CH 53E Super Stallion

Late last year I headed over the the Miramar Air Show. Thought I would share something from that day. Armed with my Nikon DSLR and my 80-200mm 2.8AFD, with my handy Canon PowerShot G10 as a backup camera, I was ready for an action packed day. We arrived early but the show was already in full swing, lots and lots of people.

I took this photo with my Canon G10, with many people as you can see, but I wanted to capture the CH 53E Super Stallion from an angle where I could use the helicopter blade to block out the sun. This is what I came up with. An added bonus was the ad in the sky, funny I guess. I’m sure I’ll return again this year, I enjoyed the event more than I expected.

World Cup 2010

Every 4 yrs the world comes together for a an event that only the Summer Olympics can compare too…the FIFA World Cup, and this year its in South Africa. Here in the U.S., Soccer or “Football” as its known worldwide, is not the most popular or widely attended sport. But leave the U.S., and soccer is not only the most popular played sport, but also the most watched!

Don’t believe me? In 2006, the World Cup was played in Germany with over 32 billion viewers! That’s right, billions with a “B”! Read the ratings recap by FIFA here. Over 207 countries watched that event and this summer, the world will be watching again, and perhaps getting higher numbers.

Over the last 15-20 yrs or so, with the addition of the MLS and the U.S. Women’s Soccer team winning the 1999 World Cup match during a memorable gave over China, the popularity of soccer has increased. Its taken a new role in local schools and colleges. Kids in the U.S. are now playing soccer on a regular basis and perhaps one day it will reach the same status as the rest of the world.

So what does this have to do with photography? Everything! Imagine a photographer taking part in the most watched and popular sporting event in the world! I can image photographers, whether they are attending the event or not, are taking stock photography involving soccer or tailoring some pictures they create to this event. After all, who wouldn’t want to have the opportunity for only a fraction of the 32 billion viewers to see your work? In a commercial, a billboard or a magazine? Like anything else, viewers equals money to any business person and most professional photographers are in it for business. So if you are a pro or semi-pro photographer, you might want to start creating images targeting the viewers of this large and profitable event!

As of today January 26, 2010, there are less than 140 days left to the start of the World Cup in South Africa. You still have enough time to work on creating images for this big event!

Picture taken at sunset

A short but quick tip on lighting your models. Have you ever been shooting outdoors late in the day and got tired of using your flash or portable lights? Why not use the light from the sunset? Sunsets not only good to shoot, but also a great source to light up your subject. The warm tones it provides, although only for a few minutes, is an excellent and free, way to give your pictures a unique look.

The photo on the left was taken about 15-20 minutes before the sun completely set behind me and facing the model. We were running out of time so I moved the model out in the open. We were shooting at a park and I wanted to use the green grass as a backdrop. I used a wide open aperture to blur out the background. I was using Nikon’s 80-200mm 2.8 AF-D lens, it allowed me to shoot at 2.8 and zoom in and out without changing my aperture setting.

In such a short window of time of about 20 minutes, it was enough time to get a few nice pictures. This was one of them. I really like the warm soft light the sun provided, overall I think the pictures turned out great. I’ll definitely use this method again at a future shoot.

Photographed using a Nikon DSLR

Here is a good Tuesday night photography tip, next time you shoot a friend, relative, model or whoever, get in real close for a very personal shot! Its nice to photograph people from the waist up as most people do, but sometimes its nice to zoom in close and take a tight crop picture. In the bottom picture, I zoomed in and made sure to fill up the viewfinder with her face. She had cute curly short hair and very little makeup, I wanted to show her naturally beautiful face and the only way to do it is to get in close.

Taken at a wide open 2.8 aperture setting, it allowed me to blur out the background, I used my 80-200mm AF-D 2.8 lens (Nikons new version is the 70-200mm lens, at a later post I’ll go over Nikon lenses and my thoughts on them).

The angle I thought was also great, having her look over her right shoulder gave it a special touch. Its as if I caught her in the middle of a thought or about to say something.

Headshot

I also like the first image, which shows her more playful side and a little more of her body. This picture is what most people would take and of course are accustomed to viewing. Compare it to the second with the tight crop and you can see how each have their own special features. Photography isn’t only about having the most expensive or latest photo equipment, its about creating images that tell a story, at least that’s how I view each project.

With the first image, I zoomed in to 105mm and again used a wide open aperture of 2.8, if you try this, be sure you are far enough so she is in full focus, use your aperture preview button to confirm every part of her is in focus. The fact that she was playing with the two strings from her blouse added to the playfulness of the shot. Overall I think the picture is fine but not as personal as the close up image above. As a photographer, I try all types of poses, angles and experiment often. Try it yourself and you will see similar results!

Have fun during a photo shoot.

Every photo shoot I do normally has a purpose. Sometimes its for a client, other times its for my inventory of stock pictures, whatever the reason I always try to find a person I think will fit the project. Even when I do a test shoot, I only offer it to people that have certain characteristics that appeal to me. And one characteristic I always try to make sure they have is a positive attitude.

I’ve found that people that are positive tend to be happier, smile more and easier to work with. I learned this the hard way early on in my photographic career. I recall photographing a model who was hounding me for weeks to shoot her. Finally when I agreed and she arrived at the studio, we clashed at the “hello”! She proceeded to tell me instantly that she only wears black and that she brought her own wardrobe because she would only model in the clothes she had. She went on to list several conditions, including the last one which was that I should not expect her to smile too much!

Needless to say, I cut the time of the shoot in half and never used the pictures for anything. It was the longest and worst hour and half of shooting I ever did. Nowadays I pass on anyone like that, life is too short and photography equipment and studio time is to expensive to waste on people like that.

The image included in this article is of a woman I would photograph any day of the week! She was nervous at first, but was happy, positive and energetic! She arrived ready to have fun and enjoy the experience. We even went over our time allotment and shot for an extra hour! So next time you photograph a model, be sure its a “happy” one and leave those negative people for someone else. And for the models, have fun, relax and enjoy the experience!

Picture taken with window light.

Knowing when to use available light while photographing people can enhance your pictures to a new level. Whenever possible I try to use existing light, but it takes some practice to get it right. Knowing how use the right settings in your camera is important, but you also need to position your subject in the right area or angle.

I photographed the woman on the right using the light from a large window. It was an overcast yet bright day, so the light shining in was soft and diffused. I took a few pictures with my mounted camera flash, but that created a terrible shadow. (I didn’t have my studio lights) It looked like a snapshot and I knew this woman deserved more from me than just a snapshot! So I turned off my flash and positioned her next to the large window, while she stood almost leaning against the wall, the diffused light exposed the right side of her face perfectly.

If you also notice, the background is out of focus, I did this by backing up a little and using my Nikon 80-200mm 2.8AF-D lens wide open. Have you noticed from my other posts that I use this lens often? Its one of my favorite lens and I use it in many occasions, especially in low light situations, like this one. Now back to the photo…the light from the window created a dramatic mood and with the model working her “look”, the final image, in my opinion was a winner! The image shown was only re-sized for online viewing, but no photo editing was done to it. Know you know why I love and continue to learn ways to use existing light!

Kung fu pose picture after final edit.

Whenever I take a picture, I know that there is some possibility that I will work on it at least a little on Photoshop. After a shoot, I normally sort through them on my computer and place them in three ways. First are the best pictures, those that overall are great pictures and may still need some or no photo editing. The second group are those that have potential, that with a little editing can result in a good usable image. The last, yup, the junk. These are the ones that are more of outtakes and cannot be saved with editing.

I want to talk about the second group. Whichever way you sort your photos, I assume these images are often overlooked and forgotten, never to see the light of day, right? Well, I wanted to share how I resulted with the image on the left. The picture is of a girl doing a martial art kick in the air and a very high distance from the ground. So was this picture photo-shopped? Yes and no.

Yes, I used Photoshop to crop and lighten the image a little, but no I didn’t add her to the middle of the picture. She really did jump and I caught this in mid-air from a distance. She was playing around with some friends and I noticed a photo opportunity. I was only able to take one picture, image on the right. As you can see she jumped from that concrete block not from the ground. Although I wasn’t able to get her face, which was blocked by the hand, I initially put this image aside and having some possibility to use but I knew I would need to do some editing. The image on its own is really a snapshot, but my eyes immediately went to the distance she was from the ground. So it was this portion of the image I knew would interest the viewer, as well as her straight leg/pose.

The image was a little dark, so I adjusted the exposure. The yellow truck was a distraction, so that needed to be cropped out. However I wanted to emphasize her pose and distance from the ground, so the only way to do that and create some “space” under her was to remove or crop out the cement block along with the truck. I spent some time on Photoshop outlining the area that would eventually be the final picture. In this case, the area I was going to keep would be crucial in creating the illusion of the almost impossible jump and pose.

How I edited my picture on Photoshop.

If you haven’t tried it, by cropping an image at the right place, the new picture will “tell” a different story. This was the case for this picture. Try it yourself with some of your own photos. Almost all photo editing programs have the cropping feature and all are very easy to use. I’ve included a simple outline of the area I cropped or cut out that would eventually be the final image. First I selected the area, making sure I didn’t include the yellow truck and cement block. I was also careful not to include the bottom portion of the picture, the area with the decorative bricks. It was important to show her in the air and the distance to the ground without any of the other distractions.

The final picture now is much more interesting. The viewers eyes are drawn to the pose on the upper right hand side and the empty area on the lower left emphasizes the high distance she is from the ground.

Paula Sladewski - ExploreTalent.com

News came today from Miami, that Paula Sladewski, an ex Playboy model was found dead in a dumpster, apparently the body was burned beyond recognition. Paula and her boyfriend had arrived last Thursday to Miami for a Lady Gaga concert and on Sunday her body was found burned in a dumpster that the local fire department was called to distinguish.

Another sad ending to a very beautiful model, not sure as to the motive or who is responsible for the crime, but its a reminder to all models and woman in general to always be vigilant to who you meet on photo shoot assignments and/or get involve with in personal relationships.

You can see the full report HERE.

Model for Energiafoto!

The site is developing as promised! Today I added a Model Castings page with several paid shoots available to local Los Angeles and OC models! We shoot based on projects, so when we have a specific shoot planned we will post it up right away. The page will change weekly, so check it often for new shoots.

When you submit your email, be sure to include two recent images and your location. Click on the image to your left or at the link below to visit our casting page!

Model Casting Page

Use of colors in your pictures

While photographing Nathia, I took advantage of the leaves and their natural color. The leaves were hanging/hugging the white wall, which made the colors stand out even more. And very conveniently there was a gap in between the leaves where she could easily pose! I always have luck on my side! ; )

I was especially fortunate to have a range of colors, from green to red. The setup was not a distraction but sort of a frame for the model. Not much work was done to the image on Photoshop, but I did soften the colors a bit and of course re-sized and framed it with a border. The angle of the models head also worked for the picture, since she is offset to the right side of the frame facing the leaves to her right.

Taken with a Nikon D70 with available light, it was a nice surprise to see these colors this time of the year!