During the month of July, Arts Clayton Gallery will be running an exhibit called “Untitled, Unthemed, Uncatalogued” which just happens to be my show!  On June 26th, with a truckload of work, I helped hang the show.  What photographer would hang a show and not get some photos of the process, right?  I thought a little time lapse might be in order.  Check it out!

The video above was shot with a D700 + Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 on interval timer mode which shot about 2600 images. All images were brought into Lightroom for a little minor adjustments (clarity, vibrance, tint) and then the JPGs were compiled in QuickTime Pro.

The show runs for the month of July, but the gallery is hosting an opening reception to kick things off.  The reception will be July 1st from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  The gallery is located at 136 South Main Street, Jonesboro, Georgia.  { Get directions } Be there!

During a recent shoot with the fine and talented folks of South Atlanta Flickr I had an idea for an image I wanted to create. This was not that image. What started in one direction ended up somewhere completely different as if the car started to steer itself. But I liked where we ended up so I won’t complain.

So this is a shot of Aglae. She will one day be far more famous than me and I will only have the photos of her I have taken to prove that I once knew her. She defines cool and is a blast to photograph. As with my previous 52 Weeks shot, I knew going in that the photo was the foundation and only the start.

Here is the initial shot:

For the setup, there were two Calumet Genesis 400s shot into umbrellas to blow the background out. Normally, we would have had a different setup for the backdrop but this was the equipment that was on hand. Just slightly camera right was an Alien Bee ABR800 ring flash with a 56” moon unit. The lights were triggered with Cybersyncs. The shot was taken with a Nikon D700 and Nikon 24-70mm lens (my work horse lens) with the following settings: ISO 200, f/11, and 1/250th.

I brought the image into Photoshop for some tweaking and here is the result:

I wish I could tell you all of the steps and resources I used. My mind has been sidetracked lately on top of this taking a different direction (I started out with a very heavy grunge and textured process). I would say that the majority of the post processing work was done by using various Photoshop brushes, primarily splatter brushes from Bitt Box and the rest were from Brusheezy. It might not be super obvious, but I also used some 3D resources from Deviant Art.

I get a lot of questions about the exact steps to follow and I never know how to best answer that. For me, this was a lot of trial and error. When I sat down, my mind was relatively clear so I could focus on this. I was relaxed creatively and without that pressure, I just had fun with it. I have some software I am testing out and plan to do a video soon that shows just what all is done when working on some of the images I create.

On a trip to Sanford, Florida, I had really been wanting to try my hand at some photos of the old piers at night.  They just captivate me.  Since our car was already crammed full of stuff for our daughters, I really had no room for a tripod.  So I just had to wing it.

Here is the final image:

How it was shot: Since I had no tripod, I needed something to support the camera.  I had my D700 and Nikon 24-70mm lens sitting on the bulkhead.  To support to lens, I just sat it on top of one of my Speedlights, which made a nice little stand.  Settings were ISO200, 24mm, f/6.3, 30 sec. In post, I did a little crop of some brighter horizon lights on the left and then the cross processing treatment.  In fact, here is the original image out of the camera:

This is Nana. Nana is my wife’s grandmother, however, she feels much like my own.  I can say a lot about her, all positive, as she is incredibly inspiring.  Having gone through a hip replacement, she was still dancing at the reception at our wedding.  Since then, she has battled with more surgeries and even fought breast cancer, having won that battle as well.  One of the reasons she is so inspiring is not simply because of her victories, but how her head was held high during the fight.

Always positive, always smiling, always knowing she would come out on top. She is a survivor.

How it was shot: This was taken with a Nikon D700 and Nikon 50mm f/1.4.  Shot at 1.4 this was taken with available light.  I believe I used Nik Silver for the conversion from color.

As you may or may not know, my wife and I now have our second daughter.  Which means what we want takes a back seat.  So when my wife got a chance to get her hair done, I was really stoked to see the outcome.  So much so I begged her to let me take a quick shot.

My wife normally sports a blonde hair color or dark brown.  So this new hair color was really spicey and I loved seeing it.  Especially after being worn down from caring for a newborn and a 3 year old, it was great seeing how much a new hair style could do for someone.  She took a photo of herself with her iPhone, but it was in the car and just didn’t do the new color justice.  Plus, it didn’t have enough attitude.

So I quickly broke out the ring flash and took this:

Not too shabby, considering this was taken quickly in our home.  But I wanted to fix it up a tad and since I cannot keep my paws out of Photoshop, here is what we ended up with:

Right off the bat you notice the pattern background and vignette.  Some people hate the vignette but I like to use it some times to help darken the edges and draw the eyes more toward the center.  While I normally try not to center anything, it seemed to work here.  Plus, we werent setting up a shoot either.  This was really quick and fun.  Lastly, I darkened the sunglasses a bit to hide her eyes more.  I thought about Photoshopping out the ring over her right eye but opted to leave it in to save some time.

“Midnight Snack” | 52.9

Something interesting happened to me the other weekend. Someone asked me “Hey man, what is going on with your weekly project thing?” I was not really sure anyone had been following along, which is partly why I did not feel super guilty for missing a few weeks. So where have I been?

Life here has been…well….hectic to say the least.  My wife and I are expecting our second girl (due date of Feb. 1st, 2010) and I have been fighting a sickness for a few weeks now.  Throw in an incredibly hectic schedule and this project just took a back burner.  But something clicked when asked about it and it kinda lit the flame back, so I thought I would pick things back up.  My brother-in-law and I have really been working hard on our own photography business and studio.  With so many irons in the fire, some things have to get let go.

Enough of that…

The shot of my head was taken at our studio using two Calumet Genesis 400 lights shot through 45″ umbrellas.

I brought the image in, flipped it so the lighting would match what I shot of the fridge, and then processed it a bit further. The image of me looking into the fridge was shot using two Speedlights.  On the second shelf of the fridge I had an SB-800 shot @ 1/8th up toward the top of the fridge.  I also had an SB 80DX behind the open door @ 1/4th power shot toward the door.  This light ended up not being much in the final image given the post-processing.  The camera was mounted on a tripod and set on a timer.  The Speedlights were fired with CyberSyncs.  I don’t have a behind the scenes shot for this one because I really just wanted to get the light out of the fridge and close the door.  Plus nobody really wants to see a shot of my messy fridge.

The greenery was a stock photo that I purchased from iStockPhoto.  I looked briefly online but couldn’t find exactly what I wanted.

“Required Reading” | 52.8

Any sensible person knows that you need to stay up on your zombie knowledge in order to survive the coming apocalypse of darkness.  I hope that these recent additions to my current collection will help further guide me to the right steps to take when the dead walk the earth.

OK, so this is a little late this week.  Sue me.  I was busy.

My sister gave me a super idea for one of these shots but it requires a lot of setup, so I will have to work on getting the items together to pull it off.  It will also be a lot of Photoshop work and since time was limited this week, I went in a different direction.

The setup was relatively simple, yet I was again frustrated with not getting the shot the way I wanted in camera.  I had a Calumet Genesis 400 high above the camera, shot into a 60” Westcott umbrella which was collapsed.  I had another Calumet Genesis 400, shot bare, positioned directly behind me for rim lighting.  I positioned an SB-800 with green gel in front of me facing the book interior.  The camera was on a tripod and set with a timer, lights fired with CyberSyncs.  My camera settings were ISO 200, f/16, and 1/250th.

“Sad Times” | 52.7

Despite our President’s claims that the “economy is back from the brink“, it most certainly isn’t.  Businesses are closing on what seems like a daily basis.  This week, a local newspaper, The Henry County Times, announced it would be closing up shop, after serving the community for years.Who cares, right?  Just another paper.  Just another form of dated media biting the dust.  Print is dead.  Blah, blah, blah.

It hits home with me more than it would have a year ago.  As of right now, I am also a small business owner, and operate in the same community that this paper served.  So it is sad to see them make the decision they have made.  While I understand times are tough, it doesn’t make it any easier. A fellow citizen, Beau Kelley, has put it better than I:

You might ask: Why do you care so much about this?  Don’t you have more important things to worry about?    Yes, I do have other things to worry about.  But being a good citizen means more than worrying only about yourself.  I care because I am tired of seeing our community disintegrate.  I’m not comfortable losing the things I love that make our community special.  I’ve lived in Henry County all my life.  This is my home.  And I am willing to fight for my home.  I am not willing to sit back and watch Henry become just another place to live and work.  It’s time we start supporting each other.  It’s time we become a better community.  This is a wake-up call.

That same citizen has taken it upon himself to setup a website, www.savethehctimes.com, in order to help keep the paper alive.  I applaud his efforts. Since opening our photography studio, local business is vital.  Our family does the very best it can to spend our dollars locally.  It feels like we spend our money wiser that way.  It feels good supporting other local merchants and to keep other businesses going.

Equally sad to me is the fact that The Times was a community supporter.  Mickie is a great person and I am thankful to have met her.  She also supported the arts.  While president of a non-profit art organization, I knew she would run press releases about the group, and she did.  In fact, she always supported the arts and anything that made the community better.

On to some positive stuff, below is the setup:

I took this in my garage while my girls took a nap.  The setup shot makes the garage look horrible and messy.  I almost didn’t post it.  Regardless, with the camera on a tripod/timer, I used the ABR800 as the main light and a Calumet Genesis 400 with shoot through umbrella as a fill light.  I had another Calumet Genesis setup as rim/hair light, high camera left.  I put a little card on the ground to remember where to stand once I get the settings the way that I wanted them. Camera settings were: f/22, ISO 200, and shutter of 1/250th.  Lights triggered via CyberSyncs.

Also, this was not what I had planned for this week at all.  I had something Halloween related in mind, props purchased, etc.  But the loss of another local business was just on my mind.

Last, but not least, gotta give moiht a shout for the inspiration. Prints can be purchased as well.

Oblivion | 52.3

Falling from grace cause I’ve been away too long
Leaving you behind with my lonesome song
Now I’m lost in oblivion

This shot was relatively simple to setup.  The biggest part of this image was not setting up and taking the image, but the post-processing once the image was taken.  Though the processing somewhat obliterates the lighting used, a single ABR800 was shot into a 56″ Moon Unit directly toward me.  Behind me was a Calumet Genesis 400 shot bare to blow the wall out from the “peach” color to white.  Here is a setup shot:

Strobist
A single Alien Bee Ring Flash was shot (at 1/4 power) toward me into a 56″ Moon Unit.  A Calumet Genesis 400 (at full power) was shot bare into the wall.

Shooting with the D700 is a little different in that I don’t have a handy little remote as I did for the D80.  Wanting to take the shot quickly and not wanting to enlist any help from my wife, who was wondering why I wanted to take such a shot in the first place, I scribbled on a Post-It note and stuck that on the wall.  This would give the camera something to focus on when I hit the button.  With the timer set, that gave me enough time to step into frame for the shot.

Camera settings
D700 | f/22 | 1/250s | ISO 100

Post-processing here was several steps and involved textures by Ghostbones, Skeletal Mess, and one from my own “Meat Stick” set. The cord wrapped around my mouth is a long sync cord.  The plastic was saved from my latest dry cleaning pickup and pulled over my head.