Instagram Halloween costume

    Halloween was last week and I dressed up as Instagram; a free photo-sharing program and social network.  A couple years ago I dressed up as Facebook.  That costume was a great hit because it was interactive, I had bought a large poster board, printed out the Facebook logo as well as a profile picture, and I walked around with a marker so people could write on my "wall".  So this year I want to think of a custom that was also interactive.  Then while reading some of the photography blogs I check every week I found a posting on PetaPixel of someone who had made a Instagram custom that worked.  Their custom was very bulky and complicated so I started to think how I could make my own custom on a smaller scale and this what I came up with:

 I recently had used my Orbis ring flash which made me think this would be a great light for this costume, as well as easy to incorporate.  So I cut a hole into a large poster board and taped it on to the Orbis and speedlite so I could wear it with the neck strap that the Orbis and camera have.  Then I attached the Canon Speedlite 580ex ii with a off-camera TTL cord to a Canon Rebel T2i.  The settings were iso 100, f3.5, shutter speed 1/60, and the flash was set to 3+ on TTL. 

    These are some of the images that I came out with.  They aren't the best but I they're are a good start.  I was very impressed by the great quality of light the Orbis ring flash give in a event setting and how even it was on the subject.  I think for my next event shoot I will attempt to shoot it with the Orbis even thought it's a bit bulky compared to a on camera flash.  A few of these images remind me of Kareem Black's "Feels Good Lets Go" work.  To see more from that night go to my Facebook page.

Back from Europe

    I just got back from my backpacking trip threw Europe about 3 weeks ago and I finally got a chance to go threw my files to be able to share with everyone.  It was an amazing experience and I'm really excited to share.  On this first posting I have add video that I have made with short clips of things that caught my eye during my trip.  I guess you can call it a "trailer" of my whole endeavor,  hope you enjoy it!  Stay tuned for more posting

Edge light and milking your set ups

  

  Like I mention before, I've been working at Ultra the Night Club for more then a year now.  A few months ago I had chance to photograph one of the bouncers that I work with, X. X isn't only a bouncer but he is also a personal trainer; so naturally he is very muscular and I knew that I wanted to capture that in the images.  The way I did that was by using a edge lighting set up.  

    I put two White Lightning X800 lights with foldable medium softboxes behind him pointing them toward his shoulders.  I also add two White Lightning X1600 lights: one with a 5 degree Profoto honeycomb grid taped on that was pointed to the back of his head and the other with a silver beauty dish to light his face.  The last light I used was a Canon 580ex II speedlite with a LumiQuest Softbox III and a full CTO gel on it aimed from the bottom to give a warm fill from the bottom.  The last idea I used was two V-flats on each side of him as gobos so I would get anything flare form the rim lights.  I have add a lighting diagram that I made at Online Lighting Diagram and more images from the shoot below.      

     After about and hour of shooting, X and I got the shoots we need and he left.  Then I said to my self why am I going to strike the set that took me about an hour and a half to two hours to set up alone and not keep using it.  So I called Victor, a friend that plays soccer for FC Greater Boston Bolts, to get some more use out of the set up.  I kept all the same lighting but I did change the gel in the speedlite from a full CTO to a full CTB to get a cool light from the fill to play off the colors of the Bolts' logo.  

    Heres a BTS image of what the set looked like.

Riding dirty (if you can do it I can well kinda do too?)

      While I was at Hallmark, one of the guest speakers was Gregor Halenda, who shoots a tone of different things but is really know for his motor cycle work(you should defiantly check out his site, his work is amazing).  Since that day I really wanted to attempt shooting some bikes for my self.  After about a year I had to the chance too shoot an awesome Harley Division Fatboy that came out great.  I was really happy with it but it was a still-life shot, it was very exciting.

  

   

   Then after a about a year I came across a BTS video of a shoot that Gregor Halenda post.  I watched this video and I said to my self "hey I have a C-stand, a ton of sand bags, my friend has a pick up, and another friend with a motorcycle I could shoot, I should try this, see what I come out with".  So I just had to wait for the weather to get nice here in New England.  The video is below.

Scorpion BTS from Gregor Halenda on Vimeo.

    One day we got a warm sunny day and that was my chance.  So I to call up my friend Christian who owns a pickup, Chris to assist, and Edwin who had just bought a sweet Ninja bike.  I guess you could say this shoot and set up was very guerrilla style.  My set up was a White Lighting X1600 mono light, connected to a Vagabond 2 for power, with a 11-inch Long-Throw Silver Reflector, on a C-stand and boom, weighted down by about 12 sand bags (that thing wasn't moving any where),  and I was hanging out the back out of the pick up shooting with a Canon 5d Mark II with the Canon EF 24-105L IS Lens while Chris held my feet so I wouldn't fall out.  Hanging out the back of a truck, holding a camera about a foot off the pavement on a highway, going about 45 miles an hour, is defiantly not the safest way to shoot but well worth it after getting the final images.  Plus what's all the money I'm paying on equipment insurance going if I'm not doing something risky.          

 Image taken by Christian.  Left to right; me, Chris, and Edwin.

Chris & my view as we drove around.

   We shot and drove around for a few hours and ended up with great images, here are a couple the final ones.  Obviously my images aren't as great as Gregor's but they came out great for my first time trying this type off shoot.  I would like to take this time to thank Gregor for all inspiration.   

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!!!

      I've been working at Ultra the Night Club in Providence, Rhode Island since March of 2011 as a crowd photographer.  I had to work on new years eve and it was an awesome experience!  I took the opportunity to record the count down to the new years and made a video of it that includes some of the images I shot threw out the night, the video is below so you can check it out.

      Since I have been working at Ultra I have been able to pick up some great tricks, later on I will share a post on some tricks and tips.