#639. Theatrical Christmas

A couple of times a month I take photos for Clear Creek Community Theater in Webster, Texas. Last night I took head shots and some publicity stills for "Miracle on 34th Street". These shots always come early in the process, before everyone has their costumes and before the set is complete, but I still enjoy doing them. As a general rule actors are fun to work with: they know how to be expressive and they're always "on". :-)

Title: "Theatrical Christmas"


Shot data: 1/50s f/10.0 at 32.0mm iso200
Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm f/2.8
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin
Light: Alien Bee 1600 placed high center with 2X4 Softbox remote fired by Pocket Wizard

I See Me cont'd

Here's the rest of the set I shot yesterday. Shaving is a relatively intimate and personal process and something that all men do every day. Conceptually my hope is that these photos are both revealing, due to their personal nature, and a little intriguing, due to their familiarity.

Title: "I See Me 4"


Shot data: 1/250s f/4.0 at 50.0mm iso200
Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Strobist: 1 Vivitar 285HV, 1/4 power on light stand slightly camera left pointed down, 1 Canon 430EX background light on light stand all triggered with Pocket Wizards and using an intervalometer to take a series of timed shots
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin


Title: "I See Me 5"


Shot data: 1/250s f/4.0 at 50.0mm iso200
Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Strobist: 1 Vivitar 285HV, 1/4 power on light stand slightly camera left pointed down, 1 Canon 430EX background light on light stand all triggered with Pocket Wizards and using an intervalometer to take a series of timed shots
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin

Title: "I See Me 6"


Shot data: 1/250s f/4.0 at 50.0mm iso200
Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Strobist: 1 Vivitar 285HV, 1/4 power on light stand slightly camera left pointed down, 1 Canon 430EX background light on light stand all triggered with Pocket Wizards and using an intervalometer to take a series of timed shots
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin

Title: "I See Me 7"


Shot data: 1/250s f/4.0 at 50.0mm iso200
Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Strobist: 1 Vivitar 285HV, 1/4 power on light stand slightly camera left pointed down, 1 Canon 430EX background light on light stand all triggered with Pocket Wizards and using an intervalometer to take a series of timed shots
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin

I See Me

I took a series of self-portraits tonight to test a concept I have for a possible future body of work. I especially wanted to test this lighting setup. Part of the concept is for all the images to be in black and white to add a bit of timelessness and drama to the shots.

Title: "I See Me 1"


Shot data: 1/250s f/4.0 at 50.0mm iso200
Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Strobist: 1 Vivitar 285HV, 1/4 power on light stand slightly camera left pointed down, 1 Canon 430EX background light on light stand all triggered with Pocket Wizards and using an intervalometer to take a series of timed shots
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin

Title: "I See Me 2"


Shot data: 1/250s f/4.0 at 50.0mm iso200
Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Strobist: 1 Vivitar 285HV, 1/4 power on light stand slightly camera left pointed down, 1 Canon 430EX background light on light stand all triggered with Pocket Wizards and using an intervalometer to take a series of timed shots
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin

Title: "I See Me 3"


Shot data: 1/250s f/4.0 at 50.0mm iso200
Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Strobist: 1 Vivitar 285HV, 1/4 power on light stand slightly camera left pointed down, 1 Canon 430EX background light on light stand all triggered with Pocket Wizards and using an intervalometer to take a series of timed shots
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin

Flash Frame

This shot shows the simple light setup I used to take photos at our Company's Christmas party last weekend. I like the composition of the shot and I find the lighting interesting. I didn't notice the light spill over the top of the umbrellas during the actual event because it was outside the viewfinder of my camera as I focused in on my subjects.

Title: "Flash Frame"


Shot data: 1/125s f/4.5 at 17.0mm iso400
Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom

Robert

Last night my siblings and I met Robert at Donnaley's Restaurant in Baytown. Robert was in Houston on a business trip and my sister had arranged the get together. We hadn't seen Robert since we were kids which meant we hadn't seen him in more than three decades! Robert is a VIP in the field of health care law in Washington. He's also a great guy and we all had a terrific amount of fun reminiscing about the old days and catching up on the events of each other's lives. I took a couple dozen photos during the night while we were sitting at the dinner table and today's post is one of the two that I liked.

Title: "Robert"


Shot data: 1/250s f/2.8 at 55.0mm iso320
Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Flash: Canon 430EX on camera bounced against the ceiling
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS4 > Nik Viveza plugin > Topaz Adjust plugin

Miki and Adrian

Here is another informal portrait taken at our family's Thanksgiving get together.

Title: "Miki and Adrian"


Shot data: 1/60s f/5.0 at 55.0mm iso250
Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55m f/2.8 zoom
Flash: Canon 430EX > On Camera

Portrait of Emma

Friday night I was testing out a new Justin Clamp with my Canon 430EX flash. I grabbed a few shots of my daughter Emma while we were outside waiting for a play to start. I pretty much rely on trial and error when I'm working with a flash so after a series of over and under exposed shots I finally took a few with what looked to me like the correct exposure. As usual I would really appreciate any feedback about how today's shot turned out.

Title: "Portrait of Emma"


Shot data: 1/320s f/10.0 at 55.0mm iso100
Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Flash: Canon 430EX (TTL mode) Justin-clamped at camera right low pointed over the subjects head to feather the light
Post-processing: Adobe Camera Raw > Photoshop CS3 > Topaz Adjust plugin

Flash Again

Here's one more shot from the my flash photography outing the other night. This one was completely Emma's idea.

Title: "Flash #3"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photoshop CS3 > Duplicate Background Layer > Topaz Adjust plugin "Psychedelic" preset > Duplicate Layer > Diffuse Anisotropic > Duplicate Layer > High Pass Sharpening in Hard Light blending mode

Flash Fun!

Last night was the Bay Area Photo Club's Honor's Night where club members submit photos to have them critiqued and scored by a panel of three judges. The assignment this month was for "Photography with a Flash". I really wanted to step out this month and do something different and have a little fun. These two photos were the result! Both photos were given Gold Awards by our distinguished panel of judges! :-)

Title: "Pod Person"


This is a piece of plastic playground equipment. I placed a Vivitar 285HV flash inside it, mounted on a Gorilla Pod, with a white shoot through umbrella and fired it with a Pocket Wizard remote flash controller.

Title: "Into the Vent"


This is the air conditioning intake vent in my house. I placed a Vivitar 285HV flash inside it, mounted on a Gorilla Pod, with a white shoot through umbrella and fired it with a Pocket Wizard remote flash controller.