Something educational- Studio Portrait lighting (one light)

So I've decided to occasionally write about things that I am learning and develop them into cohesive thoughts so when I go back to teaching I will basically have a whole bunch of lesson plans already made.  Since a blog is such an easy format I can easily go back and change things, add videos, link awesome websites, and whatever else.  They will mainly serve as a rough draft, maybe if you have a good idea, you can add to my lesson.  Or maybe you will just sit there and be enlightened by moi. 

This educational moment is about....

Studio Portrait Lighting


(Warning: Studio lighting is not my forte)

This picture is SOOC (straight out of camera) with no editing, just good lighting.

                                                                                                   photo by Douglass Bolt, NIHCC member


So here we begin, with one light.  Having one light leaves one half of her face in light and the other half in dark.  This is fine if this is the look that you want to go for, but if not there is a way to combat it.

 One way to combat this is by the use of a reflector, hold it on the opposite side of your victim to allow the bouncing light to fill in the shadows.

A hair light is a light from behind that illuminates your victim's head, which creates extra dimension and interest. 

You don't have to go out and purchase a whole bunch of expensive equipment to achieve this look.  Here are some cheap-o alternatives for studio lighting.

1.  Lights: desk lamp, garage/work light, any other bright light, window

2.  Reflectors: car reflector, crumpled tin foil, foam core board

3.  Umbrella/diffuser: sheet or tissue paper over light (don't let it catch on fire!!!!! Lights get hot!!)

Not into the whole artificial light thing?  The same rules apply when doing the same thing but with window light.  Check out this article natural portrait lighting with a reflector *super easy* 

 Here's a cheat sheet from digitalcameraworld.com about simple lighting techniques and the effects it will have on your portraits

Some tips:

-Have the model sit on the edge of the seat.  This promotes good posture.
-Remember: white reflectors are softer than silver
-If your reflector has any creases or folds in it, they may show up on your victims' face

So yeah, that's all for now.

There's only two things that money can't buy...

...and that's true love and homegrown tomatoes!  

So I decided to try a bit of food photography right?  I did it while hanging out with my brother Aaron while Ellie was sleeping. You have to guess which one is homegrown and which one is store bought, and which one is more delicious.  

The one on the right is from the store (the hollow, yellow, dark one.)

This big boy (haha) is the homegrown one. 

 Aaron was a taste tester too.  He said the store bought was more watery and "blah,"  the homegrown one was sweet and meaty.  We both decided the homegrown was 100x better.  Why do we even buy tomatoes from the store?  idk.

Since our main goal on the agenda was our "food photography" homework we quit with the funny business and got real serious.  I wanted to do a red raspberry because those are my fav.  Right when I started to take its picture it started to cry.  Awwww.  poor raspberry. :( 

  This next picture was Aaron's idea.  He started throwing stuff together and it looked pretty cool.  I lost a lot of definition at the base of the glass and you can see me in the reflection but oh well.  It still looks cool.  I could probably fix it in photoshop but I am lazy.

and then guess who woke up?

Trouble

I love Trouble.

Time sucker up-er

So I have been doing a lot of photo shoots lately and it's been eating all of my spare time.  I still have a wedding in sept, newborn pictures next week, and maybe some engagements here and there.  My preference is for family photography even though there is more money in the wedding business.  Weddings are way more work and more pressure.  So here is the list of things I have been working on for the past few months.

1. Family Shoot: These twins

super fun shoot, they found me from my website which is pretty cool.  These kids are so sweet with a touch of crazy.

 We took half of the shots in their backyard and then another half on a farm. 

 They both are loosing their teeth at the same time... lol

There are so many more cute pictures but I had to filter them out.

2. Wedding: Cousin Karen

My friend Lindsay and I teamed up to do this wedding and I was so grateful for her help.  Together we got tons of awesome pictures of this motorcycle wedding.  The picture of the bouquet on the white tabletop and the bride and groom walking down the isle were taken by Lindsay.  I just love those photos.

 Again, there were so many more cool pics but I had to filter out a fraction of faves. There will be more pics on my website.  

3. Senior Pics:  Amanda

It is the start of a new school year and a new batch of seniors, my sister included.  So we headed down to Poolesville to get her in the sunflower fields.  It was very pretty but it was so hot, got lots of mosquito bites, and poison ivy (but hey, it doesn't look like it from the pictures lol)

Again, there was so many ones I liked I had to filter them...

I have also learned many things while taking all of these pictures most importantly being I cannot do this for free.  Not that I did these for free, and not like I didn't enjoy doing them, but I'm getting burned out and I would much rather sit on the couch and be lazy, or take pictures of Ellie since I haven't taken any pictures of her in like 3 months.  Anyway, I'm glad I'm chopping through these and gittin 'er done.  And I hope I don't look through these and am like "ohh I did a horrible job" in a few months. :)

Myrtle Beach

We went to Myrtle Beach again this year and Grandma came too.  Although she wasn't able to come down on the sand she was able to watch us on the beach from the balcony.

Ellie doesn't like the pool, she just screams and wants to get out.  She definitely takes after McKay in this aspect.

 Ellie loves the beach though.  When it comes to that she is fearless, she will just run straight into the ocean laughing.  Look at this girl she just smells of trouble, we just had to chase her all up and down the beach.  

 When she would see seagulls she would hold her arms back and run, screaming the whole way.

 She is wearing shoes because she is obsessed with them.  This.girl.loves.shoes. (and the beach)

Movie recommendations

McKay and I have been watching a lot of movies together lately.  It has been just my speed.  I haven't been craving any chick flicks, mainly action and comedy, which further convinces me that I'm having a boy.  But we should find that out soon.  So here's a list of movies that I have loved (in no particular order)...

1. Here Comes the Boom- Redbox

sooooooooooo hilarious!  Husband approved.

I was laughing out loud the whole time, it takes quality comedy for that to happen.

2. Jack Reacher- Redbox

A lot of bad-assery going on here.  Husband approved.

3. The Host- Redbox
Loved the book, loved the movie.  Not husband approved.

4. North and South- Netflix
Never heard of it before but loved it. Great when you have 4 hours to kill. Probably not husband approved.

Movies I want  to see:

The Wolverine

Superman

Now You See Me

...

Any recommendations?

Something educational- A food photography workshop

I am a member of the NIH Camera Club.  It is a group of artists who are interested in photography in the DC area and are somehow affiliated with NIH.  My grandfather and dad are both members and they decided that I should become a member too.  The club takes trips all around the world, I have been on one trip and it was fun.  They frequently meet for local field trips, workshops, contests, competitions, and other stuff.  It's pretty cool actually.  

This Tuesday they had a workshop for food photography and I decided to go after work, even though I would be an hour late.  Deb Lindsey taught the workshop, and she shoots for the Washington Post's food section (her work is always featured front page on the Wednesday paper.)  Her most popular shoot is when she photographs The Peep Show, but her favorite type of assignment is when the post just gives her a really vague theme and she has to use her creativity to come up with something great.   Her work is also in The Washington Post Cookbook.  She is a great artist and I want to share the tips that she shared with me for great food photography, that way I wont forget.

Unfortunately the Washington Post owns her food images so I had a lot of trouble finding more images that she has done.  The images below are not hers, but the images above are.

1.  Setting recommendations

She recommends using a macro lens (but just use whatever lens you have if you don't have a macro.)  She likes to keep the settings at f8 when shooting food at an angle.  She does this because when you shoot at an angle your area of focus is going to be a lot smaller than normal and your going to get a lot of blur on all the other places.  If you have your f stop any lower than that you will just be reducing your focus point into an even smaller space.  When you photograph food you want a good chunk of the food in focus so we can see what is in it.  This is one way food photography is different than portrait photography (at f8 everything in the background would be crystal clear if you were taking a portrait.)

She also said she would rather sacrifice ISO quality to keep near f8.  So instead of shooting at ISO 200  she would drop it down to 800 just so she keeps the aperture near 8... very interesting because I know so many ISO snobs.  example here:

yeah yeah yeah lady... (It is all about personal preference.)

2.  Lighting

             a.  From below

To illuminate thin and translucent foods she loves to light from below.  She achieves this by putting a piece of Plexiglas (covered in white contact paper for a white background) over two chairs and shining a light underneath.  It will make any thin or clear food illuminate.  For obvious reasons a ceramic bowl filled with soup would be inappropriate in this situation.  But it makes the food pop.  Other good things to use in this situation would be orange slices, tomatoes, sprouts, glass of soda, etc.

ex:

             b.  White board

Use one.  You bounce light off with it.  Other good tips here.  You can also use a silver reflector which bounces more light than a white board (white board has a softer effect.)  Also try crumpling a piece of tin foil and use that as a reflector, it will create a scattering of light rather than direct light.

             b.  Use a strobe to achieve a white or black background

Both of these pictures were taken using the same set up.  They both used a white table with a white background set up probably four feet behind the subject area.  The difference in how you get the white or black background is where you aim the strobe.  I am not a strobe expert just fyi.

                     

For the white background: aim the strobe directly at the food (maybe a little at the background too)

For the black background: aim the strobe between you and the food, not at the food, and not on the background

3. Other tips

-Clean the plate/bowl/cup/whatever.  Wipe away all of the drips, splatters, and crumbs.  These show up in your pictures and make them look sloppy.

-Natural light is one of the best ways to take pictures of food and this can be done in your own house.  Just don't forget to use some whiteboard

-Especially with soups be careful about light reflecting off of the surface of the water.  You do not want the reflection to hide the actual soup.

-You cannot get a straw to stay at the bottom of a glass with liquid in it.  You would have to defy physics.

-Play with textures.  A smooth soup might look good sitting on top of a braided place mat.

So yeah.  That's all.  Try to take some cool pictures of your food, I know I will try.  How about we make a date of it?  Say in one month come up with an interesting recipe and we will see what everyone comes up with.  Send me the link and we can share, learn, and grow together.

ttyl!

Confessions of a germaphobe

I was a little nervous about Ellie going into Nursery during church. I wanted to help out in nursery and be there for her while she accumulated to the new environment and take her out if she had any problems. Unfortunately I had to substitute teach sunbeams so I asked McKay if he would do the honors. So apparently the nursery people just took her and told him to go away. He liked it, but it wasn’t what I wanted. Crazy mom? Probably.

So we get this email the next day saying someone brought their kid to nursery with hand, foot, and mouth disease and that we all need to keep a close eye on our kids because someone doesn’t know when to stay home. If it wasn’t bad enough someone brought one of their kids into nursery a two weeks ago with LICE! UGHHHHHHHHH!!!!! SERIOUSLY????????

Leave your sick kids at home, or take them with you to your class. Then you can spread lice or whatever else to the relief society.  You’re not going to go to hell if you stay at home when your kid’s sick (at least I'm pretty sure). Maybe I should take Ellie to class with me until she’s in young women’s to avoid the next rabies epidemic. not really.  haha

Crazy mom? Hormonal? Probably, but I have a point.

I think I'm going to make a sign and put it outside the nursery.

On second thought, it's only going to get worse right?  With school and stuff... I don't know.