how to solve a problem.



Then the fun part comes when I take the pictures home and I get to test out different editing looks. Exhibit A: Mike's nice guy edit. Exhibit B: Mike's "Not With My Daughter You Don't" edit


If you're of the photography group who follows/reads this bog, try a deconstruct of this picture below. I'd like to see what everyone comes up with. Sorry no prizes or any added incenvtives, just some fun reverse engineering a shot.




This one took me a bit to figure out setup wise. Wanted to pick up some of the texture and the conture of the bench behind Mike. I'm fairly happy with it.



Of course, after a long session like that, you need some reward...nothing like some dinner, beer, and of course my Starbucks.

November 24, 2008

Planning



It's amazing how much this area of "creativity" is actually about planning.

Planning what equipment to purchase, and where to purchase it from;
Planning your next photoshoot and the ideas behind it;
Planning how you're going to setup your new studio (and what shade of white to paint it);
Planning how many metal CD containers you're going to need to send your DVDs to people in;
Planning how you're going to make money in this mad mad mad world of photography;
Planning how your going to achieve a photographic look and style that's different and unique from all the others....

It just never seems to end!

One thing is for certain in all of this planning...there are some calculated financial risks that need to be made, and there are some strategic risks.

I've been a lucky duck lately and stumbled on some gently used photo gear: umbrella, flash stand, modelling light, felt backdrops....But I'm at a crossroads right now. I want bigger lights. Don't get me wrong, small lights are great, but I want the octabanks, the strip lights, the grids. I want to light something with 9 big lights in a massive warehouse. Sighhh...I don't gots the money for 9 big lights in a massive warehouse.

So, the calculated financial risk stems from this. I swore up and down, left and right that after I purchased my fitty 1.8 I would only buy more camera gear from the profits of any photo sales that I made. Yeah...I'm starting to think that I may have to purchase an Elinchrom kit that I've been eyeing lately. Oh, and did I mention the backdrop stands I've been eyeing? And now that I mention it....the 85 1.8 would make a perfect indoor portrait lens...am I right?

See? It's never ending. Either I need to start setting up more photo shoots with people I know, go out of pockets for models, or start selling something somehow. If I work with what I've got, is it really what I want to achieve? Is it really my photographic vision?

Not sure yet.

More soon...