Portrait lighting can be complicated…. Or, Simple.

JTannock — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:37:06 +0000

Last week, while at a workshop with several fellow photographers I was asked “how many lights do you use for your studio portraits?”. My answer was an immediate, “Depends”. Sometimes I use up to 5 lights for dramatic effects and sometimes only a large softbox and perhaps a silver reflector with it. Or any combo in between. Earlier this week another photographer/friend, Cindy DeSau visited and asked me if I ever do portraits with a video light. My answer to that one was no, but I do have a little Sunpak video light that I used to take on some wedding assignments. I mostly used it as a flashlight to find things in the camera case in darkened reception facilities, but the real reason I bought it was to use it for night outdoor city wedding and engagement portraits because the color temperature is about the same as street lights.

We decided to try it in the studio and Cindy posed for the test. Here is the result as originally captured by a Nikon D700 and then after having a bit of fun with it in Adobe Lightroom. ALL of the adjustments were done in Lightroom without ever working with it in Photoshop.

Here is the image as it was downloaded from the camera with no alterations. It was taken with a single Sunpak video light that is about 6″ long and weighs about 7 oz. including the battery.

And here’s the same image after the Lightroom “treatment”….

A large part of the “portrait process” is finishing. I had several images of Cindy from this test, but I liked her expression the best in this one. As you can see, the finished look on this one is quite different from the original.

Oh, and here’s the light. I had it mounted on a monopod and just held it where I wanted it and fired the camera with a wireless remote trigger.

Philadelphia Flower Show…

JTannock — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:13:21 +0000

It’s Flower Show week again. A sure sign that spring is near. I hope!

For the past few years I’ve gone to photograph one display. The one designed by our good friend, Michael Bruce. Michael’s entries are never easy to photograph, but that’s part of what I like about doing them. Not only do they challenge the viewer’s mind to figure out his message, they most definitely challenge this photographer to interpret them photographically.I’ve always gone in the early AM so that I could work before the crowds arrive. That usually works and again I went yesterday around 8 AM. Sure, I was able to photograph the display, a glass house with an American flag made mostly of flowers, but if you look closely, there’s a bit more to it. This year’s theme is “Passport To The World”. I didn’t get to see all of the exhibits, but the ones I did visit seemed to obviously follow the theme. Michael’s? Ha! A four-sided glass house with a horizontal American flag taking up most of the interior and messages written on the glass walls. Sort of graffiti. Americana was my take on it. As always, his designs need interpretation, and as always, Michael wants the viewers to make their own conclusion. When I was finishing my work yesterday, the exhibit had already opened and I was watching the faces of people when they walked up to view the display. The expressions were mostly, “I don’t know what I’m looking at, but it’s interesting and I must take a picture of it”. And then they did. So today I went back in the afternoon when the hall was packed and from inside the house, photographed the people looking in. Below are my favorite images from both days with the ones from today last.

That’s Michael.

The man just loves his work…

Start looking for the details within the details.

Love the red in red!

The flag…

Details…

The overall look…

OK, who hung their coat on his sign??? I didn’t see that when I made this image.

Coat’s gone in this view…

“OK, it’s a flag, but…….?

“…. I gotta take a picture of it anyway”.

A few more expressions of wonder from today…..

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the display, the interpretation, photography, words….. whatever.

Wissahickon Valley after the recent snowstorm…

JTannock — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:58:16 +0000

There’s too much snow to mt. bike in the woods and it’s a bit too cold for kayaking (at least it is for me) so I took a walk with camera yesterday in the Wissahickon Valley. Some folks were kind enough to blaze trail with snowshoes and XC skis which made walking the trails fun and easy.

Another iPhone shot that I like….

JTannock — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:25:06 +0000

On 2/4 I wrote a post about phone cameras. Read it and you will know my views on them. However, when it’s all ya got in your pocket and something worthy shows up right in front of you…..
This young lady was at the Delta baggage claim next to me on the way home from Utah. Sure, I had a backpack with a pro Nikon kit in it, but was too weighed down to dig through it and miss the shot.

Couldn't resist taking this one.

Some ski photos from Utah….

JTannock — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:20:07 +0000

Some of my friends know that I just spent some time in the northern Utah town of Eden and had 7 of the best snow days that Utah has had so far this ski season. I’ve been asked several times, “when are we going to get to see some photos from Utah?” Gee, they must think I always ski with a camera. Well, I do, and I did. So here is a selection of images from Snowbasin ski area - www.snowbasin.com , and Powder Mountain -www.powdermountain.com .

Utah photographer and good friend, Ryan Thompson. Ryan is a past member of the US Ski Team and still skis like a champion.

Dr. Rob Goldlust and Steve Stomel at the very top of Snowbasin. The little dark area waaay below them is the town of Eden. Not exacty a major metropoliton area, which is why we like it.

The view in the oposite direction of where Rob and Steve are standing.

Our 'darkslider' friend, Dr. Rob on the last run of the day at Powdermountain. Fresh tracks are always available to those who don't mind working to get to them.

Another shot of Dr. Rob. Looking across the valley, you can see where the non-hikers went. All of them. We took a short easy hike to the other side of the valley and as you can see, it's the trail less traveled. I call it Dues/Reward.

"Jack From Colorado". That's all I know about him other than he's a very good powder skier. I met him on the chairlift and we skied together all morning in another fresh powder dump at Powder Mountain.

The morning runs with Jack were in flat overcast light. Not the best for photography, but you can get the idea of how good the snow was.

Then, the sun came out! Niiice.

After Jack and I said our goodbys, I camped out in this area and waited, and waited for someone to ski through the scene. The place is so empty on a Monday that I waited almost 30 mins. for this skiier. However, it wasn't a particularly bad place to hang out. The scenery is outstanding.

The scenery.... Powder Mountain. I wish you could see this image in full resolution. There are groups of ski tracks coming down from the top in several places.

Phone Cameras…

JTannock — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:15:02 +0000

I’ve had a cell phone since sometime in the mid ’90s, after they were reduced to pocket size. The phone has been upgraded, traded in, replaced when broken, etc., about every two or so years, so I’ve had a bunch of them. The one common denominator with all of them is that they all had cameras built in. And, I’ve never used any of them. Until now. Last week while in northern Utah I was skiing on arrival day at “The Canyons” in the Park City area with my friend Tom. At the end of the day as we were walking toward the gondola that takes you back to the parking lot there was a young lady standing on the walkway with her snowboard in front of her. All I could see of her as we approached was her eyes, framed by the board and her hood. But what eyes! Striking was my impression of them. Then, as Tom and I got close to her she started talking to me, asking about how long it should take to snowboard from the top of the mountain to the bottom. Oh, and the accent….. French, I think. If I’d have been cold, the voice would have melted me for sure. Anyway, after giving her my guess as to how long it should take her friends to get off the mountain, we walked on and I said to Tom that I’d have loved to have gotten a photo of her the way she was standing with the snowboard in front of her.
Tom grabbed my ski poles from me and said, “well then go take a photo of her!” I said that my camera gear was in the car and Tom said, “ya gotta phone in your pocket, don’t ya”? Oh yeah, the iPhone. I decided that if I didn’t get a photo it would bug me later, so I walked back and asked her if I could take a picture of her with her board in front of her like it was when we first saw her. She seemed a bit unsure about it but agreed. So here’s my first iPhone portrait….

I did change the pose a bit to capture all of her face, as it’s a good one.

December Snowstorm…

JTannock — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:20:12 +0000

We don’t generally get a lot of snow in December in the Philadelphia area, but this past December, we got a doozy of a storm leaving nearly 2 feet of snow by the time it was over. Most people chose to stay indoors during it, but some didn’t.I was fortunate enough to be in Philly and capture some of the ambiance during Saturday and Saturday night. These are my favorites.

A special gift…

JTannock — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:34:13 +0000

Sometimes it’s hard to think of a gift for someone special. Especially if that someone is prone to going out and buying what they need or want when they want it. I’m like that. Makes it frustrating for Pat to surprise me. Women in general, it seems, like to surprise their men with gifts. Must be in their DNA.
Sonya, had some very beautful portraits made recently as a gift for her significant other and the best part was that they weren’t something he could go to the mall and buy. Well, not of her, anyway (;->)

Lezlie and Matt - The Lake House Inn - Perkasie, PA.

JTannock — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:19:23 +0000

It seems I’d rather work than blog. I photographed Lezlie and Matt’s wedding over a month ago. I should have had this up so that they and their friends could see what I saw when attending and capturing the fun and festivities of their wedding. It was my first visit to The Lake House Inn ( www.thelhi.com ). Set on the shore of Lake Nockamixon, it’s really is a great place for a wedding, or just to get a room and hang out for a few days. The staff was great to work with, and since the weather forecast was for rain to start about the same time as the ceremony, they were prepared to move inside if it did rain. It didn’t. Well, not until the cocktail hour anyway. Then, like most weekends this fall, it rained the rest of the night and next day. Like I’ve always said, we have weather in the east, not climate. Floral Decorator, John Kevin Gallagher ( www.jkgfloral.com ) and his staff did an awesome job of decorating for the outdoor ceremony as well as creating a great mood for the reception. Working such pros makes my job look easy. It’s not, it just looks that way. We all work hard as a team to make the day as perfect as we can for those that we’re working for. One of the best parts for me is that I get to see them again after the wedding and share what I’ve captured that will retell the story of the day forever. As great as the decor, food, music, etc. are, when the lights go out at the party, it’s over. Without someone who can skillfully capture the fun, excitement and romance that in most cases is fleeting, one has to rely on ever fading memory to recall the day. For the most part, most of what a good photographer captures, wasn’t noticed in the first place, so that’s why I enjoy it so much when the families visit to see the Artists Gallery Show that I create from every event. The AG is not the entire set of previews, BTW, it’s my favorites, set in a multimedia format and shown with surround sound on an 8′ screen. (not a bad place to watch a football game or World Series game either!) Culled from the full Artist Gallery is a mini version that I’ve put together for web viewing, so I hope those of you who view Lezlie and Matt’s wedding can get a feeling of how the day went.

http://tannock.myshowit.com/maddenweb

Ultimate iPhone…

JTannock — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:20:04 +0000

Recently, while having lunch that included a beer with a non-twistoff cap, I joked that I didn’t have an app for that. Later, while thinking about that I decided to invent a better iPhone, and came up with this one. Now, to get it marketed. I know Apple buys software applications for the the iPhone, but what about hardware? Hmmm.

Best iPhone ever...