Author: bill

Orias with Invisible Man

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I usually go into a shoot with the concepts that I want to work around pretty much in mind. Often though when working with a model the two of us combine ideas and produce something different than the original plan, and usually to a better result. These photos arose from that. Orias and I were working on some images with her wearing black gloves and I noted an almost Venus De Milo effect when I moved to a low key lighting against a black background. We explored that concept and This led to the idea of playing up that using the fact that wearing flat black on this background and lighting left those parts invisible. We played with it a few different ways. First some shots with someone else draped in black behind her and out of the light. The result is the other person isn’t visible and where his body overlays hers you get an almost cut out effect. The concept is actually pretty old. I believe it goes back to stage magic in the 1800’s if not earlier. In this first photo you can just see the arm to the right of the model.

Orias 1

In some other images we shifted a bit. Here you can see how her arms disappear where she’s wearing the gloves while only the non black covered arms of the other person are visible. I’d prefer an assistant to stand in as the shadow here, but without one I had to improvise and work on both sides of the camera. Needles to say, this requires a very professional approach and a lot of trust between model and photographer given the contact involved. I’m wearing black pants, a black shirt, and a black ski mask pulled down. Even a slight sliver of skin showed up in photos and in one of these I did have to clone out a small element of my neck that peeked out during the shot. The camera is mounted on a tripod. A wireless remote allowed triggering of the camera and a delayed timer on the camera allows the shot to be triggered and then to finish posing.

Orias 2

An interesting set of images and while not something I’d do everyday or even that often, I think they came out well.

Orias 3

Noir with Shelby J

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Had the chance to work with Shelby back in April. We did a number of styles of work, but my favorites from the shoot came from some later images. Both are interestingly implied nudes where Shelby is only lit by a single light that’s been tightened down to a small circle of light. The first is the noir styled image. I intentionally left the light visible here as I like the effect of it almost as a camera at the side and I think gives the overall image a bit more interesting feel that ties in with her expression. I’d consider this an implied shot even though her nipple is just visible under one arm.

Shelby 1

From just a bit later comes another image. This one I leave color thought the lighting is similar, in this case reduced to a bright strip with barn doors on the strobe. I like the intense look from Shelby off the camera here. Again an implied shot.

2013-04-17-ShelbyJ-3302

Overall a nice shoot and there are some other photos I’ll come back and share at a later time.

Waterfalls From Earlier this Week

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Spent a few days out in the middle of nowhere earlier this week which is always a nice recharge. Did a total of ten miles of hiking one day and also did a nice short, but steep trip to the base of a waterfall. I’ve been here a few times before, but thanks to such a wet spring there was more water than I’d ever seen before. A few shots from the shorter waterfall. And yes that is a suspension bridge across it at the top of the first photo. No, you cannot take a decent photo from that bridge. Yes, I tried.

 

Cane Creek Falls

Cane Creek Falls

And a couple shots of a larger waterfall. The first was taken near the base and the blurriness comes from the spray off the falls hitting my lens. The second was taken on the way back up.

Fall Creek Falls from Base

Fall Creek Falls

Working with Ivy lee

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Had the chance to work with Ivy Lee for the first time last month. A nice lingerie shot from some glamour work we did early on. I’ve picked up a new plugin for black and white work that I’m playing with so look for some of the more art styled and nudes later on.

Ivy-Lee-2013-03-12-2478

Thoughts on the Canon 6D

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I noted in a post a bit back that I’d purchased a Canon 6D to replace my reliable T2i. The camera arrived right after I settled into a bit of a holiday break. I of course played with it during the time, but didn’t get a chance to use it in a shoot with a model until last week. First I found that I was able to shoot in dimmer light that I otherwise would have. We shot using just the natural light and as we got into the late afternoon with the setting sun and thickening clouds from rain moving in I was able to shoot well past where I would have stopped with the T2i. Autofocus worked dimmer than I’d ever gotten it to with the T2i.

The good news is that my primary reason for the purchase, better high ISO noise performance looks to have paid off. The noise at high ISO on the 6D is much less noticeable. Here are two examples, the first from a photo of Keira taken with the T2i back during July and the second a photo of Melissa taken with the 6D last week. Both were photographed at ISO 1600. Click on either one to see a larger version of the image. Both of these are zoomed in extremely close to make the noise more visible, but they are zoomed in to the same ratio. Also no processing other than to balance the exposure between the two to make them better comparable. In other words I feel these are as close as I can get to direct comparison without taking a photo with each camera at the same time.

Canon T2i at 1600 ISO
t2i-iso-1600
Canon 6D at 1600 ISO
6d-iso-1600

It’s clear how much less noise there is in the photo on the right under similar lighting conditions. This continues into higher ISO quite nicely. Here is a photo of Melissa taken late in the day at ISO 5000, a value I wouldn’t even think to attempt on my T2i.

The image quality and color when paired with my 24-105 lens has been great. It’s noticeably better than the T2i in every way. Coming from the T2i it’s like a revelation and I think that some of technical limitations I’d hit the last year doing outdoor work (especially in wooded locations), light painting, and when working with just natural light will better let me focus on just working. I’ve briefly used both the Canon 5D Mark III and Mark II a few times, but never owned either nor used either for my day to day camera so I can’t compare the 6D to either directly. . I made this upgrade specifically for the better sensor quality and better ISO performance and both are definitely noticeably better. I think the move is worth it if, like me, you are shooting with an older model and looking for the better quality images and less noise at high ISO, but felt couldn’t justify the cost of the Mark III for your needs. If I made my living with a camera, I’d likely have gone the Mark III route, but I feel for me, serious about photography, but not making a living with it, the 6D fits the nice sweet spot between what I pay and the performance I want.

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I’m still playing with Wi-Fi and the GPS options and will report more on them later. I’m particularly interested in setting up a wireless tethered type workflow using the Wi-Fi wireless features when working. I’m still adjusting to the camera so I’ll add a new post when I’ve had a chance to work with it a bit more. I’d hoped to give it a try outside, but the weather has not been cooperative the last couple of weeks as it’s been very winter around here. As I have some more shoots over the next few weeks and months, I’ll continue to post some more thoughts and observations.

A few good links to some people more familiarly with the Mark II, Mark III, and Nikon D600 (the rough Nikon equivalent of the 6D) and therefore can compare them:

Happy New Year – Moving into 2013

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I’m not a believer in New Year’s resolutions as I feel that if I find something I want to change I generally prefer to start then instead of waiting until the next time the calendar year flips over. Still I do admit that the combination of the calendar changing and the somewhat quiet moments that pass after Christmas and before New Year’s Day do much to make it almost impossible not to reflect for a bit.

As a photographer 2012 brought much good and some bad. I made some advances, but felt frustrations in my work more than once. I hit a bit of a wall this year, especially late in the year, and am not completely sure I’ve moved past it yet. I enjoyed working with many wonderful models this year including a number of new ones. Though it actually came out in 2011 and most of the work was done that year, I still think of the book as part of my 2012 work. It turned out to be an interesting experiment, one which at least was useful to a few people based on feedback I’ve gotten so I feel it was worth the time and effort.

In my personal life I completed my Master’s degree which had been a major investment of my time and energy over the last three plus years and now leaves me with a lot of free time moving forward into 2013. I dealt with a serious family emergency late this year that took a lot of my time and energy, especially as it combined with the wrapping up of that degree. While the situation in the family is well settled now, and better than I could have hoped for, it was still a major energy drain the last few months of the year and has left me somewhat behind. And I’ve managed to get my health into a vastly different place for the better and am now down to a weight I’ve not been since college. Before warmer weather returns for spring, I should at a normal weight again for the first time since my early college days. Even still carrying a bit of extra weight I’m likely in the best health and shape of my life right now.

Looking forward in the next year I’m going to continue to look more at landscape work in addition to my nude work. I’ve always had a love of landscapes. I shot those long before I used anything near professional equipment and before I’d taken one photo of a model. I’ve always enjoyed combining the nude and landscapes, but will move more toward more of nature on its own too. I don’t plan to shoot any fewer nudes or fewer combinations of the two, but increase my landscape only work.

I’m also planning to travel more in the coming year. I’m already working on planning one trip back to the southwest for late spring and will post more of that when it settles in. I’m looking forward to 2013 and what it brings.